Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Yet. lol

First Person POV - Kira

I sat on my windowsill with a stash of Witch Weekly magazines in my lap.

I'd stayed up all night cleaning my room, then found I couldn't go to sleep when I was done.

So I'd gotten an extreme urge to read, but all of the books in my room were books I'd already read, and all of the books that I'd asked Harvey to bring me had been sent back, having been declined by Lucius; apparently my taste in books was classified as 'dangerous,' and he was taking precautions in that department as well. Obviously, when he'd told me I could order any books I wanted, he expected me to order raunchy romance novels for witches, not informational reference books that teach their readers advanced magic.

So…what had I done?

Naturally, I'd picked up Witch Weekly and began perusing the vulgar novel catalog in the back.

I actually had to laugh at some of the plots described in the summaries; one being about a girl who entered a quixotic relationship with her Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor after a tense private after-school lesson, then began slipping from her dormitory after curfew for more 'private lessons.'

Then there was one about a virgin witch kidnapped by a salacious werewolf who then teaches her the art of love...making.

Another more intriguing one I found, was about an Auror who found an injured witch outside his house who insisted on not being taken to St. Mungos. So he took her into his own home, then, as she began to heal, discovered she was a bloodthirsty vampire who'd managed to hide her condition from him because she was a metamorphmagus.

And so on and so forth.

I stopped looking when I came across a story about a witch, forced into an arranged marriage with her cousin whom she'd grown up with.

I knew that Draco and I were not cousins, to be sure, but the very idea of reading a story so close to home wiped the amused smile off my face. I dumped the stack of magazines off my lap, watching them splay across the floor, then turned back to look out the window.

I hadn't seen the dog after that one time, and decided that it was probably just a stray, but I'd still kept an eye out.

There was a rustling sound to my left and I turned abruptly to see my striking aunt Bellatrix standing in all her glory in front of the grand fireplace adjacent to the window.

I eyed her carefully and felt my stomach drop.

Had I caught on to the similarity between myself and her and wondered if she might actually be my mother?

Yes.

But we weren't similar enough for me to actually consider it.

She was vile and uncultivated and rabid. She was also something of a sadist with a twinge of a masochist in the mix as well. We might have had the same nose, but hers was much more pointed. And we both had strong jaws, but hers was more jutted than mine. Her cheeks were too sharp and her heavy lidded chocolate brown eyes were too wide and buggish to be mine. In addition, her hair was curly and frizzy, and mine was as flat as my chest, which, by the way, was substantially less curvy than hers. She was tall, I was short. Etc.

We had similar traits but all of hers looked exaggerated next to mine.

No. We were just two people who seemed somewhat alike at first glance.

"Hello, Kira."

"Go away," I snapped. "You're not even supposed to be here."

She held her wand up to her lips and made a shushing noise. "That's no way to speak to your auntie."

My eyes lowered to her wand and I clamped my lips together tightly.

When I didn't retort she smirked at me and began pacing my room. Her fingers trailed at arm level along the spines of the books on the nearest bookshelf. "You're quite the bookworm."

I remained seated on the bench and continued to stare at her. "Er, do you read?"

Bellatrix leered at me cynically.

"No."

Ah, another reason why we couldn't possibly be related.

She plucked a random book off the shelf and opened it; when she saw the title she quirked an eyebrow. "You read extensively into dark magic...bravo...ooh, look at this picture...so grisly..."

A tiny jolt sported itself in my stomach, and I placed a hand where the baby had kicked.

She re-shelved the book and pulled another one of my books off its perch. "And...ah, you like charms as well."

As she continued to examine my taste in books I grew more and more irritated; watching her pick up and handle my books with her bony white hands was as irksome as having her poke my stomach directly.

"What are you doing here?" I asked bluntly.

Bellatrix paused and turned her back to me.

"Are you here to settle the score?"

She laughed vivaciously, "My Lord already settled the score, there's really no need."

Everything my aunt had done so far was perplexing, I thought to myself. Why should this be any different?

Bellatrix faced me, and her eyes did a once over. "I see that the grief has not yet taken its toll on you, or you would look more stricken. Were you perhaps not as attached to the boy as the Dark Lord surmised?"

I inwardly chided myself, making note that I would need to act more like a widow.

Bellatrix turned back to the shelves and continued touching my books. I was struck with a desire for her to be gone.

"Is that why you're here?" I asked her bitingly. "To rub it in? To put salt on the burn you branded into my flesh?"

"I make no claim to have burned anything into you; I merely passed the brand to the brander."

"You would have volunteered if he'd asked."

"I suppose you're right; there's no difference between what he did and what I did." She laughed tartly. "But I honestly feel no remorse for you and your loss."

I was struck with a desire to change the subject so something I could actually learn something from.

"Why did Vol—" Bellatrix swung her head to face me sharply, her enormous curly up-do bobbing at the back of her head as she did so. "...er, I mean the Dark Lord...why did He pick me?"

Bellatrix turned her head back to the books. "He said the woman had to be a virgin. You're quite the prize, and at the time you were not already taken. "

I frowned at this new information. A virgin? I just had to be a virgin? I was sure that Voldemort would have been more concerned with whether or not I was pureblood. I realized I was...and I only knew because Bellatrix had told me. Because she knew who my parents were.

"In addition, your good traits are valuable," she continued. "And the bad traits you possess that may carry on to the child could possibly be engineered and used for good."

"Good?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "The Dark Lord intends to use the child for good?"

She smirked, "He'll use the child to sweep up the mess that we call muggles."

"Oh."

"Yes, picking you will only lead to a win-win once the child is born."

My eyes widened in surprise as the baby rolled over in my stomach, as if it knew were talking about it. I twiddled my thumbs and changed the subject again.

"Who are my parents?"

She laughed edgily. "Nice try kid, but there's no way in hell I'll tell you that."

"Fine, I'll ask someone else." I frowned. "Why were you and Snape fighting the other night?"

Bellatrix had begun examining my ceiling, and as soon as I said Snape's name her attention jerked back to me.

"You ask a lot of questions."

"Well I noticed you like to talk," I pointed out.

She looked at me carefully.

"Do I need a reason to fight with that belligerent twat?" my aunt asked coldly.

"Narcissa said you two were fighting over me," I replied quietly.

"I don't know what possessed her to say that, but it's not true."

"No? You're awfully quick to deny it," I noted.

Bellatrix looked at me cagily. "Severus…had some conflict over how you were treated before you were brought here. That is all. And then it led to some banter between the two of us."

I snorted. "Please. Snape, defending my honor? That's as likely as catching Harvey the house-elf smiling about something positive."

"Believe it or not that's what happened," she snapped. She roved back to the fireplace and turned to look at me haughtily. "You've put me off my good mood by bringing up his name. I'm leaving."

I waved a dismissive hand, eager for her to be gone. "Then leave, don't waste time telling me."

She hesitated, then sneered at me and disappeared through the fireplace.

I still had no clue why she'd come to pay me a visit, I don't think even she knew either.

I frowned in puzzlement to myself and turned to continue staring out the window on my right at the albino peacock in the yard.

And then I was hit with a wave of painful nausea.

First Person POV - Draco

My father had long since gone to work, leaving my mother and I alone for breakfast.

We both sat on the same end of the long table in the dining room; my mother sipped her coffee as she flipped through the Daily Prophet carefully, and I sat there across from her eating a poached egg and croissant.

She looked up at me and out of nowhere said: "Your father told me about the Quidditch game."

I blinked.

"I'm sure you'll do better next game," she said sympathetically. She took another sip of her coffee then began asking me how my classes were.

It seemed strange to me, how easy it was for my mother and I to sit down and have a pleasant meal like what happened with Kira last night hadn't happened at all. But as we sat there, eating and making small talk about Hogwarts, conversation came quite easily.

Such a feat could have only been accomplished through years and years of practice.

It wasn't until my mother flipped the page of the Daily Prophet, revealing a picture of Kira plastered across the page and the word 'Missing' in bold letters right over it, that a spark of acknowledgment came into her eyes, and she called for Harvey.

The house-elf appeared next to her with his chest swelled and his skinny arms clasped behind his back confidently. I though he looked quite snooty for a house-elf.

"Yes, Missus?"

"Go to Kira's room and see what she's doing at this moment, then report straight back to me."

"Yes, Missus." Harvey gave a low bow the disapparated from sight.

"Why would you want to know what she's doing?" I asked.

"She's been unusually quiet since we brought her back last night," my mother replied without looking up from the article under Kira's picture. "Not something one would expect from someone who thought they'd just lost their lover."

"But—" I stopped short, having to remind myself that Narcissa didn't know that the plan had been a dud.

Her eyes stopped moving, stopped skimming the page, and she looked up from her paper with a perplexed expression on her face. "Yes?"

"Er…" I faltered, trying to think of something to say. "…maybe she's…just…"

I was saved from making an excuse when Harvey re-appeared at my mother's side. "Miss is sleeping."

From where the dining room was, it should have been very difficult to hear any noise coming out of Kira's room; yet I was sure I heard her yelling from upstairs as soon as Harvey apparated.

I frowned, noting the smugness on his face. "Was there something out-of-the-ordinary in the way she was sleeping?"

Harvey turned to look at me curiously. "You are the Miss's husband-to-be?"

My stomach dropped as Kira's words from last night came rampaging back into my head. No, I thought, I'm not. Not if Kira mean what she said, and she usually did. I was still convinced that she'd decide to go through with it, but it wouldn't be the same if we married while she thought I'd had a hand in George's 'murder.'

"Answer my question," I replied firmly.

Harvey gave me an unpleasant look. "Harvey doesn't have to take orders from Draco Malfoy."

To this, Narcissa looked down at the house-elf.

"Master said—" Harvey started.

"I would like to hear the answer to my son's question," my mother interrupted calmly.

Harvey looked at her reproachfully; it seemed so rebellious for a house-elf to look at his Missus with such contempt.

"Harvey does not know if sleeping on the floor of one's lavatory is extraordinary, Harvey is unfamiliar with the strange sleeping habits of wizards."

Narcissa frowned. "Take Draco upstairs immediately. Draco, send Harvey to me when you've decided whether or not Kira needs one of the Dark Lord's Healers."

I took Harvey's hand rather reluctantly and found myself in Kira's room. The first thing I noticed was how immaculate her room looked now compared to yesterday; she must have stayed up all night putting books back on the shelves and scraping dirt and broken bits of clay off the carpet.

I rushed to Kira's lavatory and found her, curled in a ball on the rug next to the bathtub with a blanket draped completely around her body. She looked fine from where I stood, but as I inched toward her I saw how unnaturally pale she was.

She made mo movement to acknowledge my presence, but as Harvey followed behind me she sat up and called out to him hoarsely. "You blasted elf! How dare you!"

"Harvey didn't do anything!" I replied. Though as I looked at him as he watched the scene with shrewd beady eyes, I felt sure I'd just told a lie.

"Nothing that you saw," she replied with a raspy sardonic laugh. "He's like a spider web you walked into that no one else sees. HARVEY!" she snapped.

The elf jumped. "Yes miss?"

"Do as I asked you to do before! Get me Severus Snape, and tell him to bring me a Blood-Replenishing potion!"

Harvey seemed to hesitate, then nodded and disappeared.

Kira's demeanor seemed to drop as soon as Harvey was gone; the fierceness in her face died and was replaced with raw apprehension. She lay back down and rolled onto her stomach to hide her face between her shoulder and the ground.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "What happened?"

I crouched down next to Kira and only now noticed little droplets of blood by her bare feet that stuck out under the blanket.

Kira turned her head and whatever she'd said last night didn't seem to matter as she looked at me now. "Toilet," she said. "Look in the toilet."

I rushed to the loo and lifted the lid to find that the water was not clear, but completely red. There were droplets of blood splattered across the sides of the bowl and along the seat. My eyes widened.

"Did…did you…misca—did you miscarry?"

"No." She coughed and a trail of blood tracked down the side of her mouth; I realized then where the blood had come from and relaxed slightly, but not by much.

"Then why…?"

"The baby," she said. "Something's wrong with it."

I moved to her side and tried to pick her up, she needed to lie down on the bed. But she pushed me away.

"I want to stay here," she said stubbornly.

I exasperatedly reached for a wash cloth on the side of the bathtub and began running water to soak it; I wrung it out then held the damp cloth out to Kira, cleaning her mouth and the blood that had dripped onto her cheek. I held the other side of her face with my free hand, running my fingers up and down her cheek.

Kira looked up at me with an unreadable expression while I sponged down the rest of her paper-white face.

"Penny for a thought?" I asked when the silence became too heavy.

"It might just be delirium from the lack of blood in my head talking," she replied. "But your hair looks nice when it's not slicked back."

My cheeks reddened. "It's definitely not Kira talking."

She laughed and my heart skipped a beat. "Well, the thought had to have come from somewhere similar; it is Kira's head after all."

"Maybe you've forgotten but Kira is mad at me right now," I pointed out.

Kira fell silent, her face masked in indifference once again, and I regretted bringing it up.

We stayed where we were mutely, and within minutes Harvey had re-appeared with Snape.

First person POV - Kira

Snape carried me to the bed, despite my protests, and lay me down gently even though his expression told me he wanted to toss me.

"Draco, go tell your mother I'm here. Harvey, make yourself scarce, I shall call for you if Kira has need of you."

Harvey gave a low bow and disapparated. Draco nodded and used his key to unlock the door next to the bed, and then he exited the room and shut the door behind him. I heard the handle click as he re-locked it.

Snape looked down at me furiously as he uncapped the potion he'd set on my bedside table. "What did I tell you about taking care of yourself?"

"You said: take care of yourself."

"I told you to eat three square meals a day and get at least eight hours of sleep a night. Have you done either of those things?"

I didn't have anything smart-ass to say to that.

"No."

"And did you drink any of blood-replenishing potion I sent to you?"

"Er, no," I said guiltily, feeling like I was a child being punished and Snape the scolding parent.

He pulled a small shot glass from his robes and poured a small amount of the potion into it, then handed it to me.

"Why not?" he demanded curtly.

"The bottle broke."

I eyed the gray liquid in the glass sheepishly.

"And you didn't think to ask Narcissa for another dosage?"

"No."

His face was white hot with fury and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why he was so angry.

"Miss Malfoy, do you know how foolish that sounds? Do you just do these things for attention?"

Without thinking, I tossed the contents of the shot glass in his face.

He retaliated by sputtering and shaking his head as if to shake off the liquid that he'd inhaled with his nose. Then he stopped and his expression darkened.

Feeling his eyes burning a hole in the center of my face, I reached for the potion he'd set on the side of my bed and refilled the glass, then consumed its contents even though the bitter substance turned my taste buds to ash. I swallowed it indifferently without blinking or grimacing.

Snape narrowed his eyes at me dangerously and flicked his wand in the air; the mess on his face and robes disappeared.

"I'm not a fool, Snape. Don't address me as one."

"Then don't act like one!"

"If I were as old as Dumbledore you'd accept that you deserve what I just did to you."

He raised an eyebrow. "You think that age is the only think that separates you from him?"

"No, but you have no idea what manner of things I've been through in the past seventeen years. You have no right to patronize me, let alone call me a fool."

I thought of telling him about George, but realized that I didn't want to talk about it because I'd probably start crying or tearing up.

Instead of refilling the shot glass in my hand, I brought the rim of the bottled potion to my lips and perjured myself finish it. When I did Snape took the shot glass and the potion, and I allowed myself to rest against the pillows behind me.

To my surprise, Snape didn't retort. He surveyed my expression indifferently.

"You know the phrase 'That which does not kill us makes us stronger?'"

"I used to believe in that phrase, but I don't anymore." I looked down at my lap. "It's true to a certain degree, and then it gets to a point that those things that don't kill us just make us older."

"If you used to believe in that phrase then it means you were holding onto something." He turned away from me, potion in hand. "Don't forget why you held on for so long in the first place."

"What if I've lost that thing I held onto?"

"Then find it," he snapped. "Or get a new one. Will you please call for Harvey? He doesn't respond to my call."

"First I have a question that needs answering," I said matter-of-factly.

He watched me warily, obviously not wanting me to say anything too emotional in response to what he just told me.

"When is the Order coming for me?"

"I don't know when. It's not my duty to break you out of here."

"You have no idea whether it'll be sooner or later?"

"If the Order just shows up here and snatches you away, then Voldemort will assume someone on the inside told them where you were. I am currently the only Death Eater who is also in the Order, therefore suspicion would immediately turn toward me. They need time in order to reverse the direction that suspicion would fall."

"Well they need to hurry up before I decide to just walk out of here." I glared at him as he scoffed at me. "What? Didn't you know that I can walk through walls now?"

"I'll believe it when I see it."

We watched each other for a moment before I called for Harvey.

The tall house-elf apparated next to me and asked drably: "Yes, Miss?"

"Take this man back to Hogwarts."

"Is that all? Miss?"

I looked at Snape then back at Harvey. "Bring me breakfast when you're through."

"Yes, Miss."

Before they disapparated out of my room I saw Snape smirk at my comment.

I sighed and leaned even further into my pillows which had never felt so soft, and my eyelids suddenly felt very heavy. Apparently sacrificing your sleep to shelve books all night makes one sleepy. I closed my eyes for a moment, just for a moment, and was instantly asleep.

A/N: Review, all of you! Or I won't post the chapter I already have done for another two weeks. That's right, two weeks. And some good stuff is coming up too, stuff you won't want wait two whole weeks for...