This has again been a while in process, but I do have some ideas now that I shall be carrying out. :)

Trixie Black Lestrange


The dark-haired witch laughed in delight as she watched her father control the target her bitemates were after. "Now!" Reginald commanded, a grin on his face as Zisi struck the target easily. "Very good!"

The bitemates returned to the two Parselmouths, Estella and her father taking them up proudly. "You'll have to continue practising with them," the man said, wrapping his arm around her as they walked back toward the main room of the Chamber. "But they'll learn quickly. They are Tabashi's clutch, after all." He smirked with pride.

They were leaving the main room to go see Estella's mother when someone entered the room behind them. Estella jumped in shock, turning to see Megan there, raising an eyebrow in amusement. "You're going to be late, Ms Parkington," Megan grinned. "Oh, and you should see today's Prophet: you're probably going to be upset. Just—don't hurt Draco too much."

"What's he done?" Estella asked darkly, but Megan shook her head and walked past her, heading to the two sand rooms.

"Well, she is right," Reginald nodded. "You are going to be late for class. I've kept you far too long."

Estella hugged her father tightly, then hurried through the passageways up into the rest of the castle. If she ran nearly the whole way, she could possibly make it on time…

Take the passage. It was her mother's voice, advising her on what to do.

Thanks, Estella breathed, changing her direction and hurrying to take advantage of the shortcut. She tripped into her first class just as it began, sliding into a seat hurried and plopping her books onto the desk.

Stanley glanced at her, then scribbled something on a piece of parchment and slid it to her secretly. Estella looked down at the note and frowned.

Have you seen the Prophet this morning?

No, Estella wrote back. Why?

I'll show you after class, the boy answered, and smirked when Estella rolled her eyes at him in frustration.


The moment class was out, Estella followed him out of the room, receiving many suspicious glances from her classmates. She sidled up next to him as they walked toward the next class. "So," she said. "What is all this to-do about the Daily Prophet?"

"Here," Stanley sighed, digging through his bag until he found the paper and handed it to her. "It's that Skeeter woman again."

Estella sighed, scanning the paper until she found the questionable article: Dumbledore's Giant Mistake. She began to read the article, her expression darkening as she read further and further down.

"An alarmingly large and ferocious-looking man, Hagrid has been using his newfound authority [as Care of Magical Creatures teacher] to terrify the students in his care with a succession of horrific creatures. While Dumbledore turns a blind eye, Hagrid has maimed several pupils during a series of lessons that many admit to be 'very frightening'"

"Ha," Estella smirked. The only person she knew had been harmed in one of Hagrid's classes was Draco Malfoy—she gasped in shock.

"I was attacked by a hippogriff, and my friend Vincent Crabbe got a bad bite off a flobberworm," says Draco Malfoy, a fourth-year student. "We all hate Hagrid, but we're just too scared to say anything."

She raised her head and looked at the Ackerman boy. "So this is why Megan asked me not to kill Draco," she hissed with a slight growl. She then giggled through her fury. "I'm gonna kill him."

Stanley shook his head. "He's just trying to upset Potter," he said. "Maybe get Hagrid sacked."

"Dumbledore won't stand for that," Estella said automatically. "That won't happen."

"We'll see," Stanley grinned. "In the meantime, be thankful we don't have Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins."

"Yeah," Estella agreed. "I can't wait til Herbiology: I really want to go out in the snow."

The boy nodded. "There's lots of time left, though," he told her. "And I heard from a prefect that there's a Hogsmeade holiday coming up."

Estella perked up, thrilled at the idea of getting out of Hogwarts for a few hours. "I can't wait," she said simply.


The Charleston twins found her later that evening in the Common Room and sat down on either side of her. "Have you seen it?" Brianna asked hesitantly, though her eyes were full of mischief.

"The article?" Samantha giggled.

"I'm ignoring it for a little while," Estella answered them, looking up from her Arithmancy homework with a sigh. "I don't want to think about it right now. I'm hoping things will just calm down."

"What are you talking about?" Samantha said, rolling her eyes. "It's brilliant!"

"Oh yes, because flobberworms have a deadly bite," Estella huffed, sitting up and frowning at her cousin. "And Malfoy's too stupid to keep himself from being quoted as saying his friend was bitten by one of them. The little blobs don't even bite!"

Brianna shrugged. "That really wasn't the point of the article, Stel."

Estella shook her head and looked back down at her homework. "I don't want to talk about it. And I have to get this done."

"You have a while til that's due," Samantha scolded, and Estella glared at her.

"Leave it alone," Brianna sighed. "Come on, Nan. It isn't as if we don't have things to do as well."

The twins walked away, and Estella gave a small sigh of relief. She didn't want to be bothered with Malfoy's drama.


At breakfast a few days later, Estella was pleased to have Meris Lestrange join her, separated from the rest by a few seats. "I'm impressed," he said, reaching for the pitcher of pumpkin juice.

She lowered her spoon and raised an eyebrow at him. "About what, Master Lestrange?"

The boy laughed softly. "Your self-control. You haven't even yelled at Draco. Everyone was sort of expecting that from you."

"Why?" Estella was confused. "He's an idiot, and I don't have to deal with him if I don't want to."

"I guess they thought you'd be furious about that article," Meris shrugged.

"I don't really care about Hagrid," Estella mused. "Though I am annoyed that he disappeared merely because of what Skeeter and Draco said about him." She set her spoon down and turned to look at Meris straight on. "You know, Draco should know better than to let himself be quoted as saying flobberworms bite. They can't bite. If I were his mother or father, I'd be horribly embarrassed that everyone in our wizarding community can see his mistake. A five year old should know that flobberworms don't bite!"

Meris chuckled. "He's not the brightest cousin I've got," he admitted. "He might have done it in spite of knowing the truth."

Estella rolled her eyes and turned back to her oatmeal. "He's so stupid!" she groaned. "Why would you do something like that? It's meaningless!"

"Petty," Meris agreed. "But that's what he is, you know."

"What's that, cousin?" Karntaan and Rohan sat down on either side of the two, Rohan looking at the two inquiringly. "Who's what?"

"Draco's an idiot," Estella said simply. "What are you two doing?"

"Sitting here," Karnt shrugged. "We were wondering if you wanted to join us for a snowball fight."

Estella grinned wickedly. "Yeah!"

Her bitemates stirred uncomfortably. "Missstress, it isss cold," Icythan hissed. "Bitematesss do not do well in sssnow."

"You want to wait in my room while I am out?" Estella questioned them, receiving strange looks from the boys.

"Do they want to eat us?" Karnt mused, regarding the serpent looking at him from beneath Estella's collar.

"No, they're concerned about the snow," Estella answered. "I've got to take them to my room before we go outside: it'll be too cold for them."

Meris nodded, and Rohan said, "Fine. As long as it doesn't take too long."

Estella murmured a few words to her bitemates, then finished her oatmeal and stood. "I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall," she said, then hurried off toward the dungeons.

It didn't take her long to drop off the bitemates and make it back to meet the boys. The twins smirked, walking off through the doors and leaving her and Meris to catch up. This proved to be quite easy, as Karnt slipped in a patch of ice at the bottom of the stairs and fell into a snowdrift.

Estella giggled as she made her way down to him and offered the boy her hand. "Don't be a Tonks," she grinned, laughing at the indignant expression on his face.

She shrieked as he grasped her hand and pulled her down into the snow next to him, the two beginning to wrestle. Rohan rolled his eyes. "Seriously, you two? We need to get further away from the school. Especially if we happen to start using wands."

"Wands?" Estella grinned, trying to rub snow in the boy's face as he protested from beneath her.

"Ha!" Karnt shouted as he managed to throw Estella off balance and roll away from her. He jumped to his feet and ran away from the three of them, yelling, "Come and get me, Parkington!"

Estella got to her feet and ran after him, scooping up handfuls of snow and throwing them after him on the way. It didn't take long for the four of them to be in an all-out snowball fight.

Meris was soon wrestling in the snow with Karnt as Rohan and Estella circled each other, throwing snow and laughing at each other. In a single moment of distraction, Estella glanced to see Karntaan on top of his cousin, yelling something down at him as he threw a handful of snow in his face.

The next thing Estella knew, she was flat on her back in the snow, Rohan grinning wickedly at her as he pounced on top of her. "Ah!" she shrieked, raising her arms and trying to get him off. "No! Bad Lestrange!"

He just laughed and continued to try washing her face with the cold, icy snow. Every time he touched her with it, she fought him so hard that he couldn't hold her down. She drew a deep breath, then used all her strength to push him away and struggle to her feet. He was immediately up, ready to attack her again, but she reached for her wand. "Stay away, little brother," she warned him. "I'm not doing that again in a friendly way."

"I don't want to be friends," Rohan smirked, and ducked her snowball of retaliation.

They fought wildly until they were too cold and tired to be able to walk right. As they trudged back up to the castle, laughing, they wrapped their arms around each other's shoulders to help steady them all.

"There's an hour until noon," Karntaan shivered.

"You need to get warmed up," Estella frowned, pointing her wand at him and cleaning the snow off quickly. She dried his robes and performed a Warming Charm. "Though perhaps you should just go take a shower."

"Yes, Mum," he said before sticking his tongue out at her and running off again, fully energized once again.

"He never stops running, does he?" she said wearily. "What a kid."

The other two boys just laughed, walking with Estella down to the dungeons to clean up.


On the day of the Hogsmeade trip, Estella was surprised to see Meris in the group of students that was going to the village. "Meris?" she asked, approaching him carefully. "What are you doing? Are you going with us?"

"Yes," Meris said, a small smile on his face. "Since I turned thirteen in October, Mum signed my permission form after that. But I chose to go on this time. Do you want to go with me?"

"Sure," she said quickly, then felt her cheeks warm. "I mean, if you want me to," she added hastily.

Meris grinned a little and nodded. "Okay," he said.

The two walked side-by-side into the village of Hogsmeade, Estella hesitating which street to take. Meris carefully touched her arm, murmuring to her, "Let's go to The Three Broomsticks."

"Okay," Estella agreed, feeling herself a little too warm at his touch even though it was fairly cold outside. Her bitemates were all hissing teasingly about sharing magic, but she didn't dare tell them to be quiet in case Meris wanted to know what they were on about.

Meris insisted on paying for their drinks when they reached The Three Broomsticks, and she blushed furiously when he led her to a small table for two. She half wondered if anyone would want to join them, and then knew she didn't want anyone to join them.

She tried to keep a half-decent conversation going with the boy as she watched others enter the pub. She shrank back into her seat slightly when she saw the Golden Trio enter the room.

"Estella, is there something on your mind?" Meris asked her with a frown. "I swear you're ignoring me."

"I'm sorry," she sighed. "I just can't concentrate on our conversation."

"You horrible woman!"

Half the people there looked up as a small ruckus had begun near the door. Hermione was glaring at the Skeeter woman—Estella bit her lip. It would be very interesting if Hermione was the very next one to be attacked by an article in the Prophet.

Meris frowned at the disturbance, as did most everyone else, but soon Hermione had stomped out of the pub followed by Harry and Ron. "Shall we go somewhere else?" Meris asked her quietly.

Estella nodded with a sigh. "I'm sorry."

"Stel—it's okay," the boy reassured her. "We can just go back to the Common Room, but after we visit the sweet shop."

"Okay," she grinned in relief. "Thanks."

"No problem," he answered, and the two got to their feet and hurried out of the building and off through the snow. As they were walking along, Meris glanced at her and said softly, "I heard that you got to see your real father at the Yule Ball."

Estella frowned, looking at at the tracks that had already been made in the snow. "And if I did, Lestrange?"

Meris shook his head slightly. "I didn't mean anything by it," he murmured. "I just...I wish I could see my father that easily."

"Oh." Estella gave him a sympathetic look. "Well, I've been lucky when it comes to family, I suppose. At least, I have some idea of what it's supposed to be like."

"What's it like?" the boy asked.

"What's what like?" Estella repeated.

"Being in the Weasley family," Meris said, looking away in embarrassment. "Is it as nice as they portray?"

Estella regarded him for a moment, then shook her head. "No, Meris. I mean, most of the time Dad and all the boys except Ron are really great and nice to me. Mr Weasley is a good father, but he can't make up for what Ron and Molly do. He's a good listener though, and—well, I love him for raising me."

The boy agreed, holding the door open for her as they walked into the sweet shop. "You've met my mum, though," he said. "And she's the most wonderful female I've known, so far."

"Cissa's pretty great too," Estella answered with a grin. "And Corin's Mum, of course. They're very nice and helpful to me."

"That's good," Meris said simply. "To have someone to guide you. I would be completely lost if it weren't for my mother. I've never had anyone else to talk to about anything in our world."

"And as many people as I know," she confided to him, "None of them can really relate to my situation. No one else was adopted into a family of low-esteem Weasleys who don't live up to the purity of their blood."

"We should find somewhere else to discuss this," Meris said to her, nonchalantly selecting a few items and steering her toward the counter. "There's a place overlooking the village where we can talk."

She nodded and stood at his side as he made his purchases. They began to walk down the street, Meris quietly asking, "Would you have rather been raised by your real parents?"

"I—I don't know," Estella said haltingly. "I've only known life as a Weasley, really. I know I would love to have been trained from birth by my mother and father. I'm sure you wish you had your dad to train you as well."

` "I could be a powerful warrior, you know," Meris said with a smirk. "If I were trained properly."

"Same," she answered, returning his smirk. "We could work together, I think. Just like my mum and Bellatrix used to."

"Ha," Meris laughed. "I can't imagine us fighting together like that."

She scowled up at him, half offended. "And why not?"

Meris raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't know how to fight alongside a Parselmouth," he said with a grin.

"Well, the bitemates are my responsibility," Estella told him. "I look out for them, and they look out for each other and me. They and I are currently in attack training." She grinned at the boy mischievously and hissed for her bitemates to show themselves.

"Are you threatening me?" Meris said, seeming amused.

"No," Estella laughed. "They'd be hissing quite aggressively if they wanted to sissshausss you."

The boy watched her and the basilisks for a moment, then motioned her to the fence at the end of the road. "It's beyond this, up those rocks," he told her. "A friend told me about it."

The bitemates slithered back into Estella's robes as she quickly scaled the fence, hurrying up the rocks after her friend. Meris gave her a hand up onto the top of the rocks, then led the way into the cave.

"Hey—!" he half yelled as a spell flew past his ear. "Estella, someone's—" He reached for his wand, and Estella yelled in anger as a spell struck the boy in the chest and he fell without a sound.

She dodged another spell, desperately running for the shadows. "Who are you?" she demanded as she tried to find a spot to hide, ducking under an angry-looking blue spell.

"Parkington," said the man, and Estella's blood ran cold: she knew his voice.

"No, I'm Parkington," she mocked him. "Why are you in a cave? Seems a bit...humble—even for a disowned Black."

The man laughed, half of his face in the shadows as he looked around for her carefully. "Well, I've got business at Hogwarts, and Snivellus might be unhappy if I merely showed up. Where are you, girl?

Her only answer was a jet of fire from her wand, a grin on her face as she realised he hadn't been able to avoid the entire spell. She yelped when he hissed in pain, throwing a spell into the shadows straight at her. Estella darted out of the way, realising only too late that she'd blown her cover. The man's spell hit the wall behind her, rock and dirt raining down, the two freezing for a moment.

"You can't attack me or the ceiling will collapse," Estella smirked at him.

"On the contrary, Ms Parkington," Sirius retorted with a harsh laugh. "The trick is the intent: I intend it to hurt you. There will be no other damage now." He flung a spell at the wall. "See? No damage."

"You are insane," Estella sighed, dodging out of the way of another spell. It did not take long before he had managed to hit her with a spell, her wand flying out of her hand as she fell to the floor of the cave. She rolled out of the way of more spells, getting to her knees with Meris' body behind her so that Sirius wouldn't hit him again. She dearly hoped the boy was okay. "Just let me leave and I won't bother you again," she sighed, scowling up at him.

"And your little friend?" Sirius scoffed. "Who is he?"

"Meris Lestrange," she answered haughtily. "The only child of Rabastan and Callistra Lestrange. He's a year below me. In fact, what did you do to him? He might need help."

"Oh, he'll need help," Sirius said in amusement. "I hit him straight in the chest. Thought he'd try to dodge or something, but he stood there waiting to be shot."

Estella bit her lip, glancing around at her friend before she decided Sirius wasn't going to try to hurt her immediately. She scooted across the floor toward Meris, delighted when she saw the boy's wand lying a few feet away.

Unfortunately, as she got closer, Sirius Summoned the wand easily. "Really?" she sighed, looking up at him.

"What?" he rolled his eyes at her. "I'm not letting you have another go at me. If there's one thing I've learned about Parkingtons from your mother, it's that you're not to be trusted."

"Aw, you and old Lucius agree on something," Estella cooed. "I just want to see if I can heal the boy." She looked up at the man. "I'm an apprenticed Healer."

"You are—no way." Sirius laughed in disbelief. "Parkingtons are not Healers. They are hunters and killers."

"We can be," Estella shrugged. "I don't think I look like much of one right now, do I? May I please have a wand so I can help Meris? Or will you help him?"

Sirius just gave her a cold look. "That's not worth the trouble. How do I know I can trust you?"

Estella glared at him from Meris' side, reaching down and feeling the magic on him with her hands. "I didn't betray you last time, Snuffles, so why would I do it now?" she said sharply. "I could just jump from up here. There are enough rocks I can hide from you. Then I'll come back and find you, and murder you if anything's happened to Meris."

"There's that Parkington blood," Sirius chuckled. "What do you propose I do with you and your Lestrange friend?"

"Let me help him. I convince him to keep quiet, and you let the two of us go about our business," Estella answered, infuriated at the smirk on the man's face. "All three of us forget this meeting."

"And if I let only one of you go?" Sirius asked with a barely contain grin.

Estella thought about telling him to let Meris go, then glared back at him. "No. We're leaving together." She shrugged. "Or you can babysit both of us. Wouldn't you like that, Siri?"

He glared at her, and she sat up a little straighter at the look of madness that passed over his face. "Don't call me Siri," he growled at her.

"Heal him, or let me do it," she growled back at him. "I'm losing patience."

"Losing patience?" he said in disbelief, a crazed grin back on his features. "There's nothing you can do, girl."

"Nothing?" Estella hissed for her bitemates to ready their attack, all of them slithering to the outside of her robes. "One word, Black, and all of these will be after you. One word. Then I'll alert the Ministry and leave your unconscious body for the Dementors. I don't give a shit that you're innocent. You won't even be able to beg for mercy before you're lost to this world. I'll take care of Meris, and everyone will consider us heroes."

Sirius was motionless, staring at her, and she continued, "Or, you could give me a wand. I'll heal Meris and we'll leave you alone. No one will ever know that any of us were here. What do you think?"

It seemed a long time, but after only a minute or two, Sirius tossed Meris' wand to her. "Heal him and wake him up. I want him to promise his silence before he leaves."

Estella gripped the wand, not used to the feel of the wood, and bit her lip in concentration as she leaned over the young boy. She did her very best to remedy the curse on him, then breathed, "Enervate."

She stayed right at his side as he began to stir, one of her hands on his arm as she tried to make sure he was all right. "Stel," he mumbled, struggling slightly. His body shivered and his eyes suddenly flew open before he cringed at the sudden light. "Estella. Who attacked—ow…."

"We ran into Sirius Black," Estella answered him with a sigh, then jumped when he sat up.

"What the hell?!" he shouted, and she wrapped her arms around him tightly, her hands over his wrists as two of her bitemates slithered onto his shoulders.

"Please listen for a moment," she breathed into his ear. "He's camping out here, probably to advise Potter about the Tournament. He's going to let us go if we keep quiet. I promised we would, but he wants to hear it from you. I don't want to have to attack him and upset the Golden Trio. I've healed you from his curse as much as I could. Just tell him you'll keep quiet and we can head back to the school."

Meris looked up at the Azkaban escapee and scowled. "You piece of shit," he said to him.

Estella blinked. "Meris!"

"I won't tell anyone, but only because Estella wishes it," he said coldly, looking down as she pressed his wand into his hand. "Thanks," he murmured.

"My wand now, please," she said to Sirius.

He smirked and handed it over, Estella stalking back to Meris immediately. "Come on," she said, helping him to his feet. "I'll help you for a minute. I'm sure you're still a bit dizzy from that curse. Level Four, you know. A bit disorienting."

Sirius waved casually to them as they began to walk back down the bunch of rocks to the fence at the end of the road. "See you around," he said.

"Bye, Siri!" she called in a taunting voice. She had half expected a chuckle out of Meris, but she got nothing.

"Are you okay?" she asked her friend in concern. "Let's take you by the Hospital Wing as soon as we get back, okay?"

"Yeah," Meris muttered. "Whatever. I just feel so stupid for falling in one shot like that. You're not even hurt!"

"He disarmed me with hardly a try," Estella admitted. "I just stopped running and talked him into letting us go. Now hush: let's save some energy."

The two fell silent and continued to walk together, finally pulling apart as they entered the grounds. They had to pretend nothing was out of the ordinary to keep their promise. It was bound to get some awkward questions from Madam Pomfrey.