CHAPTER THREE

Please the Dark Lord, or Die Trying

It had been three days since I'd conjured the Potronus charm, and I hadn't been able to do it since. Magic can be so unpredictable… I thought as I sat on my bed, tapping my bright hair with my wand. I stared in the mirror and watched as a new colour rippled through my silky hair with every tap. Bored now… I tapped my hair once more and it faded back to its original pale blond. Snape had suggested using my magic whenever I could, wherever I could, so that I would get used to the physical and mental drain, and build up a resistance to it. I would never convince the Dark Lord of my worth if I got breathless after a simple Potronus charm. If I can ever produce one again… I thought angrily.

"My Dark Lord… I only wish I could prove my worth to you sooner…"

I conjured an image of him on my ceiling and laid back on my bed, sighing contentedly as I stared at the image and thought of the Dark Lord wanting me. Don't flatter yourself, Pippa. He'd sooner be with a mudblood than you, after you've failed to give him what he desires more than once. Voldemort's image vanished as my mood fell, leaving me nothing to stare at but the ceiling.

• • •

"How are your classes going?"

I turned to see Lucius standing in the doorway to the Malfoy Manor library, and wondered how long he'd been there. Seven books floated behind me as I walked towards him, before piling onto the large desk at the front of the room.

"They are too simple... I could charm a wizard to Azkaban and back in my sleep, I could make a hundred men fall in love with me with my love potion, and I could transfigure a dragon into a pixie in a second. I don't understand why I still have to take these classes. Even now, I've given you a beard, and you haven't even noticed..."

Lucius' hand shot to his chin and I giggled wildly. "There's no–" He began.

"Gotcha."

I thought it was hilarious, but my father thought differently. He just looked at me with disappointment. "Pippa, it is this childish behaviour that makes the Dark Lord question your ability to be a powerful, mature witch. You are eighteen years old, not seven! You should be studying, not wasting your time on laughter." Lucius picked up one of the books I'd picked out, and scoffed. "A romance novel? Honestly, Pippa, you spend half of your time dreaming, and the other have with this nonsense." He threw the book into the rubbish bin and turned sharply, leaving the room and slamming the door behind him.

"The other six are all on the Dark Arts..." I mumbled, leaving the room after my father, my books following after me.

"Your father is right, you know."

Bellatrix was leaning against the wall outside the library, grinning.

"Poor Piper. Not the Dark Lord's favourite anymore, are you?" My mother laughed as she walked around me, her wand pressed against her lower lip. "You thought you could be someone to him. But you're nothing. You're beneath him, girl! You're beneath me. You aren't even worth the clothes on your back. I could kill you- but the Dark Lord has... insisted that I should wait. But, if you displease him once more..." She was behind me now, and she ran her wand across my throat in a slicing motion. "You're dead." With a wicked cackle, Bellatrix backed away from me and did a twirl, disapparating and leaving her laughter echoing through the hall.

"She'll certainly get 'mother of the year'. She doesn't even know my name." I sighed, deciding to walk to my room instead of disapparating as I usually do. I needed to think. Some of what she says is true. I am beneath him. But I am not beneath her.

When I got to my room, I fell into my bed and took one of the books out of the air, watching the others float over to settle on my dresser before I opened the book and began to read. I'll become the strongest witch he's ever seen, I promised myself.

• • •

"I've decided that this is the last day of your lessons."

Severus Snape said as he walked into the room to begin my classes.

"W-what? But I need to learn more about the Dark Arts-"

"Your full day training will begin tomorrow."

At first I thought he'd just decided to give up on my like the Dark Lord had, but when Snape mentioned full day training, I jumped out of my seat and squealed in delight. "You're amazing! Wonderful, brilliant, exceptional, all of the above…!" To say that I was excited would have been the understatement of the era. With full day training, I could put all my attention into improving my skills for the Dark Lord. No more sleeping through classes, no more studying useless things I already knew.

"Ms. Black, if you stop jumping up and down, we may continue with your last lesson..."

"Oh, can't we just start full day training today? Pleeeaaase?"

"Stop acting like a child and SIT!"

Shocked by his outburst, I sat in my chair and stared at him, wide eyed.

"We will definitely have to work on ridding you of that childish behaviour... if you are to be a Death Eater, it will not be tolerated. Do you understand?"

"Yes, professor. I understand."

"Good, now today we're going to star with..."

I zoned out as professor Snape droned on about transfiguration, thinking about what was to come tomorrow. This is going to be grea–

"Pippa!"

I bit my lip and smiled guiltily as Snape glared at me, and I began pulling out my things and preparing to actually pay attention for once.

• • •

The Dark Lord grinned at me from across the hall, beckoning me forward. My body acted before my mind and I stepped towards him, walking at first, before I began to run. I ran straight into his cold, strong arms. I pressed my lips against his and, savouring the chilling, electric feeling I got from the connection, moaned into the kiss as he wrapped his arms around me and crushed me against him. With the snap of his fingers, our clothes disappeared and–

My alarm clock blared on the desk beside me, and I groaned, picking up my wand and pointing at the stupid thing.

"Confringo." I muttered. My alarm clock exploded, thousands of pieces flying all over the room, the annoying sound no longer interrupting my dreams. I suppose I could have just used a silencing charm, but I really wasn't thinking about the mess. I was trying to grip at the last fragments of my dream, which were disappearing way too quickly.

I sighed in frustration and sat up in my bed as the last bits of my dream slipped past my eyes. Even my dream close encounters were interrupted!

"Raparo." I swished my wand at the tiny pieces and they lifted, forming together to recreate my alarm clock, and then returning to my desk. A small twinkling caught my eye and I looked down, frowning as I sae a small glass figurine of an owl about to take flight. It had fallen and broken when I foolishly destroyed my alarm clock. It was the first and only gift I'd ever received from my father. Even though I thought Lucius could be a complete moron, I loved him, and I treasured the tiny owl. He'd given me the owl the day he told me he was my father.

At first, I had hated it. I'd thrown it against the wall dozens of times, but no matter how many times it shattered and fell to the floor, it would repair itself. Once I had found the perfect charm to get rid of it for good, I couldn't bring myself to use it. I watched now as the tiny owl glowed a soft pink, and all of the pieces came together, every feather in its place. Then, it took off, soaring around the room before coming to a stop on my desk.

"Pippa…"

I drew my eyes away from the owl and found Lucius standing in the doorway. He was smiling, something he seldom did nowadays, as he stepped into my room, and I realized he'd been watching the whole time.

"I don't always blow up my alarm clock in the mornings, I just–"

Lucius laughed softly as I stumbled for an excuse, and soon I was laughing with him.

"You're just stressed." Lucius sat down beside me on the bed and picked up the magical figurine, running a figurine along on of the wings.

"Why would I be stressed? I'm not stressed." I'm totally stressed.

"You've started full day training with Severus, Draco's always on your case about how the dark lord reject – oh, very well, don't glare at me like that – neglected you, and your mother is – well, she is Bellatrix Lestrange. Must I go on?"

Well, you could say that I'm sexually frustrated and depraved ... "No, I get it. I'm a bloody mess…"

"Now, now, you are not a mess… simply stressed/ Anyone would be in your situation… I've failed the Dark Lord myself, as you well know… It has changed me."

"I know."

We looked at each other then, and smiled. Our first true father-daughter moment, I thought. It was something I wasn't used to, but it was strangely comforting. Lucius had always been distant with both me and Draco. Everything had always centered around the Dark Lord, or the Ministry of Magic. This could be a life changing moment–

"I hope you can win the Dark Lord's favour again, Pippa… I would certainly hate to have to disown you."

Well, that was very short-lived, I thought, watching as my father put the figurine back in its place and left the room. At least he tries… I think.

• • •

"AH!"

I gasped as one of Severus' curses hit me in the arm, the bare skin instantly beginning to bubble and swell. We were five hours into the sixth day of my full day training, and neither of us was winning. On the first day, I'd been ready to give up within the first hour. Now, I couldn't even think about giving up. I was determined. I needed to win this more than anything, and prove my worth to the Dark Lord as soon as I could.

"Pippa, you need to rest." Snape said as I stumbled past another one of his curses, preparing to throw one of my own. I must look dreadful, I thought.

"No! I can do this!"

Severus was limping, and blood trickled down the left side of his face, matting and drying in his hair. He needed to rest just as much as I did, but he nodded and raised his wand again. "Let's continue, then."

I smiled, pushing myself to move faster. I need to win this… I thought over and over again, trying to keep myself going as I deflected curse after curse. He sends them so fast, I can't keep up…! Sweat ran down my and I wiped it away hastily, deflecting another curse. Then, in one quick moment, I was sent flying backwards, the front of my shirt burning away from the heated impact.

"Ngh!" I clenched my teeth as I tore the singed fabric away from my skin to reveal an angry red, blistering burn across my stomach. Snape was hovering over me then, offering to help me up.

"No!" Tears were streaming down my cheeks as I struggled against the pain. "I want to keep gong!"

"Pippa, you can't keep up with those wounds…"

"YES I CAN!" My frustration and anger bubbled up and exploded out of me, knocking Snape back and trapping him against the wall. I walked up to him slowly and knocked his wand out of his hand with a quick wave of my own. "I won…" With those two words, the room began to spin, and I let my magic hold on Snape drop before I collapsed, trying to catch my breath.

"She has bested you in her anger, Severus."

The Dark Lord! I would have stood up and bowed, had I the strength.

"She'd quite a powerful witch, my Lord. I have no doubt that she would be a great asset to you. Especially if she can learn to focus her anger and frustration, and turn it into pure energy… She could become nearly unstoppable."

The Dark Lord smirked then, before turning and adding with a small hiss, "We'll see".