Chapter 56 - "Times are gone for honest men. "
As Circe followed Severus out of Grimmauld Place, she could tell that he'd had time to fester and stew over his fight with Sirius. During the Order meeting, the atmosphere had been as volatile as a simmering pot of acid, with Severus and Sirius staring at each other with lock-jawed hatred. Luckily, it seemed to have only been a routine check up on the watch duty rota, and the ongoing situation with The Prophecy's protection. Had anything more serious been on the agenda, Circe was unsure of whether she could have paid attention. The meeting had been painful to sit through, not just for Severus and Sirius, but for Circe too; bearing the wide-eyed gazes and wordless looks of shock from Molly, Tonks, Remus, all of them, following the revelations of her and Severus's relationship. Circe had breathed a sigh of relief when Dumbledore had called it to an end and she was finally free to leave the Black family home. But no sooner had she rose from the meeting table, that Severus had swooped from the kitchen and was striding for the front door. He pulled his long black coat up around his neck and shoved his hands into his pockets with a hunch to his shoulders that screamed of palpable anger. Circe was still putting her own coat on as she rushed down the steps of Grimmauld Place and out onto the streets of Islington.
"Sev… Severus, wait!"
Severus kept marching on past the uniform Georgian houses. Not even pausing to acknowledge when it began to gently snow.
"Severus!" Circe called out sharply, stopping dead and ceasing in her chase of him.
He turned to face her with a face that was pale with rage.
"Everything I have ever wanted or have had in this life… I have to wrestle it out of the hands of A DAMNED MARAUDER!" he shouted back up at the facade of Grimmauld Place. Circe flinched as his pointing finger lanced towards her.
"Severus, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been alone with-"
"And don't you dare apologise for him!" He growled, beginning to pace back and forth on the same few slabs of pavement. "Sirius and James, they always knew how to get under my skin. To drive me to the point of anger where I'd lose myself. To rile me up and torment me until I reached boiling point. They always knew how to make me appear like the worst version of myself… And then they'd be around to be the shoulder to cry on."
Circe couldn't help but wonder when else this had happened to Severus. She had mentally logged the comment Sirius had made about Lily and her curious mind was itching to ask about what he referred to. From the way Severus had reacted to Sirius's taunt, Circe knew it must be painful. Painful enough that it could still rule him some fifteen years later. She sighed to herself, wondering how many more surprises Severus had lurking in his past. However, her common sense told her to shelf her curiosity for another time. Now, Severus needed a soothing presence not a probing one. Someone to absorb the sadness and swallow it whole.
Severus ceased in his pacing and stood stiff and still, letting the softly falling snow settle in his ebony hair. Circe was at a loss for words, unsure of what to say to him. His eyes were closed, his throat tight with emotion, his head spinning with the memory of a night long ago when the Marauders antics had made him lash out at a woman he loved. When he opened his eyes, he found Circe still staring at him with eyes that swam with sympathy.
And how long before I lash out at you too? He thought. If you don't already see me as some brutish lout who gets into punch ups.
"Sev…" Circe said quietly, approaching him as slowly as she would a spooked doe. "If Sirius ever calls you that awful name, or if he ever tries on something like that again… You have my full permission to punch him in the face again." Severus furrowed his brows and looked at her with surprise. "If you don't, I certainly will. I can't have any more battle scars on my man's face." She added flirtatiously, touching a hand to the small cut on his brow and running her thumb tantalisingly over his split lip.
"You aren't… disappointed?" He asked hoarsely.
"I think it's high time Sirius got a serving of what he's been dishing out for years. And seeing you throw a punch like that in gallant defense of my honour… was kind of sexy."
Severus scoffed, the tension easing off his shoulders a touch. "You don't have any honour." He replied teasingly.
Circe laughed and pulled him into a long and heated kiss. The faint taste of his blood on his lips was surprisingly erotic. The warmth of her mouth and the fire of her soul burned through Severus's anger like a supernova. He felt warmed to his core by her fervent tongue, like a snake basking in the desert sun, letting her incinerate his shame and disgrace to ash.
"You never fail to surprise me, Miss Smith." He breathed, running his hand through her soft hair.
"Is it bad that I'm sort of relieved The Order knows about us now too?"
"So you can gossip with Miss Tonks about your men, like old fish wives?"
"Oh. trust me… Tonks will be livid with me that I kept this from her. And Remus too."
"Remus said that he "suspected" something between us. Now why would he have thought that?" Severus asked as a small smile tugged at his mouth.
"Well… because I sort of told him that I loved you when he was teaching at Hogwarts." She replied awkwardly. "It was on the night that Peter Petrigrew was discovered, in the Shrieking Shack, when you were passed out on the floor…"
"You said "the answer is a hell of a lot" and "so much it hurts"." Severus stated, remembering what he'd heard that night when he'd travelled back in time to save her from the werewolf attack.
"Yes, and the question he asked me at my birthday was "how much do you like him?"
"Ahh." Severus exclaimed, pulling her close as the snow fell about them. "That's a rather cryptic way of telling someone you're in love."
"Alright! It wasn't spelled out for you!" Circe laughed as she took Severus's arm in hers and led him away from Grimmauld Place.
"Minerva may have suspected as well…" Severus added, colouring red and glancing down awkwardly at his boots.
"I...Wh-...You told Minerva?! She knew too?!"
"Well again, not explicitly that you and I were together. But that woman is a bloodhound. She notices everything. Especially when she has a vat of amortentia lying about and at her disposal."
"Amortentia?!" Circe spluttered, her head reeling with questions.
"And then she rather forced it out of me at the Yule Ball. It was her fault that I actually ever came back to dance with you at all..."
"So all those nights I was lying to her about where I was… hiding who I'd been with… I might as well have just told her."
"We have asked them too to maintain the secret, Circe. We shall still have to be careful with regards to who we're seen together by."
"And how long do you think it'll really stay a secret, Sev?" Circe asked cynically.
"Well, let's pray that it does as long as we need it to."
Circe let out a long sigh and took Severus's hand in hers. They made their way out of Grimmauld Place arm in arm, heads bent against the snow. Circe could tell Severus was still tense and angry
but she could not expect him to completely bury his feelings after a five minute conversation. She knew that her presence would not instantly heal the old wounds given to him by The Marauders. But nevertheless, she vowed to make things different, try and right the wrongs that began in his schooldays.
"You fancy walking down to Camden from here? We could still get some halloumi chips before heading home."
"Home?" Severus asked with a hint of a smile.
"Spinner's End."
"You consider that your home?"
Circe fell silent, tripping over her words as she scanned Severus's face, trying to read his thoughts and gauge how to react next. "I meant… Uhh…"
"I would very much like for it to be your home." He stated in a low, quiet voice. Circe felt a slight tremble to Snape's hand as she held it. "I mean… considering you've put up with my antics for almost a year now."
"Oh God… you're right. It was a year ago on Christmas Eve that you and I-"
"That I finally stepped up to the task of loving you as you should be."
Severus looked to her softly rounded face, blushing pink under the cold of the snow. He paused for a moment and touched a hand to Circe's cheek, with a look that threatened to spill over with love.
"So, what do you say? It doesn't even have to be Spinner's End. Anywhere I am with you, it shall be my home."
"Well, I think perhaps we should leave a house hunt until after the war..." Circe answered with a little chuckle.
"Oh just answer the bloody question!" Severus exclaimed with an eye roll. "Do you want to live with me or not?"
"I pretty much have been already, Sev."
"Out of necessity. But I want it to be a choice. I want you to choose to live with-."
"Yes, Sev." She said, laying a finger on his lips. Her face bloomed into a smile that melted the last of his anger away. "Yes. I would like to move in with you. I have one term though, mind."
"Mmm?" Severus asked, pursing his lips together incredulously.
"On Sunday mornings, I will have a coffee in bed."
"Is that it? I bring you a coffee to bed? I thought you were going to impose something a bit more serious than that…"
"Nope. That's it. That's the dream: One day you and I will be so sickeningly domesticated and content that our mornings will not be filled with spying, fighting, hiding or fear. You will bring me a coffee and I will smile and you will lie in bed beside me to read the paper together as we simply just enjoy being alive."
"Then I accept your terms." Severus nodded succinctly. "One weekly coffee in exchange for immeasurable happiness."
He leant forwards and placed a sweet kiss on her lips.
"So… can we go home now?" Circe asked when they finally drew apart.
"We can."
Circe gripped Severus's arm with a warming joy that filled her up to the top of her head. Both of them could not stop the encroach of a wide smile across their faces as they walked through the streets of Islington, searching for a spot to apparate from.
"Do you have a telly?" Circe asked suddenly.
"I do. But it was banished to the attic after my mother and father left the house. I can't stand the things. I suppose you'll want me to get it out…"
"Thank you, dearest." She replied with a sing-songy tone to her voice. "Ooh, what about a Christmas tree?"
"What do you think?" He stated sardonically.
"Oh Sev, this won't do! We need to have a proper Christmas."
"A "proper" Christmas?" He asked scepitcally. "And what on earth does that mean?"
Circe turned to him with a bright eyed smile and took Severus by the arm.
"It means that despite the absolute shit show that is life right now… I'm going to try and carve out my own little bit of joy."
Severus walked in on Circe asleep on his sofa. Her serene face was bathed in the gentle orange light from his fireplace. He stopped still and looked at her for a second: her full lips parted ever so slightly, a book open on her chest, her bronze curls looking almost like spun gold in the firelight. One hand of hers was grazing the floor, the other on top of whatever she had been reading. His heart ached with love, thinking how beautiful she looked in that moment. He'd come to love Circe for her fire, her strength, her fervency, much in the same way one might be enraptured by Athena's knowledge and power. But now, this was a her he'd rarely seen: not a goddess of war and wisdom, but more an angel of serenity and calm. Severus lay his shopping down on the floor as quietly as he could and walked over to her, crouching down at her . He brushed his hand over her face, removing a rogue curl from her cheek.
"Love…?" He said gently as her eyelids fluttered.
She moaned slightly as she woke, her emerald eyes finding his face in an instant.
"H-How were the shops?" She asked, trying to sit up and rub the tiredness out of her eyes.
Severus leant forward and kissed her, stopping her from getting up. It took her by surprise, but she leant into it, returning his kiss with passion. His hand was in her hair and he parted from her cradling her face, smiling his small sad smile.
"How long have you been back?" She asked.
"Just got back now. Had a small look-in at your father's too. Kept myself out of sight. Couldn't see anything suspicious when I was out. We might be alright for this evening if you're not too tired."
Her face brightened. "What? Really?"
Severus nodded.
Circe squealed and pulled him on top of her, into another kiss. Severus laughed softly as he nestled himself between her legs.
"Ow ow ow…"
"What?!"
Severus reached down to remove whatever was digging into his breastbone and revealed the book that had been lying on Circe's chest. He playfully looked at the cover whilst Circe giggled.
"'Icelandic Rune Magic' is what put you to sleep, was it?
"Frightfully dull."
"Mmmm I can imagine. Still, dull books attract dull readers do they not?"
Circe gasped in mock offense. "How very dare you, Professor Snape."
Her hands were at his shirt, pulling him back into a kiss. Her legs were around him, locking him into a warm clasp, and he pressed close to her. Circe felt his hardness pressing up against her and she moaned into his open mouth, hungry for him.
She felt blissfully lost in the dark curtains of his hair as it fell around her, blocking out even the glow of the fire. All there was was him. The feel of his nose brushing her cheek, his tongue dancing with hers, his roaming hands all over her body. She moved as if she were still in her dream, prying apart his belt and taking him into her hand. She felt her own arousal wettening. A throbbing sensation of longing between her legs. They both moaned as he slipped inside her. Soon they were both lost to one another as the rhythm of his thrusts took over.
A while later, they lay in each other's arms on the sofa, wrapped in a cast-off black cloak. It was a wonderful slice of heaven, watching the fire crackle and dance, holding each other close. Severus was buried in Circe's hair, savoring her scent, as she dozed on his arm. Her back was pressed against him, warming him through to his core, and he lay a small kiss on her neck. She smiled and shivered as his lips brushed the sensitive spot on her neck.
"I could stay like this forever." She purred.
"Why don't we?" He whispered into her ear. "You don't really want to go out into the cold, do you?"
"What time is it?"
"It was just gone four o'clock when I got back." He replied.
"Four?!" She threw back the cloak and began hastily dressing. He was left naked down to his waist, his cloak protecting his modesty as he watched her hurriedly pulling on her tights and getting her head stuck in the arm of her jumper. He laughed at her. "So you're set on going then?"
"Yes! Get up! It's the twenty first and you don't even have a tree up, Severus."
"Oh my god…" he sighed, rising from his recumbent position to find his underwear. "You're not going to turn this place into a department store, are you?"
"Get dressed!" She threw his shirt at him. It hit him square in the face, taking him by surprise. "This house could use a bit of a festive injection."
"Looking at your priorities, one would be forgiven for not knowing that there was a vicious awful war brewing. Not to mention the possibility of being under the scrutiny of the most dangerous dark wizard to have ever existed... "
"And that, my love, is why we need a proper Christmas now more than ever. I mean, I could decide to stay sat on this sofa, reading my Icelandic Rune book, softly crying into the pages at the thought of having to possibly obliviate my own family to keep them safe, or the looming threat of being discovered as a spy at any moment by Voldemort or one of his Death Eaters, OR the thought of having to eventually go back to the tyrannical rule of the Great Pink Dictator-"
"Alright, alright. I understand the sentiment." Severus said quickly. "You're choosing to be happy, despite it all."
"Quite."
They walked, arm in arm, into the town center where a delightfully quaint Christmas market was underway. It was quite a pleasantly surprising event to be happening in a town like Cokeworth and thus it had gathered a substantial crowd. Severus had donned a long tailed coat that looked rather like it had come from a wedding suit, but it was still less conspicuous than his normal wizarding attire. Circe eyed him up, thinking how much he looked like a Dickensian gentleman in his tails, waistcoat and scarf. She wondered where he had pulled it from. Was it his fathers? Still, it didn't matter; he looked dashing and rather delicious. He caught her looking at him again from his place at the gluehwein bar. When he came back with two cups of fragrant-smelling wine, he lay a glass in front of her with a smirk.
"Whatever are you staring at, Miss Smith?"
"Just how… Austentacious you look, Severus." She replied with a bright smile.
"Oh very good." He responded flatly. "I can get changed if I buy something more-"
"No, don't." She interrupted quickly. "It's rather tickling my Colin Firth pre-teen crush."
Severus raised a brow at her, the name meaning nothing but the sentiment hitting home.
It was snowing gently by the time they'd purchased a few select but beautiful glass tree decorations. The last crucial buy from the market being the tree itself. Severus lugged it into a nearby pub where the landlady gave them a withering look as they leant it against an obliging wall. They moved to sit down when the pub owner shook her head at them.
"I can give you some blankets, but you'll have to sit outside with that thing."
"What the bloody-"
"That's fine." Circe replied diplomatically.
It had stopped snowing and the pub had a rather nice beer garden. Circe and Severus snuggled close together, wrapped up in a blanket around their shoulders, watching the stars spinning in the heavens above them. The landlady brought their wine out to their table, as well as a generous portion of chips. A Salvation Army brass band had set up just outside the pub's entrance, and for a while the two listened in comfortable silence to the music from the players. Every so often, Severus would ask her "What's this one?" and she would tell him the name of the carrol.
She shivered, her icy breath sputtering out of her mouth. Severus pulled her in closer. Circe poured them both more wine, hoping the drink would warm her up somewhat. The Salvation Army started playing a tune Severus recognised and he almost knocked the chip out of Circe's hand as he jumped in surprise.
"Dum bum bum Christmas
Bum bada Christmas
Beeba badda snow fall for ever and ever." He hummed.
"Step into Christmas!" Circe laughed. "Hoped you'd recognise this one."
"You know… I think that's when I first started falling for you. That first Christmas. When you bought me all that cake."
"Goodness.. that soon?"
"Mmmm." He responded simply. "Although, I must admit, at the time I was more terrified by the concept than warmed by it."
"You know… I don't think I had a revelatory moment."
"No? My magnetic personality and stunning good looks didn't grab you from day one?" he asked, his voice dripping in sarcasm.
"What? When you insulted me and called me unprofessional, you mean?"
He laughed and took a sip of his red wine.
"Alright, so if not a lightning strike of emotion then, when did you realise you'd... fallen asleep?"
"I suppose… I remember thinking I was gone when we went after Potter on the Third Floor. After defeating Thoth."
"Well…" he said, looking into her eyes. "Only took us another three years to do something about it."
"Yeah, something that we'd both remember, you mean."
Severus blushed deep red, still appallingly embarrassed by that stolen kiss in the infirmary.
He fell silent, unable to come up with a retort. Circe gave him a triumphant poke in the ribs and he wriggled away from her. He grabbed her hand and pulled her close to him, their noses almost touching. His gloved hand pushed a curl behind her ear, and he lingered there. Circe's breath seemed to leave her and she felt instantly warmed by his touch. That signature sad smile of his rippled across his face. She touched her forehead to his, unable to look into his deep black eyes for any longer without crying.
"I love you, you silly git." She whispered.
"I love you too." He responded hoarsely. "And thank you."
"Why?"
"Forcing a Christmas on me, despite everything. Ignoring the obvious, I don't think I've ever been quite as happy as I am right now… And I hope, for as long as you'll have me, you'll allow me to endeavour to do the same for you too."
"You know you already do." She laid a small kiss on his lips and she smiled back at him.
A smash of glass and a distant, faraway scream made the two of them snap to attention. Severus stood to his feet, looking out into the distance with an expression of concern.
"Sev? What is it?" Circe asked. But he did not respond, listening intently to the quiet and standing as still as a statue. Another scream and more shouts rang out in the still and Circe too rose to her feet. She thought she heard on the wind a low, bouncing sort of noise. But when a black comet of smoke sailed over their heads, accompanied by a cruel and vicious cackle, Circe was left in little doubt of what was happening.
"Death Eaters. Here." Severus stated, his voice as heavy as a lead weight.
"But why? This has not been sanctioned by Voldemort. He told us to lay low and keep out of public view for the time being…"
The cruel cackle sounded out through the black sky again like an evil thunderclap and Circe gasped as she finally recognised that awful howling laugh.
"Bellatrix."
From their position in the beer garden, Circe and Severus watched as streams of muggle market-goers went running past them, screaming and shouting in a mounting state of panic. He turned to Circe, with a look of deep worry carved on his face, and withdrew his wand. She did the same, feeling dread pool in her guts as the sounds of screams were steadily joined by the gentle crackle of fire.
"Filthy, dirty, mud blood scum!" Roared the black comet as Bellatrix sailed overhead once more. The sight sent a chill up Circe's spine but she was moved to action when Severus broke into a jog. As the two of them ran into the burning remains of the Christmas market, Circe was reminded of that evening at the Quidditch World Cup: fire, screams, fright and evil at work.
"No! No! Please!" An unfamiliar man's voice rang through the mess of smashed and burning stalls.
"Crucio!"
Circe winced as she heard the electric buzz of the unforgivable curse taint the air. The man's voice screamed again.
"David! Please stop! Tell her to stop!" Another unfamiliar but female voice rang out.
Circe and Severus both ran to the source of the screams, dodging in between burning pyres of nutcrackers and tree ornaments, her chest aching as she passed by the gluhwein bar and the stall where she'd bought the Christmas decorations only a short time ago. Now, it was all a flaming mess, fallen into chaos so quickly. Yet she did not have time to mourn the shattering of the precarious peace she'd managed to cultivate for her and Severus as they finally reached the town's central square. Circe's heart leapt into her mouth when she saw Bellatrix pacing the perimeter of that square, staggering about almost as if she were drunk, her wand raised teasingly out before her as she cackled. But her stomach almost dropped straight out of her when she saw kneeling on the cobbled floor, an ordinary-looking middle aged man, doubled over in pain. Knelt by the man's side, in absolute hysterics, was a muggle woman, cradling her two young boys close to her as they watched the man writhing about in pain. Bellatrix turned to Severus and Circe as they approached, the burning flames around her glinting off her coal eyes, giving her a chillingly demonic look. Like two burning black holes of nothingness.
"Oh good. You got my invitation to the party then." Bellatrix tittered, gesturing broadly around her at the chaos she had caused.
"Bella, what in Merlin's name are you doing!?" Severus roared at her.
"I am doing what the Dark Lord wishes. What he demands of all of us! Ridding this world of tainted mudblood filth one cockroach at a time. Crucio!"
Bellatrix sent a jet of red magic lancing through the air, towards the man on the floor and he screamed into the night again.
"David…! David!" The woman sobbed as her two small boys wailed into her jumper, hiding their faces in fright.
"Awhh, how touching. The cockroach's family are scared of the exterminator." Bellatrix muttered derisively, placing her wand tip under the woman's chin.
"Lestrange, you need to stop this right now!" Circe shouted, her voice almost cracking with emotion.
"Oh you two are no fun. Come on, I thought you'd be aching to serve the Dark Lord in his ultimate goal. Are you his servants or not?"
"What you are doing endangers His goals, Bella." Severus stated, striding towards her and seizing her by the arm. "He has told us all to keep our heads bent. Out of sight. Not causing scenes of uproar and violence that will draw attention to our brotherhood!"
"I spent years in Azkaban dreaming of the day that I could resume my purpose as his instrument, Severus!" She screamed into his face. "Thoughts of killing scum like this kept me warm at night!" She added, kicking the poor muggle man in the stomach. He cried out and his wife did so too.
"Your frustration betrays you." Circe spat. "You want to lash out because you disappoint Him with each passing day that The Prophecy goes undiscovered."
"Oh dear…." Bellatrix purred, advancing on her with a show of frightening speed, stopping only when she was just a few inches from Circe's face. "Is the Praetor of the Dementors displeased with my work? Disgusted with my actions? Come to lecture me on how best to serve our Master? … Or is there something about this little family setup that unnerves you, Praetor?" She asked, waving a black-nailed hand at the man curled up in pain on the floor.
Circe's blood ran cold as her eyes passed from the middle-aged man on the floor, to his blonde wife and her two boys. Bellatrix had chosen well, down to the North Face jacket the man wore to the light-up trainers the little boys wore that flashed unrelentingly amidst the panic and pain...
Oh God, they're her stand-ins for Dad, Jane, Alec and Tom. Circe finally realised.
She tried to compose herself, trying not to let her crippling sense of dread show on her face. This was Bellatrix's attempt to out her and expose her connection to her father. She had purposefully chosen a family unit made up of the same elements as her Dad's to try and spook Circe into a reaction. Circe swallowed hard, knowing that how she reacted in the next few minutes would determine her family's safety.
"I don't know what you're on about, Bellatrix." she murmured nonchalantly.
"No? Oh I had hoped that you'd say that, Praetor." replied Bellatrix, forcing Circe's title out through her teeth with a hiss. She turned back to the middle-aged man on the floor, yanking his head off the ground with a fistful of his hair. Circe felt her throat close up with emotion as she stared into the bloody and frightened face of the man as he looked at her imploringly "Then why don't you have a play with the cockroaches then?"
"What?" Circe asked hoarsely.
"If the same kind of hatred runs through your veins as it does through mine, then you should relish the chance to stomp on these verminous things." Bellatrix pointed her wand under the man's chin and he whimpered. "Crucio!"
A bolt of magic went spiking through the man's head and as his mouth opened in a scream, Circe could see the red of the curse dancing around in his skull.
"Bellatrix, that's enough!" Severus cut in, striding forwards with a firm look in his eye. He took Circe's hand slyly in his own and squeezed it tight. "The Ministry Aurors will be here any moment."
"Or perhaps you're more drawn towards the woman." Bellatrix grabbed at the blonde lady, cowering on the floor, drawing her from her children with a shriek.
"Please! Leave us alone! Leave the boys alone!" she wept through eyes of brimming tears.
"Bellatrix, stop!" Severus shouted again. "This serves nobody but yourself."
"I was never big on torturing children myself, but I could be tempted to try it if you do." Bellatrix went on, completely ignoring Severus as she pushed the woman back to the floor and made for the two young boys.
"No, stop!" Circe cried out. Severus tried to hold her back but she wrenched free of his grasp, her heart thundering in her ears.
A series of loud popping noises sounded out somewhere in the distance that made all of them give pause.
"That's the Aurors arriving." Severus muttered gravely "You need to leave before your brash actions endanger our-"
"I am not leaving until she chooses her cockroach!" Bellatrix roared into Severus's face, pointing at Circe with her long, bent wand. Again, Bellatrix moved with a frightening speed, teeth bared and eyes aflame with hatred until she had seized Circe's other hand and wrenched her free from Severus "Come on, darling. Even with that mangled arm I know you can still cast a good old hex." she hissed in her ear, pushing Circe in front of the muggle man on the floor.
Circe stared down at the muggle man, his body lying motionless on the floor, save for a few short and shallow breaths. She felt dead inside, numbed to everything except the excruciating pain squeezing at her heart.
"Severus. You better get out of here before the Aurors arrive..." Circe muttered monotonously, raising her wand at the muggle man.
"I won't be leaving without-"
"GO!" Circe roared, turning to face him with a face of terrifying anger. Severus stared back at her as her jaw locked into a firmness that told him everything he needed to know. She had made her decision… and she didn't want him to witness it.
He had always one day feared that she might be forced into a situation like this, to perform something truly heinous in the service of her undercover role. But not then. Not at Christmas. Not when everything had been so wonderful. He too understood well enough what Bellatrix was trying to do and his stomach churned with hatred for her. If Circe refused to torture the muggle family, then she would be before Voldemort in a matter of seconds professing her as a traitor. Or Bellatrix would rain down upon the house of Circe's family like a terrible storm, killing them all, once her suspicions had been confirmed. Whatever took her fancy first...
But she still doesn't know for certain that the people she's been watching are Circe's family. Hence this little stage-play with all the lookalike stand-ins. Bellatrix is thrashing about in frustration… trying to provoke Circe into a reaction. All Bellatrix needs now is for Circe to break down and refuse to go through with what she's demanding of her… And then in a single afternoon's work she'll have exposed Circe as a spy and her family as her next set of "cockroaches" to exterminate...
Severus gazed back at her pallid face as understanding washed over him.
She's going to do it.
"I… Circe... " he muttered, at a loss for words.
"GO!" she screamed again. Her eyes threatened to slip over with tears but her expression did not change. She looked oddly calm, resigned to the choice she'd made.
All Severus could do was hang his head low and nod. And then he was gone. Apparating away with a pop.
Circe turned back to Bellatrix with an ashen face, the Lestrange woman staring back at her through her hanging tendrils of tight coiled hair Bellatrix smiled wickedly and began her cackle again, low and slow.
"Don't be too prudish, sweetheart. Rodolphus and I have witnessed one another perform unforgivable curses many a time." she purred. "Good way to… wet the appetite for later too, if you catch my drift." Bellatrix whispered into her ear.
"Bellatrix…." Circe breathed, turning to face the woman with a snarl on her own face. "Fuck off."
She breathed in deep and channeled all of her hatred towards the Lestrange woman into her wand. A dark and powerful magic pooled in her stomach. A magic that she had never used before. She raised her wand and aimed it at the muggle man curled up in a ball on the floor.
"Cruc-"
"Aguamenti!" A strong and booming voice hollered over the crackle of the fire. Circe flinched and looked around her for the source of the noise. Bellatrix too snarled and held her wand out before her like a dagger. The flames melted away and standing in the space that had been carved out of the raging fire was the Auror Circe had met on the beach.
"Kingsley!" She exclaimed.
But the Auror had little time for greetings as a series of sharp, static spells went whizzing through the air from Bellatrix's position. Kingsley blocked them one by one, forcing Circe to shrink back from the force of their battle to protect herself from their flying curses.
"Now, Cartwright!" Kingsley hollered out over the roar of magic.
Circe felt the presence of another behind her and wheeled around just in time to see a hex heading straight for her…
She cried out as a leg-locking curse seized her muscles and bound her limbs together. She fell to the floor with a thud and for a while she lay on her back as her head swam with stars and fire smoke… From her place on the ground, staring up at the sky, she saw Bellatrix escape to freedom in a whirling mist of black smoke whilst Kingsley cried out in frustration after the black comet.
"Not her, Cartwright! I wanted you to ambush Lestrange!"
"I couldn't see who was who, Kingsley! The fiendfyre was burning my eyes."
"Oh for goodness sake. Go and see to the muggle family. They'll need taking to the Ministry..."
Circe heard their heated conversation swirling around in the night around her. She tried to sit up, but found herself still too winded to do so. She almost gasped when the face of Kingsley Shacklebolt appeared above her, staring down at her with a look of puzzlement across his face.
"I know you…" he muttered, pointing at her with his wand. He cast a quick levitation spell and a Circe was hauled off the floor until she was stood up straight, all the while Shacklebolt refused to remove his eyes from her. As the fiendfyre began to die down, more Aurors flooded the scene. Circe hoped that she'd see Tonks or Moody among them, but no luck.
"I know you too. Kingsley." Circe replied, finally rediscovering her voice.
"You… you were the woman on the cliffs. On the day of the Azkaban breakout!" He cried out, wagging a long finger in her face. "Very suspicious that I should find you here too."
"Y-you don't understand. I'm part of the-"
"Kingsley! Any luck apprehending the culprits?" An old man's voice called out to the Auror. Circe and Kingsley both looked to the source of the voice and saw Cornelius Fudge trotting towards them. "Nasty business. Very nasty. I think we'll have to wipe the memories of half the town."
"I'm afraid Madame Lesrange escaped arrest. My apprentice is seeing to the muggle family now, Sir." Replied Shacklebolt, gesturing to where Cartwright stood in the square, helping the muggle man gently to his feet. Other Aurors were similarly tending to the woman and the two young boys too.
"Lestrange, was it? You sure about that?"
"Sir?" Kingsley asked incredulously.
"It's just I've had reports from other staff in the Ministry that this may have been instigated by Dumbledore and his lot. Try and spook me into saying Voldemort's back."
"And why would Dumbledore do that, sir?"
"Well, Dolores tells me he wants to be Minister!" Fudge scoffed. "He's already managed to poison Moody and his apprentice against me… Why I had to let them both go, you see. He got them to join his little "Order". The nerve of it. Turning my own staff against me…!"
"I see." Kingsley nodded somberly.
Well shit… better keep "mums the word" about being in The Order in front of Fudge then. Circe thought with a scowl.
"And what about this one?" Fudge asked, waving at Circe.
"She was at the scene of the incident, sir."
"Hang on…" Fudge breathed, his eyes lingering over Circe's face. "You're a Professor… At Hogwarts aren't you."
Fuck.
"You see, Kingsley! I told you Dumbledore's trying to stir the pot!"
"Minister, I live here. I heard the commotion and-" Circe tried to butt in, but she was silenced by Fudge.
"Dolores was right! Dumbledore's poisoning the whole of Hogwarts against me and my Government. Did he ask you to cause a commotion here, Hmm? Tell you to set this place ablaze and blame it on the fairytale of The Dark Lord or the Death Eaters? I tell you, it's a propaganda tool! He's trying to create reasons to undermine me!"
"Minister, no! That's not what-"
"Silencio!" Cried Fudge, waving his wand through the air and taking the sound from Circe's throat. Her eyes bulged as her voice was silenced. She looked to Kingsley once more with panic in her eyes, and the dark-skinned Auror looked back at her with that pervasive look of puzzlement still clinging to his features.
"Mister Shacklebolt, arrest this woman. Take her to the Ministry."