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Thanks for the reviews, and to Spiderbot1994 for making me think about this story and thus getting inspiration for the next chapter! :D

Chapter 10

At first, all I felt was anguish and grief, a terrible sadness I thought would never end. My gaze found Teddy, kneeling beside his grandmother's body, sobbing softly. I wanted to comfort him, and I moved to do so, but then I realized my mother was standing right next to me. I stood up shakily and grasped my wand, looking at her expressionlessly. A slow smile crept over her face, and she looked truly evil.

That smug little smile did it.

The sadness ebbed away as fast as the shock of Andromeda's death, and it was replaced by an anger I'd never known. I was blinded by the rage; my vision was tinted red. I raised my wand and the incantation came out of my mouth before I could realize what I was doing, and that I still had the trace on me. At that moment, I wanted to cause her – the woman who ruined my life – as much pain as I could possibly inflict.

"Crucio!"

My father and Rabastan looked at me in shock, but made no move to stop me, stunned.

Bellatrix flew backward and hit the wall with a shriek, but the curse didn't have its full affect. I knew she should have been writhing on the ground begging for mercy, and I was so angry I tried to muster up the hatred and the sadistic nature of the Lestrange family to use the Cruciatus Curse properly, but nothing came up.

Deep down inside, I knew what I was doing was wrong. I had been so murderously enraged that for a fleeting second I actually considered killing her, but figured that if I didn't have the willpower to cast a successful Cruciatus Curse that I would never be able to cast Avada Kedavra. Come to think of it, I don't think I ever truly wanted to kill her. If I had, she would have been dead.

I exchanged a brief look with Teddy, whose face was lined with tear tracks. He looked up to me and nodded, and I took that to mean that we should keep them hostage.

Not that they would let us or anything.

The three Death Eaters took off at breakneck speed, taking advantage of my momentary distraction, heading for the back door, my mother in the back of the group.

"You're not getting away this time, bitch!" I screamed, throwing a Stunning Spell in her direction, which was hurriedly blocked. I wasted no time to start chasing her, firing incantation after incantation.

"Wait, Nova! WAIT!" Teddy called, but I was already down the hall and running.

They had a slight head start, so I was afraid I wouldn't catch up to mother dearest and kick her ass.

"Nova!" Teddy was still following me.

The Death Eaters reached the backyard and past the Anti-Apparition charms Andromeda had placed around the house. They turned on the spot and disappeared from sight.

"Damn it!" I shouted, burying my face in my hands. "NO!"

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I uncovered my face and turned to find Teddy looking at me sympathetically. "What now?" I asked.

"We should send on owl to Harry so he can tell Ron to tell the Ministry." When I looked at him quizzically, he clarified, "Harry's head of the Auror department."

I nodded and we entered the house, automatically averting our eyes from Andromeda's body. Teddy moved over to the desk and began writing a short, to-the-point note to Harry. He called his horned owl Romulus from his perch, who happily took the piece of parchment from Teddy and flew out the window.

It didn't take long for Harry's letter to return. Romulus came flying back into the room, hooting indignantly as he collided with Andromeda's owl Agatha. The letter dropped at Teddy's feet; he picked it up and unfolded it gently, holding it in front of me so we could both read it.

Ron and I are on our way, and we're bringing a new Auror along with us, it's someone Nova should know. I'm proud of how you held yourselves up, very admirable. Don't leave the house.

Harry

Teddy turned to me and asked, "Who do you know that might be an Auror?" His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

I shook my head. "I have no idea." I was just as confused as he was. I ran through a list of people I knew in my mind that were old enough to qualify, but nobody likely occurred to me.

A moment later, a crack sounded out, announcing Harry, Ron, and the mystery Auror's arrival. Harry entered the house first, looking over the torn wallpaper, the burn marks in the floor, and soon his gaze found Andromeda's body. He looked grim as he turned to Ron. "You know what to do." Ron nodded and I turned my head, not wanting to have to lay my eyes on that terrible scene ever again.

The Auror that Harry brought with him was familiar to me. Very familiar, in fact.

He nodded to me and said, "Nice to see you again, Nova," a little sarcastically.

"Nice to see you, too, Draco," I spat. "Why the hell did you become an Auror?"

"I felt the need to redeem myself after what happened in the war, do you mind?" he snapped.

"No, I don't. I can't believe you actually care that Andromeda's dead," I retorted bitingly.

"I don't. Potter asked me to come, and I had nothing any more exciting to do tonight–"

"Already sick of Astoria?" I muttered, just loud enough for him to hear.

"–so I decided to tag along," he finished. "And besides, I was just dying to see you," he added sarcastically.

I glared. And how long do I have to put up with him?