I'll update again in the next couple days I just had alot of fun writing this and I wanted my readers on this side of the pond to have something to go over this weekend, as always please review and enjoy the show I have to get to work on the next chapter.
December 23, 1995 The Potter Manor
Releasing an exhausted sigh Remus fell onto the couch with an audible thump, chin resting on his chest he glanced up to see an equally drained Sirius stumble into the room pulling off the violet robes of the Wizengameot and tossing them into the fireplace. After the day they'd had he didn't blame his longtime friend in the slightest, while Remus was more then grateful that Hermione had chosen him to represent the House of Ravenclaw today's proceedings made him regret that appointment.
Not noticing that Sirius had left the room he started a bit as the old dog conjured a table and placed a tea set and a bottle of brandy before him, plopping next to his hetero lifemate the two marauders prepared their drinks and stared into the distance.
"Well...when all of Umbitch's anti-werewolf legislation was repealed I bet you never thought you'd have to deal with this eh Mooney?" Taking a sip of his fortified tea the weary man simply shook his head,
"No I can't say I imagined I'd be in bloody court for twelve hours strait with nothing to keep me going but a packet of crackers and a litre of coffee...Amelia will make a fine Minister of Magic, although I'm fairly certain she's going to attempt to murder you for nominating her." Snorting Sirius drained his cup and refilled it, Remus didn't fail to notice there was far more brandy then tea being transferred,
"Price I'm willing to pay for competent leadership, did you see the look on Scrimgour's face when Shacklebolt was promoted past him to the new head of the DMLE? Thought the man was going to fly into a rage," at that the Potter Estates current guests wandered into the room escorted by a pink haired Tonks, the Granger's gave the exhausted pair a level look before sitting across from them.
"You two look beat, where's the girls?" Tonks slid onto Remus' lap and began playing with his hair, finding this a satisfactory position to be in he let Sirius' field the question,
"Like Lilly said earlier Fudge was offed, and to be honest you'd be hard pressed to convince me that she didn't have a hand in it, considering the man tried to have us all killed at one point or another I don't particularly care. Anyway while we had to sit around for most of the day going over who was going to replace him our girls had to go deal with the backroom proceedings, probably still wheeling and dealing at the moment." Frowning a bit Emma fixed herself and Dan a cup before replying,
"Like bribing and the such? I thought that's what they were trying to get rid of," Snorting Remus shook his head in amusement,
"No more like Lilly beating half the pureblood party into submission for having the audacity to insult your daughter with some rather nasty slurs, while her reputation at school has taught people to respect her penchant for violence it hadn't really migrated...well until today. So with dominance established they're solidifying their position as heads of the moderate party." Sirius nodded as he swallowed his tea,
"Hermione basically called out all known Death Eaters thanks to Bella's intel, when they threatened her she casually pulled up her left sleeve and dared the rest of them to do so, that's when they called her that infuriating word, then Lilly got mad." Tonks snorted lightly,
"And unlike when she was Harry instead of storming off and brooding she typically causes property damage, glad Madam Bones let me go home before that I'm not ready to get my ass handed to me by my over protective little cousin while she was itching to fight." There was a light chuckle from the doorway and all the adults turned to see the Ladies of Slytherin and Ravenclaw entering the room escorted by a broadly grinning Bellatrix.
"Yes well better I get angry rather then Hermione, I'm vengeful but forgiving, she's vindictive and I really need some of these people to stay alive for the time being," Bella's face dropped a bit at this,
"Awww, really? I was having ever so much fun too!" Grinning Lilly pulled a slip of paper from her pocket and handed it to her now despondent cousin,
"Here you go dear, go shopping make sure to cast our mark after you burn the mansion down, oh and leave a few witnesses this time, Happy Christmas," Letting out an excited "Yay!" the unstable witch left the room muttering something about using grenades as bludgers, honestly Remus didn't want to know. Hermione shook her head as the door slammed shut looking both amused and a bit apprehensive.
"Lils only you would keep a dangerous psychopath content by giving her a steady supply of vandalism, destruction of property and useful murder," the ravenette grinned cheekily at that,
"Its a gift love, I have a way of attracting talent," neither girl noticed both Remus and Sirius grimacing slightly when Hermione called her 'Lils', that had been the Marauder's pet name for Lily Potter and for a moment brought a flash of pain at the reminder of their fallen friends. The Granger's looked slightly uncomfortable on how casually the teens were discussing killing people but considering the targets were dangerous terrorists who'd kidnapped, raped, and murdered hundreds if not thousands of people they decided to keep their peace. Clearing his throat Remus reacquired everyone's attention,
"So with Amelia now in control when do you think Voldemort will move to assassinate her?" Lilly's eyes flashed brightly for a moment as she scowled,
"Sometime after the new year, hell maybe even on new years day, I'd actually like to train a few people on your new crazy ass flying tanks and have them patrol her manor grounds disillusioned, I personally like the idea of dropping 42 tonnes of armor on a Death Eater hit squad," Sirius tapped his chin thoughtfully and promised he'd look into it. Nodding the pair of young witches conjured chairs and sat beside the Granger's, Hermione wrapped an arm around Dan as Lilly poured herself a cup of tea, they all sat in comfortable silence for a time before Emma asked,
"So where would you like to spend Christmas day? Hermione already explained your point of view on religion but I'd love for you to go to church with us," instead of reacting as everyone expected (i.e. abject disgust) Lilly looked contemplative for a moment then nodded,
"I can swing with that, I'd like you two to remain guests till the first for your safety and to let our families mingle a bit more, honestly I can't wait until we're done with our O.W.L's and N.E.W.T's this not seeing our loved ones for months on end thing is getting tedious." The group muttered agreements with that, with all out war on the horizon any time spent with those you loved was precious, Lilly leaned over and whispered into Hermione's ear, "They make me sing at this god botherer convention I will be reminding everyone that my favorite band is the Ramones."
Hermione did her best to contain the laugh that wanted to bark out, the idea of Lilly breaking out "I wanna be sedated" in the middle of a packed church filling her with both horror and mirth, shaking her head she muttered,
"You're trouble you know that?" Grinning even wider she twitched her tea cup towards the pair of half comatose Marauders,
"You have met my dad and uncle yes?" Hermione met Sirius' gray eyes and noticed a playful light in them along with a slight smirk, his animagus enhanced hearing catching the conversation and obviously enjoying his new title immensely, she couldn't blame the man he'd suffered greatly and he finally had what he'd desperately wanted since his mother disowned him, family. Returning the smirk she released her arm from her dad's shoulders to instead pull Lilly close, the war was coming to their doorstep within the next few weeks and she'd be damned if she was going to waste the time she was given, summoning a bottle of firewhiskey she placed it on the table and conjured several shot glasses.
Grinning at Sirius and Remus she asked, "So you boys know any good drinking songs and games?" The two men exchanged glances as Tonks hopped off the couch and conjured herself an armchair, Mooney stroked his chin for a moment before breaking the seal on the bottle,
"So, this one time in Ireland I was called into this small town to bail out Prongs and Padfoot, little did I realize they'd used the wine conjuration spell to get the entire constabulary drunk..."
The Goyle Manor
As Bellatrix apparated outside the ancient mansion's wards she began humming to herself as she placed the ward breaking rune stones about the area, these were professional Gringott's level curse breaker tools that Lilly had been able to cajole from the Goblins, for a price of course. Lilly proved that "its not what you know but who you know" was true when she'd had the incredibly yummy Bill Weasely train Bella how to operate them and now it was time for her to start her reign of terror. As she began charging the stones she grinned as she broke out into song,
"Mais d'où vient l'émotion étrange qui me fascine autant qu'elle me dérange je frissonne poignardé par le beau c'est comme dans l'âme le couteau la blessure traverse mon cœur Et j'ai la joie dans la douleur je m'enivre de ce poison a en perdre la raison." [For the none-bilingual readers- Now where does this strange feeling come from that fascinates me just as much as it disturbs me, I shiver stabbed by the beauty it's like a knife in my soul the wound going right through my heart and I feel joy in the pain, I intoxicate myself with this poison until it makes me loose my mind] With that the wards fell and she sauntered onto the grounds pulling out the special package from the Weasley twins, enlarging the massive contraption she activated its timer and cast sound muffling and disillusionment charms on herself as she waited for the literal fireworks to start.
Eventually the machine made a grinding noise and began launching hundreds of flares into the sky detonating into magical burning dragons and wyrms as they danced across the ebony expanse, making her way to the manor she watched the Goyle family rush out en masse to view the disturbance. They must have been celebrating the solstice since there was no less then two dozen adults now watching the display in confusion and awe, all the better for her. Walking up behind the closest woman who smelled horribly of perfume Bella grasped the woman's mouth as she slit her throat, laying her quietly on the ground unnoticed by the crowd dazzled by the explosives she repeated the process over the next two minutes.
"'Ello Gregory," Gregory Goyle senior spun around to see Bellatrix Black grinning at him with a field of dead bodies lying behind her, before he could pull his wand out Bella jammed a dagger into his stomach and let him fall, "Lilly said to leave survivors, she didn't say in what condition to leave them in, if your son has an ounce of wisdom he'll survive the night as well, hope you enjoy the show." Turning to the building in question Bella grinned as she cast fiendfyre upon the ancient manor, much like her mistress the demonic fire spell took the shape of a serpent and began slithering along the outer walls leaving an inferno in its wake.
Much to her annoyance it appeared the children of her murder victims had some survival instincts as they ran out of the burning building, pouting a bit she glanced down at Goyle senior and decided "Fuck it" and blew his head off with a Reducto. Honestly Lilly would probably approve and with the kids as witnesses her orders were complete, pointing her wand to the sky she cast the spell Lilly had recently come up with and grinned at its glowing brilliance.
The "Anti-Dark Mark" as Hermione liked to describe it took over the sky, an emerald raven with its wings swept open holding a brutalized snake in its talons hovered above the demon fueled fire, declaring war on all those that sided with the pretender Voldemort. Still grinning she decided to leave the hell fire to do its thing on its own and Bellatrix apparated back home to find the group drinking and laughing at Sirius' singing, Lilly and Hermione giggling and clapping along with the old dogs refrain. Not wanting to interrupt the moment Bella snagged the half empty bottle of whiskey and took a swig as she curled up next to the girls, she really loved her new family.
Lord Voldemort was annoyed, he hadn't been 'infuriated' since the ceremony that brought back his sanity and he was thankful for it at the moment, more then likely he'd have flown into a blind rage if he'd received this news earlier. The Potter bitch was moving against him, and unlike the old goat fuckers fried chicken alliance Lillith Alice Black was willing to play the game his way, meaning alot of dead bodies, a tonne of property damage and a spectacle the news papers couldn't ignore. Lucius approached apprehensively obviously worried he'd be tortured for whatever updates he had, Voldemort silently cursed himself for his lapse into insanity, after all who wanted to follow a man who treated you like his enemies? Clearing his throat the blonde man gave his report,
"My lord, according to the children...Bellatrix Black lured the adults outside and systematically executed all of them, she then set the building on fire and cast that mark into the sky, all told she killed 27 of your followers and backers..." Voldemort remained silent but nodded to his longtime friend. Receiving the acknowledgment Lucius left to handle the fallout before the ministry showed up, and they really needed to be out of here before they did the new leadership was not as pliable as Fudge had been. Glancing to Theodore Nott Senior he spoke in a deep baritone,
"Leave the bodies, while it will temporarily lift the spirits of the traitors and filth hiding the passing of nearly thirty of our societies upper crust would be far too much effort for no gain, see if you can remove that mark from the sky but take no more then a half hour to do so. If you cannot remove it meet me back at the Riddle manor, that is all." The large man nodded, his shaven head reflecting the firelight of the burning Goyle manor, apparating back home Tom Riddle sighed as he sat in his throne. "What a waste" was all he could say, he'd lost his most fanatical follower due to his stupidity and a voided marriage contract, and she was quite handily proving that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
Glancing down at Nagini he shook his head in annoyance, why the literal hell did he make a living thing one of his horcruxes? Seriously he had to have been in the deepest of insanities to think that was a good idea, silently deciding that he'd have to transfer her soul shard into something he could hide in a safety deposit box he would never know that his thoughts mirrored that of his nemesis. Turning on the telly Lord Voldemort began to relax a bit, sure he had no idea what was coming tomorrow but dwelling on it wouldn't help in the slightest, plus he'd missed several seasons of Doctor Who during his "death" and it was time to catch up, fuck it Lucius and Teddy could handle it for now.
Decembe 25 1995, Potter Manor
Lilly had a hard night of sleep though that was a misnomer, she had a terrible night of sleep and was currently doing her best to ignore that fact as she stumbled down the halls of her ancestral home. Dad had been more then willing to break out the holiday cheer the past few days and unfortunately she was not a 22 year old man and couldn't handle the amount of alcohol necessary to keep up with her dogfather, hence her frequent washroom visits. Clad in a punk rock t-shirt and a pair of panties she stumbled into the loo and vacated her stomach, after a time she brushed her teeth and spat out the foul residue hoping Hermione didn't find out about this, her girlfriend had a habit of bringing up laser guided "I told you so's".
Feeling a bit more clear headed she left the room and ran into Tonks who apparently hadn't bothered with any of her morphing tricks this early in the AM so she was in her natural state which greatly resembled her mother aside from her lank hair being the same pitch black of her cousins rather then a rich a brown.
'Wotcher Lils, keeping up with the boys is becoming a full time job," glancing at her cousins attire she decided her favorite auror had a similar night to hers considering she was wearing little more then a David Bowie shirt and a pair of mens boxers.
"Happy Christmas 'Dora, how are you holding up?" Grinning her cousin leaned against the wall while quirking her eyebrows up,
"Well, never let it be said that being with a man who has werewolf stamina is boring, aside from that I can honestly say that I won't be missing the drinking when I go back to work. Out of curiosity have you considered...you know, being with a man since your change?" Surprising both parties present Lilly simply shrugged,
"My desires are still focused on women, I can appreciate a good looking guy like a work of art but I hold no lust for them...well...Charlie Weasley is a bit hard to resist but outside of that I'm fine with Hermione," Tonks busted out into laughter at this and took a good few to calm down.
"Sorry sorry, just so you know I was at school with Charlie and you basically described the entire female populations opinion of him so don't feel too weird about it, and sorry for prying I was just curious since you know...I'm kind of a fan of wizards that have knobs at the end of their staves so to speak." Snorting at her cousins crudeness Lilly kicked off the wall and was about to head for the kitchen when she heard a deep *thump thump thump* from the front door, curious the pair made for the manors greeting room. As the duo of witches approached the front doors Bellatrix intercepted them grinning widely, like her cousins she was clad in little more then a Iron Maiden t-shirt more then likely stolen from Sirius,
"'Ello my lovelies, we have guests!" Lilly rolled her eyes at that but chose not to respond, antagonizing her resident serial killer was an incredibly stupid and needless action, the three ladies of Black swung the front door open to be confronted with something none of them anticipated. Narcissa, Andromeda, and Draco Black stood before them arms filled with wrapped gifts, Lilly felt her head fall to the side as she tried to register this event but her mind was currently on 'read only' mode, thankfully her Wicked Witch was batshit insane so she didn't suffer from such things as logic burnouts.
"CISSY, DROMA!" And with that Bellatrix rushed forward and pulled her sisters into rib crushing hugs sending their presents flying in the process, Draco for his part was flushing brightly seeing the trio of attractive women in near undress. Raising a single brow at her former nemesis Lilly had to admit that Draco's lack of freakout was intriguing, conjuring a skirt for herself she slipped it on before addressing her visitors.
"Well...it appears dads invite was not ignored after all, please make yourselves comfortable while I wake everyone else," spinning on her heel she marched upstairs to wake up her dad, he had some shit to answer for and "I was drunk" was not going to fly with her this time.