Okay so massive apologies for being so late with this. All the usual stuff that happens to me happened at once and life became rather ... stressful but I'm back and enthused so let's get going again shall we.
Now then. The time is finally here for all of you Bellatrix fans to rejoice, along with me if I'm being honest, as it's time to introduce the mental monster of the House of Black to the strange and silent world of her sort of cousin/niece. Who is also something of a mental monster. Should be fun.
As always if you have ideas, suggestions or want to see something happen then put it in a review or give me a PM. As you have seen in Silent World I am more than happy to adapt it as we go if I find something that you've suggested helpful, useful or just plain amusing.
I still don't own Harry Potter otherwise I'd be writing all day instead of working to pay the bills.
Dylan the Rabbit. xx
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Season of The Witch.
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12. September Song.
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The first week of the new school year flew by at a break-neck pace for the members of Hogwarts fifth House in a flurry of new lessons and new discoveries and, of course, mountains of homework. Some of which actually got done in between all the sugar fuelled silliness of the youngsters and the hot and frequent, but necessarily clandestine, sexual activity of the older girls.
To the consternation of many of the Freaks, remembering their treatment in previous semesters, the start to their current year had been rather pleasant. All of the members of the black robed House had been smiled at and spoken to by more of their peers and professors, with a few obvious exceptions, than they had thought possible. Even the headmaster was acknowledging them (however grudgingly) and it was making the older girls distinctly nervous. Like Cassie, they had seen far too much bigotry and hatred directed at them in this place for them to feel entirely comfortable with this sudden turn around.
In truth most of the staff and students were suffering from a combination of being impressed by the skill and protective nature of the Black heiress and terrified of her insane, blood thirsty temper. The gruesome details of her French adventure had been widely reported and commented upon by all of the major Wizarding media outlets, leaving any who had been in doubt before, now more than convinced of her 'dark grey' nature. Especially when if came to the safety and security of her family. As a certain Ms Skeeter had written in the Daily Prophet (and others) Cassandra was a 'proper' Lady of the House of Black, sweet and generous when she wanted to be, harsh and terrifyingly dangerous when she needed to be. Rita was the first to draw a direct relation between Cassie and her 'grandmother' Walburga but she wouldn't be the last by a long way.
Since her brutal destruction of the remaining Death Eaters many in the noble, ancient and pureblood families who made up the Wizengamot members found themselves thinking along similar lines. All of those who had been around in Orion's long tenure as Lord Black were well aware that his wife had been a great deal more than a decent piece of arm candy and breeding machine. Much like Cassie was now, Walburga had been the true power behind the throne. It was true that the 'girl-who-lived' didn't appear to have anywhere near the level of sneaky and subtle that her esteemed grandmother had possessed but she clearly ruled Sirius and the House of Black just as effectively. All of which Cassie was aware of thanks to that same sneaky and subtle mind calculating and interpolating the thoughts of her fellow aristocrats and Dora's amusement of the fact that 'granny loved to gossip'.
Her funny, clumsy cousin had fallen over herself (probably literally) to write to Cassie all about what had occured at Grimmauld Place in the past week. The excitement of voicing the thoughts and concerns of the Black ladies over Bellatrix and the fact that she had wanted to show off the brilliance of her Veela girlfriend had prompted the young Auror to put quill to parchment nearly every day. She could not, however, have expected the furious, violent reaction that these letters would provoke in the primary heiress of her House. The storms of fire and lightning that it caused to rain down upon the cellar of Psycho Freak tower soon gave way to frowning concentration as Cassie and Hermione planned their response to Voldemort's first move. Or rather the first move that they were aware of him making.
They realised rather quickly that everything that had happened to Fleur or that she had done since the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament would have to be re-examined with the new perspective of the girl having Voldie's consciousness living in her brain. It made for a mentally exhausting second weekend back at school for the strategic council which they had now included Draco in for his invaluable insights on his former allies' motives and subsequent actions. Their male cousin had been rigorously drilled in Black family history from an early age and he had come up with a few surprising revelations about the dirty deeds that their House had committed in the past. It seemed that Cassie was far from the first Head of the Black's to engage in underhanded tactics, up to and including blackmail and murder, to secure the security and increase the power of their family.
Although they were expecting it to come sooner or later the letter from her father, delivered via Kreacher's safe and sneaky hands was still a bit more unexpectedly fast in arriving. The smug little elf had barely been able to keep the grin from his face as he had passed it to his formidable mistress and her redheaded consort on the evening of their second Tuesday back.
Sirius wasn't much of a one for letters, preferring the immediacy of their charmed communication mirrors, although after an incident at the end of last year when he had seen rather more of his daughter and her betrothed than he had expected, he had at least learned to give a warning buzz before opening the connection. So it was that when he chose to write it was usually to relay something extremely important or official. Cassie, having been warned by a quick mirrored message from Amelia, had an idea that this particular letter was probably both.
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To The Lady Cassandra, primary heiress to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.
Hey little Cass,
Not quite knowing how to start this letter I hope that you will forgive your old dad for his Gryffindor tendancies and not mind if I just jump straight into the reasons that I am sending it. It would seem that two of the members of our great House have discovered something very strange and very worrying over the course of the last week. Our cousins Narcissa and Andromeda came to me with some concerns over the behaviour of their sister and requested that I, as named Head of House, undertake an investigation into the circumstances surrounding her marriage.
Now I don't know how much you know about Bellatrix but let me just say that they put her in Azkaban for a very good reason. However, if, as your aunts and grandmother seem to be suggesting, some form of foul play has been used to endanger her, then as the Head of House it is my duty to look into the matter. No matter how distasteful I find that particular family member to be. And indeed, upon further investigation, it appears that my cousin Bellatrix Black's betrothal and marriage documents have been deliberately and maliciously intefered with.
I have tasked your step mother with bringing this to the attention of the appropriate authorities and, although they have both had to recuse themselves from the official investigation, both she and Nymphie are convinced that there will be repercussions that will affect our family. If, as seems likely now, it is discovered that her behaviour was caused by a dark curse implanted by the Lestranges then she will be returning to this House as a free woman and restored as a full member.
I'm going to recommend that you research her (not that you wouldn't anyway) and get to know the person that will probably become a permanent new fixture in our lives. I value your advice and anything you can find will be helpful as I'm feeling a bit out of my depth with all of this. You are smart enough to know this love but I still urge you to exercise caution in these dealings and to think before you act out of your wholly justified protective nature with some of that awesome violence that you're so good at. Which I love by the way.
Yours as always
Lord Sirius Orion Black, Head of the Noble and etc.
P.S. As my primary heiress you are entitled to attend the trial and I have the feeling that I'll definitely be needing your support there so be ready to travel at short notice. Soon.
Padfoot xx.
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Had Cassie not had the warning from Tonks and Amelia to tell her what had been going on she may have been taken a bit off guard by this strange, disjointed missive from her father. But it was not the only letter that she had received this morning and she now impatiently tore into the envelope bearing the barely ledgible scrawl of Nymphadora's latest excited ramblings.
Cousin Nym had gone into a great more detail, running over, once more, the things that had been occurring at Grimmauld Place this last week and the Black heiress would have been incredibly grateful for it had she not seen the hand of Voldemort behind these events. The girl was so hopelessly and obviously in love with the Veela that, Auror or not, she wouldn't have either noticed or been bothered by the fact that she was clearly being used and manipulated into carrying out everything that her 'girlfriend' wanted.
All of this infomation meant only one thing to Cassie and the older Psycho Freaks. That Bellatrix Lestrange, the Dark Lord's most feared and most trusted lieutenant was looking likely to be freed and it only gave further confirmation to them that he had indeed performed the foulest of soul magics on poor Gabby's big sister. Fleur/Voldemort was slowly and subtly moving ahead with whatever plans he/she had while carefully avoiding the appearance of doing so. Frankly, if they weren't so revolted by the details of his inhabitation of the French girl they would have been mightily impressed. It was a masterful demonstration in sexual and political manouvering.
With the barest movement of her head Cassie summoned Hermione to take the seat next to her and, when her lieutenant was seated, pushed the pieces of parchment in front of her tapping them lightly.
Gather the House. We need to talk.
Hermione nodded to her, signalling her agreement and handed the letters over to the patiently waiting Susan Bones.
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Mid-way through breakfast on Thursday morning Cassie headed straight to the top table with a formal, sealed letter bearing the raven and skull crest clutched tightly in her hand. It was the expected summons from her family to request the attendance of all House Black members to prepare for a special session of the Wizengamot the next day. Well not so much request as demand. Cassie, Charli, Ginny, Cerys, Mathilde and Draco were all told, in no un-certain terms, that their presence at the floo in the Hogwart's main entrance hall was mandatory. Even Susan, with her status as both Lady Amelia Black's niece and Cassie's betrothed, was not exempt.
The DMLE's investigation into the circumstances surrounding Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black's betrothal contracts and subsequent actions was complete and an emergency sitting of the Wizarding parliament had been called to hear the findings. Two days was all it had taken once the Lord Black had presented the offending parchmentwork to the authorities and demanded action for this violation of his House. The DMLE, Auror department and indeed the entire Ministry of Magic had immediately dropped all other business in order to concentrate their efforts on righting this terrible mis-carriage of justice.
This helpful attitde among the Ministry was due in part to Cassie's popularity among the public and in part to her reputation for extreme violence against those who she deemed had sinned against her family. None of them wanted to be thought of as being part of that second group since decapitation seemed to be one of the more merciful endings that could be expected for being on the wrong end of the 'Black Witch's legendarily bad temper. Cornelius Fudge was not alone in still being plagued with nightmares from his viewing of the young woman's terrifying destruction of all those poor (?) Death Eaters in the pensieve at the Department of Mysteries. It had been almost two months since he had seen it and he had yet to get a decent night's sleep.
So he had put the entire weight of Magical Britain behind this endeavour hoping that a swift resolution would prevent him getting onto Cassandra Evans-Black's personal shit list. Not that anybody needed much persuasion. They were all as nervous as he was of how she would react if they dragged their heels, even slightly, over the investigation.
Of course this needlessly fast, frenzied and somewhat panicked activity amused the young woman who had actually set it all in motion immensely. She watched on in stoic serenity as the headless chickens of the Ministry ran around, desperate to see 'justice' done all the while dancing an internal jig of delight at the insane pace at which her plans were being realised. True enough, it was a little insulting that they were more scared of a fifteen year old witch than they had been of her old Dark Lord Voldemort persona but she wasn't going to complain too much if it resulted in Bella being freed faster.
The Chief Warlock and headmaster of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore wasn't quite so pleased of course. In one capacity he was going to have to preside over the whole mes of the probable release of the most insanely dangerous Death Eater's ever to raise a wand against 'his' light and in the other he was required to let several of his least favourite students attend this farce. These facts were causing him to grind his teeth in anger and frutration at the impotence that he felt at being ensnared in this horrible situation. Unfortunately there was nothing that he could do to prevent it. This was the family business of a Noble and Most Ancient House and he could not interfere in any way without risking the sanction of the entire Wizengamot.
The only upside that Albus could see was that the Evans brat looked just as pissed off about this as he was. He still made sure that she saw his hidden glare at her as he smiled falsely behind his half moon glasses while signing off on the Blacks' permission to leave after lunch.
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Later that evening Katie Bell and Daphne Greengrass nodded at each other across the Psycho Freak table while taking a brief break from scanning the hall for any threats from those who might take advantage of the absence of the more scary black robed students. Hermione's brooding demeanour along with the looming presence of Vince and Greg was definitely putting off some of the less stupid would be threats but they certainly wouldn't be letting their guard down any time soon.
Cassie had tasked them with assisting in the protection of her severely depleted school House, since all of the Black family members had been summoned to Twelve Grimmauld Place to await the outcome of the trial later on tomorrow. Only the Black Witch herself would be attending the actual trial in the company of her older relatives but the other girls (and Draco) had been drafted in to give her some support following the fairly inevitable outcome. They would all be there to oversee the return to the family of their most notorious cousin and assist in cleaning up the blood if Cassie lost her shit with Fleur/Voldemort and Bellatrix.
And everyone in the know had to admit that this particular outcome was a distinct possibility given the protective and volatile nature of the 'Freak in Chief'. Most of them were hoping that Susan Bones could keep her girlfriend's temper in check with only the furious Cerys actively encouraging the use of 'extreme and wholly justifiable' violence against the monster who had defiled her mate's sister. Much to his lasting regret it had fallen to Draco to try and stop this encouragement by whatever means necessary even if it meant that they had to but him new robes. After all they all knew that the only surefire way to keep the vicious little Welsh girl amused and distracted was to allow her raven familiar free reign to assault the blonde haired teenager with all of his customary glee.
Those left behind at the school had given strict instructions that, were this to be necessary, they would be supplied with a thorough photographic record of the event. Hermione and the others may have forgiven him for his behaviour in the previous years but they couldn't really help themselves from giggling at his misfortune. It was just too funny when they saw the huffing pureblood attempting to look all haughty and aristocratic while covered in feathers and raven shit.
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Friday's emergency Wizengamot session had kicked off with the traditional calling of the roll which had taken rather more time than normal since, for the first time in decades, every single sitting member had chosen to made an appearance. The packed galleries where the noble families not eligible (or not yet eligible) to take a seat were gathered also attested to the fact that this was going to be a most unusual proceeding. And in the centre of this sea of interested on-lookers, lounging amongst her sisters and aunts was the devil herself. Cassandra Evans-Black. The hushed chattering that pervaded both the voting floor and the gallery seemed to have it's focus soley and securely on her and her alone.
Silence descended as the, until recently, most notorious member of the most notorious House in the history of Wizarding Britain was led into the chamber and carefully placed in the defendant's chair. And chained there. Despite, or perhaps because of, their fear of the House of Black no self respecting Auror was going to let the insane and exciteable prisoner sit through this hearing unrestrained.
Investigators, prosecuters, defence attorneys and judges filed into their appointed positions and as the buzz of reawakened chatter faded again things finally got started.
It was time.
Albus Dumbledore sat in the Chief Warlock's throne high above the proceedings and watched as things slipped inexorably out of his control. He had rather been taken by surprise by this bold move that Tommy (or Tammy as he had begun to privately refer to the former Dark Lord) had made to get his/her lieutenant out of Azkaban.
Frankly he was surprised that it had even got this far. But then he supposed that with the beautiful and charismatic 'girl-who-lived' leading them the House of Black had become extremely popular lately which was leading to everyone trying to curry favour with them. Of course, add to that the fact that she had proved herself more than prepared to slaughter her enemies and had actually wiped out at least three Noble Houses in the last few months and the co-operation of the Wizengamot was virtually guaranteed.
Nobody wanted to make an un-necessary enemy of the fearsome young woman that their European neighbours were now nervously referring to as the Black Butcher.
As for the hearing itself, since 'Tammy' Riddle was behind it, it held no surprises for him. The cursed contracts had obviously been faked but such was the popularity of both the startlingly beautiful and tragic young veela and the House of Black currently that those who should have known better were completely fooled. The old man in his throne sighed as the fabricated evidence piled up and resigned himself to losing this particular battle. Not the war though. That had not even begun yet.
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Lord Carrick Fawley was blessed with something that many of his colleagues in the Wizengamot were not. Common sense. It was mainly this besides his natural cunning and intelligece it made him the perfect political operator, able to navigate these murky waters with confidence and ease. One didn't get to be, or stay, as the Head of one the traditionally dark 'sacred twenty eight' families for as long as he had without an overwhelming abundance of these qualities. So it was that he managed to curb his desire to join in the general fawning that was going on as the great majority of Lords, Ladies and House Heads rose to praise the House of Black in general and Bellatrix and Lady Cassandra in particular.
He had been watching the famous Black heiress and had seen nothing but contempt for their ridiculous public declarations from the stony faced teenager beneath the instantly recogniseable red hooded cloak. Her eye rolling annoyance with them had only been matched by her total lack of emotion as she had witnessed her most dangerous aunt being exonnerated of all her crimes on the flimsy and obviously false 'evidence' that had been gathered and presented today.
Nobody with memories of the last war or with half a brain could truly have believed in the 'innocence' of Bellatrix Lestrange. Or Bellatrix Black as she was now since her bewildered ex-husband and his brother had been kissed and thrown through the veil for their crimes against her a short hour previously. Yet here they all were rabidly sucking up to the young woman who was the de-facto leader of that darkest of all the Noble and Most Ancient families. They were all making morons of themselves. Worse still, they were un-observant morons.
The 'Black Witch' had spent the entirety of the hearing with a ferociously hard, venemous look in those startling green eyes that would have curdled milk. It was very clear to him that not only was she aware of the charade being played out on this very public stage but that she disapproved of it intensely. Actually disapproval was probably a rather pale expression of her emotions at the moment. Lady Cassandra looked livid with fury and yet somehow pleased beyond measure all at the same time. As if she were witnessing an event that, while infuriating and upsetting in the short term, would eventually lead to that horrifying, savage butchery of her enemies that she was so famous for.
Lord Fawley was the wisest man in the chamber that day as he held his peace and, when he managed to briefly catch her eye, twitched his lip in the tiniest of smiles. The wink and devious smirk that he received in reply from the gorgeous but terrifying girl made his heart swell with pride at his presence of mind. An alliance between the Houses of Fawley and Black would be most welcome and, as a consequence, bring an immeasurable amount of wealth and power to him. With the votes and influence that they would wield, the two of them together could get literally any damned law they wanted passed. Perhaps it was time to bring his grand-daughter home from the colonies and offer her to the House of Black as a bride to one of it's unattached members.
As she disappeared out of the gallery the crafty old Lord continued to think of how he could extend the hand of, well not friendship, but certainly co-operation and mutual benefit to her when silence fell across the chamber like a blanket. His eyes lit up as he saw the 'Black Witch' moving out to retrieve her errant aunt, recognising the display of power for what it was and sitting forward eagerly to watch the show.
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Lady Cassandra Evans-Black strode confidently across the floor of the Wizengamot chamber, flanked by Cissy and Andi, dropping her light, blood red cloak and outer robe as she came and revealing tight, leather trousers, tall heeled boots and short top that ended just above her navel. A wide black belt held together with a bright silver buckle in the shape of the skull and raven Black family crest supported a holster on each thigh containing a pale wand and decidedly nasty looking dagger. Deliberately dressed for war, or at least for a well prepared assasination, she truly was a magnificent sight to behold.
Although she had eagerly read and devoured every article in every paper and magazine that her suddenly and inexplicably thoughtful guards had provided her over the last ten days or so Bellatrix found that nothing quite prepared you for seeing her in the flesh. Speaking of which there was a lot of that flesh on display today and it was now that the dark witch noticed all the subtelties that could not be conveyed in a mere photograph, no matter how magical it was. Judging by the many oohs and aahs and camera flashbulbs going off in the chamber she was clearly not the only one who thought this.
It was the scars that really did it for her. She imagined that most people would get hung up on her tattoos and, fair enough, they were both beautiful and badass but for Bella the scars showed you who Cassandra Evans-Black really was. Someone who was a warrior for their cause. Someone who would place themselves in danger for her loved ones. Someone who wasn't afraid to take a beating. Someone who could take a poisoned arrow to the shoulder and still function well enough to slaughter everything in her path ...
Someone who was now staring straight at Bella with those strange, creepy eyes the colour and intensity of the killing curse.
The chains securing her to the defendant's chair that still hadn't been removed yet, despite her having been declared innocent of all charges for the last hour and a half, literally exploded into black smoke at the merest wave of her hand as her powerful cousin strode towards her. As the stunned and emaciated woman was lifted to her unsteady feet by her younger sisters Bella finally understood what her Lord ... Lady Fleurdamorte had been trying to tell her for the last week or so.
Morgana's venereal vagina, this girl was truly fucking terrifying.
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Back at Grimmauld Place a pair of excited House elves flitted about distributing delicate flutes filled with champagne (and pumpkin juice for the younger and more pregnant) amongst the gathered wizards and witches of the House of Black. Glasses were held aloft with varying degrees of enthusiasm as the shout rang out.
"To Bellatrix."
Cassandra, Charlotte, Ginevra, Cerys and Mathilde, the hard eyed black sisters and the stony faced Susan Bones all remained silent at the exhuberantly shouted toast by an overly excited Narcissa. It had been a long time since Bella had seen her sisters all giddy like this and it had unfortunately distracted her from the many threats to her safety in the room. Of course the main one was right in front of her.
The bespectacled and outrageously dressed girl in the centre of the formal drawing room looked like a Dark Queen as she sat in a plushly upholstered chair amidst her court of grim looking sisters and cousins. The fact that she had an eight foot python coiled around her shoulders just added to the whole 'goddess of the underworld' vibe that she had going on currently and gave even the feared and fearsome Bellatrix Lestrange ... whoops ... Bellatrix Black a reason to hesitate nervously.
Perhaps her Dark Lady Fleurdamorte had been right about not antagonising the ridiculously scary teenager. Taking advantage of this brief moment of mental clarity and being all too aware that she was currently in no fit state to take on the hard eyed young woman sporting the big fucking knife, Bella made her move.
She approached the throne like chair containing her dangerous cousin and dropped to one knee, bending her head.
"Lady Cassandra this child of your House asks for your blessing and protection." Bella's voice cracked and grated through a decade and a half of not being used. "I understand that my actions have brought our family into dis-repute and I humbly plead for my Head of House's understanding and forgiveness."
Everyone in the room who had known the former Death Eater was utterly shocked by her actions, giving further creedence to the 'curse' story. This was not the behaviour that they had expected from Bellatrix within the walls of the Black family's fortress like home. Mental stability and coherent reasoning were not what they had come to expect from the mad blood purist and reasoning didn't come much more coherent than not pissing off the wildly dangerous Cassandra Evans-Black. Even Amelia was impressed as the former Death Eater knelt in silence, simply waiting.
The silent minutes dragged on as Cassie gazed at Sirius' eldest living cousin and former Death Eater lieutenant with cool disinterest in those killing curse green eyes. She may have already decided, for the sake of appearances, to take the woman in but she certainly wasn't going to make it easy for her. It was only when she saw the recently released prisoner start to shake with the effort of staying on her knees that she reached out gently placed one delicate hand on Bellatrix's shaggy, brittle black hair. The same hand slid down in a gentle caress through the hair and on down her bicep and forearm to finish lightly gripping the bony fingers of the kneeling woman.
At the tugging insistance of her de facto House Head Bella rose and was guided to the seat to the right of Cassandra's in an extremely dazed state. Lady Fleurdamorte had suggested that it might go this way but she had not really believed it.
In the corner of the room the Veela Dark Lady was nervously watching this touching little family drama playing out before her and had inexplicably started to tear up at the young heiress' seemingly tender treatment of Bellatrix. It was so heart warming indeed that she had even begun to believe it possible that the terrifying green eyed killer on the throne was completely sincere in her actions. Until she caught that little twitch of the lips that she made, un-noticed by all but her that is. Well, there was that and the fact that Gabrielle's fiesty little mate, Cerys was all but growling at her every time she wandered into the girl's eyeline.
Fleurdamorte's heart stopped briefly as she noticed Cassie notice Cerys' behaviour and give her little sister a gentle reprimand in sign language. Luckily for her it was in English, which she had spent a good few weeks getting to grips with so as to be prepared for precisely this type of situation.
Now is not the time Cerys bach.
The question was ... when would be the time ... and would she survive it.
She had no illusions that she would be able to beat Cassandra Evans-Black in any kind of a stand up fight at the moment. The tattooed younger girl's actions both at Delacour Villa and in their few sparring sessions over the summer had left her in absolutely no doubt of that. It was the entire reason for springing Bella from prison after all, but her most useful and talented minion was going to be far below fighting strength for quite some time yet. If Cassie had put together the clues about about who she actually was this fast, and she wouldn't put it past the girl, then her whole plan might just crumble before it even got started.
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There was a great deal of chatter and laughter as the House of the Basilisk and the Scythe who had not travelled back to London for the trial wound their way through the castle from dinner in the great hall back to their tower. For the first two days Katie, Daphne and Hermione were always within sight and reach of their younger charges, displaying some of that fierce protectiveness that their raven haired friend was so famous for. After a while, when everyone had kept a respectful (and scared) distance, in the end the older girls had decided that Cassie's paranoia had been mostly unfounded and they had relaxed a little. They still went every where together and escorted the younger members to and from class but their vigilance had definitely been taken down a notch or three.
This turned out to have been a mistake.
The ambush had been well laid. As it should have been. After all, the instigators had been planning it since their return to Hogwarts nearly two weeks ago and had only been awaiting the opportunity to spring it. In a virtually unheard of period of co-operation for the common goal of hitting the hated Black Witch where it would hurt her the most, Ronald Weasley, Theodore Nott and as many like minded young men as they could persuade to their cause attacked from the shadows at either end of a short, dark corridor. It would have been rather beautiful, Slytherin and Gryffindor working together for a jointly beneficial cause, had that cause not been to attack and injure as many of the Psycho Freaks as was possible.
Spell fire lit up the corridor and only the quick reactions of the frequently bullied Luna Lovegood saved her classmates from being taken out wholesale in the first volley. Her production of the incredibly difficult domed protego, designed for the protection of a small group against attacks from different directions was fast and effective. Although it did falter somewhat under the barrage that was currently being laid down and required the help of a shocked Hermione, Katie and Daphne to reinforce and sustain it. Then it became a super shield.
However, no protego could hold forever against the kind of reckless hatred that was fuelling their attackers and, knowing what needed to be done, Greg Goyle and Vince Crabbe nodded to each other before stepping from the safety of it's perimeter. Each of the impressively muscled boys took off in opposite directions on a pair of jinking and surprisingly fast runs at the two separate groups of assailants. Nobody was more surprised than the ambushers and it put them off their aim slightly so that the two large quidditch beaters were in amongst them before they could properly grasp what was happening.
Wands gave way to fists as the magical assault turned into two almost entirely separate vicious physical brawls at either end of the short corridor. Greg was quickly laying about his former house mates with glee and having a great deal of success despite their vastly superior numbers, his bloodied fists and boots connecting with them with some very satisfying crunches. Vince, however, was finding it much harder going, the Gryffindors seemingly much more willing to engage with him physically rather than avoid the incoming hits like their Slytherin temporary comrades at the other end of the corridor. They had him down on the ground and the kicks and punches were raining down upon him with only Ron firing curses at the group of huddled Freaks to keep them under their fast waning shield and unable to help.
It would, no doubt, have gone very badly for them all had they not been rescued by the one person that they had never expected as she came barelling around the corner, red faced and breathless at that particular moment. Striding into the path of nasty purplish cutting hex and merely swatting it away the dumpy figure exercised her impressive vocal talents.
"ENOUGH! I will have order."
For such a short, squat woman the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor had a powerful set of lungs on her and her enormous shout shocked the combatants into stillness, utterly silent apart from a few groans of pain and pants of exertion. Without a thought for her own safety Delores stepped into the scorched and ruined passageway and began to separate the the attackers from the attacked. She lined the wrong-doers up against one wall and held them there with a simple but effective 'stay' before turning to assess the damage caused to the black robed young people.
Having satisfied herself that none of them were too badly injured and sent off a patronus (in the form of a toad of course) the group of milling students were soon joined by the Deputy Headmistress and professors Sinistra and Snape. The latter glared at the assembled idiots and with little more than a sneering, disappointed look had the foolish young men trooping off towards the dungeons in a quietly shameful line, heads hung low. They winced as they heard the deceptively soft, hissing voice of their Head of House behind them.
"Delores, Minerva, Aurora, I shall meet you in the headmaster's office before breakfast tomorrow to discuss an appropriate punshment for the discraceful behaviour of these very stupid young men." He raked his black eyed gaze across the miscreants, causing more than a few of them to shudder at the implied threat. "Some of whom I am ... displeased ... to say are members of my own House."
Receiving nods of agreement from his colleagues and a brief, low 'As shall I' from McGonagall, Severus stalked off after his errant charges with the habitual scowl and dramatic billowing of his black robes.
"Merlin he's sexy when he does that."
There was a strangled cough from Minerva and sounds of retching from certain of the now highly amused members of the Psycho Freaks which brought to the attention of professor Sinistra that she had actually given voice to her inner thoughts. It was bad enough that her little Freaks had heard it but so much worse that McGonagall and the bloody toad were present as well. She was mortified.
"I ... I just said that out loud didn't I?"
"Yes dear but we won't hold it against you will we Delores?"
The Defence professor and ministry stooge blinked rapidly at being included in what was clearly 'girl talk' by the two other women. Not having ever had anything in the way of female friends, due to her disposition, this kind of thing had never happened to her before and she was a touch uncertain of how to handle the situation. Some sort of response was probably required other than the strange throat clearing noise that she usually made when uncomfortable but she wasn't too clear on what that should be exactly. Deciding that anything was preferable to staring at them like an idiot Madame Umbridge forced her facial muscles into a very strange and seldom used non sickly smile.
"Of course we won't Minerva." She turned to the dark skinned astronomy professor. "Besides Potions Master Snape would be quite the catch Aurora." Getting into the role more she actually gave a wink. "He is rather ... hem, hem ... dreamy ... is he not?"
Hermione and her house-mates gazed on in wonder as her teachers teased and blushed and giggled with each other like they were the school girls. It was something that she had never thought to see. Probably had hoped never to see was more like it she supposed. It was all quite distressing and yet when she replayed the events of the last hour or so she couldn't help but being rather impressed as well. The undeniable fact was that Dolores Umbridge had saved them from taking a considerable beating tonight and, despite their gratitude being somewhat muted by their surprise, the black robed House were now in her debt.
As their bloodied male heroes returned to be tenderly embraced and fussed over by the small group of grateful Freaks before being carefully escorted to the infirmary a sense of immense pride welled up in the Black Witch's bushy haired lieutenant. Yes they had been caught unawares but even without the scarier and more violent section of their House being present they had put up a decent defense and, more importantly, protected the younger students admirably. Hermione just hoped that Cassie wouldn't give them all too much grief for leaving their hand to hand weapons in the tower this evening, although she was aware that, given what had happened, this was a ridiculously forlorn hope.
She also hoped that Cassie wouldn't do anything too rash when she learned about what had occurred here this evening but seeing the twinkling look of triumph in professor Umbridge's piggy little eyes she doubted that the Black heiress would even get the chance. This was the toad's big opportunity to push forward with increasing the Ministry of Magic's agenda at the school, no doubt counting on the headmaster's going easy on Nott and Weasley in spite of the obvious deadly intent in their attack. Some of the spells being thrown around by those two and their moronic crew could well have proved decidedly lethal if they had got through and yet she knew that they would escape any serious punishment. If he ran true to form and this was the case, Dumbledore was going to hand Umbridge and the Ministry the keys to Hogwarts and they wouldn't have to so much as lift a finger to get them.
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