Hello again, thanks for coming back! :)
So while I'm sure many of us have been enjoying some low key smut and talks of safe sex, here's some action and plot! Yay
*ducks booing crowd flinging popcorn*
Well anyway, on with the show!
If Someone Cared Enough
Chapter 108: Longbottom's House is Falling Down
It was pure chaos by the time they arrived.
The Longbottom Estate was lit up like a fireplace, the ancient brick gleaming like the stones of a hearth. Billowing clouds of black smoke rose high into the sky and obscured the sun, making the once bright, sunny day look more like the skies of an ominous storm.
Figures darted back and forth across the lawn as bolts of light shot this way and that, some finding their target, others only serving to further decimate the once pristine and noble House of Longbottom. The topiaries lining the property were little more than charred, naked branches and twigs now, the steel gate to the estate melting from the onslaught of magical might.
Shadows flickered in the windows, shouts and screams of curses raining down from them as green and red streaks of light struck down friend and foe alike.
Above them all, the cursed Dark Mark etched itself across the sky.
"Mum!" Severus called out in alarm, charging forward.
Kingsley's hand grabbed him at the last second, "You can't go in there by yourself. You're not trained for this sort of thing."
Truthfully, Severus and Lily should not have been there at all, but when Severus learned that Death Eaters had somehow found their way through the various charms and wards to Longbottom Estate, all he could think about was getting to his mother's side.
Kingsley did not intend to bring them along, having only come to the Evans's house to station Aurors on the property and to warn the family to stay inside in case the Death Eaters came for them next.
However, when Kingsley had gone to apparate away, Severus and Lily impulsively and recklessly grabbed hold of his robes just as Kingsley popped out of sight.
They were lucky they hadn't splinched off a limb.
"I've fought Dark Magic before!" Severus cried, struggling in Kingsley's grip, "I have to find my mother."
"The Aurors will protect her," Kingsley insisted, refusing to let the frantic teen go.
"Kingsley!"
Alice and Frank came rushing down the grassy knoll, the former looking back behind them to draw up a shield of magic just as a hex came barreling their way.
"Kings," Frank panted, "Thought you'd never get here."
"How many are there?" Kingsley asked urgently.
"Fifteen," Frank answered, "Possible twenty. He sent the more vicious of his ranks; Fenrir was spotted among them."
Kingsley cursed, "He's one of the most unpredictable."
"Moody's out there," Alice told them, "He's taking on three of them right now. I think he believes them to be the lead lieutenants."
Her eyes fell to Kingsley's tagalongs, "Lily?! What are you doing here?"
"You brought them?" Frank hissed, "They'll be killed!"
"They followed me, I didn't bring them," Kingsley defended.
"Well send them back," Frank demanded, "Before You-Know-Who's followers catch whiff of them."
"There's hardly any time," Kingsley argued, "You need me here."
While the trio argued, Severus saw his chance and took it.
Ducking under Frank's arm, Severus darted off across the lawn, heading for the manor.
"Severus!" Frank screamed, "Are you mad?!"
Alice's cries for Lily followed soon after, letting Severus know that his girlfriend was hot on his heels.
He didn't even stop to try and convince her to hang back; she'd proven time and again that she wouldn't sit idly by while he ran headlong into danger. Bloody Gryffindor courage.
Severus's feet slid across the grass, the morning dew still fresh even as the manor burned. He sidestepped a dazed figure in a dark robe and silver mask, sitting disoriented and swaying slightly on the ground.
"Stupefy!" Lily's voice cried out; the figure dropped over onto one side like a sack of hammers.
"Sev," Lily caught up to him, slipping her hand into his as they ran full sprint into the fray.
Dodging and blocking hexes, Severus barely avoiding tripping over a lump in front of him; he realized with a twisting sick in his stomach that it was a body, a ruddy faced man in puce robes. Not a Death Eater.
"Come on," He urged Lily, praying she hadn't taken notice of just what they'd leaped over.
Lily stumbled, a gasp escaping her, "Sev…"
"Don't look back," Severus pleaded, "You won't want to go forward if you look back."
A man in ministry sanctioned robes raced past them, firing off a binding curse at an approaching Death Eater."
"Get to the back garden," he ordered, mistaking them for residents of the estate, "It's the weak point; your only way out."
"Shit," Severus cursed, "The Death Eaters must have put up anti-apparation wards. No wonder Kingsley arrived so far out on the grounds."
The front doors had collapsed in a pile of rubble, boards and beams of the once grand mahogany sitting in a splintered heap. Smoke poured out through the doorway in thick clouds and the hall within was completely hidden by the cloying smoke aside from the spark of flames and occasional flicker of a spell. Screams echoed down the hall.
"This way," Severus directed. He hoisted himself in through a window, careful to avoid the broken glass. Getting Lily through the same way, the pair of them brought their sleeves up to their faces to mask some of the tear wrenching burn of the smoke.
"We should stay low," Lily suggested as she drew her wand, "For multiple reasons."
They both slipped into a crouch, crawling through the destroyed house as smoke hung over their heads. Little fires still burned in some places, but it was clear the Aurors had managed to put most of them out during their initial sweep of the house.
There was a scuffle coming from the nearest door, the kitchen. A moment later a person in dark robes flew through the door and slammed into the adjacent wall to slide down and slump unconscious.
"No one may enter the manner without Mistress's permission," came a squeaky voice from inside.
Several house elves stood angrily in the doorway, some baring rolling pins and pots, other relying solely on their own magic to defend the home.
Several Death Eaters were sprawled out at their feet.
"Mister Snape!" the tallest house elf exclaimed in surprise, "Mister Snape mustn't be here. Too dangerous for young wizards."
"Runey, I need to find my mother," Severus said hurriedly, "Where is she?"
Runey frowned, thinking.
"Mistress was bringing her to the sunroom," Runey answered, "Secret passage there; a way out. But Misters and Missuses shouldn't be wandering around with dark wizards about!"
"We'll be fine," Severus assured, already moving down the hall despite the elves' dismayed cries and objections.
Severus and Lily rounded a corner and narrowly missed the wall to their left exploding. Severus pulled Lily to him and flatten them both against the wall to avoid being crushed by the crumbling plaster and rock from the blast.
A figure stumbled out from the hole, limping down the hallway with labored breaths.
"Give up, Pyrites!" cawed a harsh voice. Moody stormed through the opening in the wall, a nasty gash across his nose. It looked like someone tries to sever the thing clean off his face.
"You're losing your edge, Pyrites," Moody mocked, "Come and face me like a real wizard, you great big dandy!"
Pyrites, the fleeing Death Eater, turned to Moody with his wand raised, blooding staining his foppish white gloves.
"You're very cocky for an old man," he sneered, backing away carefully, "but don't assume you've got me beat."
"What're you running away for then, eh?" Moody asked with a malicious grin.
The pair seemed not to notice the two teens crouched in deathly silence by a suit of armor.
"Tell me where the other Lieutenants went, Pyrites," Moody barked, "It's Lucius, right? And Lestrange? Tell me and perhaps the worst fate awaiting you will be just life in Azkaban."
Pyrites rose to his full height, taking his mask off to glare down at Moody, "I'd rather die."
Moody smirked, "That can be arranged."
The pair sent off a volley of hexes against each other, the hall lighting up like a Christmas tree as red and green strobed the hall. Wallpaper burned away, vases and portraits exploded into shards and splinters.
The suit of armor lost its head in the firefight, the heavy metal clanking to the ground loudly and rolling before Lily and Severus.
"Fuck…" Severus whispered.
Pyrites turned towards the armor, his eyes landing on the pair of hidden teens. A maddening glint in his eye, he raised his wand at them, "Avada—"
Moody hurtled towards Pyrites with an enraged bellow. Slamming into the man, the battle scarred Auror smashed the both of them through a stain glass window, Moody disappearing with a crazed laugh of excitement.
"Did he do that to protect us?" Lily asked, bewildered, "Or because he's always wanted to throw a Death Eater out the window?"
"With him, it's hard to say," Severus replied, standing up, "Come on, we've got to get to the sunroom."
They treaded carefully through more chaos and disarray, hiding from foes who hadn't noticed them and hexing those that did. More bodies littered the floor the deeper they went in, some wearing Death Eater masks or ministry robes, some baring the plump, rounded features of the Longbottom family. Severus took comfort in the fact that he had yet to see any of the immediate family among the fallen.
A peek into the library showed them the grisly image of a wolfish-looking man crouched low over a prone body. From the sickening crunching and slurping sounds, one would only be horrified to guess what he was doing. Severus wisely led Lily away from the room—locking it with a spell for good measure—and up to the next floor.
The second floor bore similar carnage; overturned furniture, bodies of the dead. Several bodies bore a series of slashes from chest to throat; Sectumsepmra. Vile rose in Severus throat when he realized that not all those slain by the spell were Death Eaters. Several were Aurors or innocents.
Severus rued the day he ever taught his so-called friends that spell. He cursed the day he invented it.
Someone rounded the corner abruptly, causing Severus and Lily to hide behind a cabinet.
"Who's that?" Lily asked, "He doesn't look like he's from either side."
It was true; the tall, thin figure bore neither masks nor uniform robes, the sooty remains of a pinstriped three-piece suit clinging to his lean frame. In his hand he clutched a willowy, silver wand that glowed in the smoky hallway.
"He's not with the Aurors," Severus observed, "Doesn't look like a Death Eater either. Nor does he strike me as a Longbottom."
The man looked about wildly, pointing his wand out in front of him as he turned to shine it's light on his surroundings, panic painting his features.
Severus leaned forward carefully, squinting down the hall.
"He almost looks like…" he narrowed his eyes harder, "…Ponderosa?"
Lily looked at Severus questioningly, "The Barrister? What's he doing here?"
"Eileen!" Ponderosa screamed, "Eileen, where are you?"
"He's looking for my mum," Severus said, springing up as Ponderosa raced down another hall, "Follow him!"
Holding onto one another, Lily and Severus navigated the collapsed and smoking wreckage of the manor. They clamored over the remains of a baby grand piano that someone apparently blasted out of a room and into the hall, the ivory keys scattered about the cracked and shattered black ebony of the instrument's body.
"Why is he looking for your mum?" Lily asked as she took Severus proffered hand to climb out from the fallen bookshelf they'd been forced to climb under.
"I'm not sure," Severus answered, "This sort of goes above his job requirements."
Lily picked a splinter out of her sleeve, grimacing as it tore from the skin it had embedded itself in, "He mentioned knowing your mum when they were both kids. Maybe he's here as a friend?"
"Possible," Severus mused, "But they haven't seen each other in over seventeen years. How close could they be?"
He peered cautiously around a corner, looking up and down the hall.
"This way," he directed, heading off to the left, "The sunroom should be just up ahead—"
An explosion ahead of them shook the building, rock and plaster raining down on their heads as they ducked for cover.
Severus managed to pull Lily under an overturned side table that once held a series of presumably priceless decorative vases.
"What was that?" Lily cried in fear.
Severus held Lily close, wand held out warily in front of himself like a sword, "…I'm not sure."
"Hold your fire!" came Ponderosa's voice, "I'm not one of them."
The voice that followed was the unmistakable crow of Augusta Longbottom herself, "Damn it all, Ponderosa! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"
Severus and Lily peered out through the dust floating in the hallway. There at the sunroom, Ponderosa stood just before the remains of the now demolished door, hands up nonthreateningly.
"Forgive me," he apologized, "I didn't mean to startle you. I was only looking for—"
Augusta appeared in the doorway, her wand halting Ponderosa's steps by pressing into his throat.
"How do I know it's you?" Augusta asked suspiciously.
Ponderosa reached into his pocket.
Severus couldn't tell what Ponderosa showed Augusta, but whatever it was t glinted in the firelight, the aging matron looked at it for a moment before dropping her wand.
"You'll wind up in a pine box being so reckless," she scolded.
Ponderosa ducked his head, "I'm sorry. Please, just tell me Eileen is with you. I've looked everywhere."
Augusta nodded her head stiffly, "She's here. And I suppose it couldn't hurt to have some help guarding her."
"Wait!" Severus called out, rushing out from beneath the table.
He ran to them, unconcerned for the wand Augusta brandished in his face.
"My mum," he rasped, all the smoke and dust starting to irritate his lungs, "She's alright?"
Augusta stared Severus down suspiciously, her wand trained on him.
"Please," Severus begged as Lily came up to join them, "Let me see my mother."
Augusta examined Severus with a critical eye, her gaze sweeping up and down the boy. Her eyes trailed over Severus's face down to the side of his head.
"The little scar right before you left ear," she inquired, "Who gave it to you; James Potter or Sirius Black?"
"Trick question," Severus answered, "It was neither; my father got me with a broken bottle. I was eight."
Augusta lowered her wand, "It's you alright."
She gestured towards the room, "She's in there."
Severus raced past her, quickly followed by Lily and Ponderosa.
"Mum!" Severus exclaimed, dropping down besides his mother's chair, "Are you alright?"
Eileen stirred, her eyes glazed over and listless, "Mmm…what?" she blinked owlishly at him, "Toby?"
Severus shook his head, "No mum, it's me."
"Severus?" Eileen asked, eyes widening slightly in recognition, "Look at you…you've gotten so big."
Severus allowed his mother to cup his face in her hands, her fingers grazing his cheeks and brushing back his hair.
"You're grown so much," Eileen murmured, "When did that happen?"
Severus sighed, pulling his mother's hand away, "Now's not the time, mum. We have to get you out of here."
"Why?" Eileen questioned, her swaying gaze trailing over the many flowers in the room, "It's so lovely here…let's stay a while and catch up."
"I told you we can't," Severus insisted.
"The elves said there's a passageway here," Lily brought up, turning to Augusta, "Where is it?"
Augusta pointed to the far right corner, "Those three corner tiles. Step on them center, right, left, center...center, left, left, right. Opens up into a spiral staircase going down. Should take us straight to the family crypts. From there apparation should be easy."
"Why leave so soon?" Eileen questioned dreamily, "We've only just all got here. Let's sit a spell."
She noticed Ponderosa, the willowy man nervously fidgeting his hands as he stared awkwardly at her, "You look familiar…"
Ponderosa managed a weak smile, "It's me, Eileen…Pontius."
Eileen gasped, leaning forward, "But you were always so little. How did you get so tall?"
Ponderosa shrugged, "The years will do that to you, Ellie."
"Years?" Confusion filled Eileen's face, "What is the date?"
"Mum, we don't have time," Severus said. He grabbed his mother by the hands, dragging her up from her chair, "If we don't leave now, it's the end for us."
"So dramatic," Eileen tsked, "You're being awfully rude, dragging me about like this. Just what would you're father say?"
"A fat lot of nothing, because he isn't here," Severus snapped, beyond frustrated.
"That's enough, young man," Eileen said, wagging her finger at Severus, "You will not talk to me like that. Now I expect you to sit down and behave. Your father should be home soon…"
"No mum, he's not coming," Severus said, "He won't be, he's—"
"Already dead," came an icy voice followed by a chilling cackle.
A woman stepped into the room, hair as inky black as her dress, hair as wild and wispy as the smoke circling them. A smirk hung from her painted lips as her heavily lidded eyes narrowed with malicious glee.
"Cold and dead," Bellatrix stated with a cold smile, "And never coming back."
"Bellatrix," Severus sneered.
Bellatrix returned his disdain with playful mockery.
"Well, well, look who it is," she grinned nastily, "Itty, bitty, little Sevie, all grown up and thinking he can play with the big boys now."
She stepped closer.
Augusta pointed her wand at Bellatrix, "That's as far as you go, Lestrange."
"Ah, dear old Augusta," Bellatrix crooned, twiddling her wand between her fingers with little care for her safety, "Ever the battleax I see."
She evaluated the older woman, "You know you'd have been a useful asset to my Lord's side."
She cast Lily a look before adding, "Pity you chose to align yourself with mongrels and halfbreeds."
"Better than sycophants and inbreds," Augusta quipped, "How's your parents, dear? Still related outside of marriage?"
Bellatrix's mouth curled in a snarl, baring her crooked, jagged teeth.
"And there's the infamous Black Smile. The lot of you so malformed even the teeth are trying to jump out your mouth. All except for your two cousins...and your precious elder sister."
Bellatrix hissed, taking another threatening step forward, "That filth is no sister of mine. She's a blemish on our family name. She'll be dealt with soon."
"But first," she added, crazed smile slipping back onto her face, "I'll deal with all of you."
The others watched her warily, wands at the ready.
"How do you think my Lord will praise me, hm?" Bellatrix queried, tapping her wand tip against her lips thoughtfully, "If I take out the thorn in his side. Hm? Severus, don't you think he'll be pleased?"
"If you really think that, you're dumber than I thought," Severus said.
Bellatrix narrowed her eyes, "Watch what you say, halfbreed."
"No really," Severus pushed on, hoping to keep Bellatrix distracted with him as long as possible. He could feel Lily take a step back from him, inching Eileen back towards the hidden passage, "You must not know your precious lord as much as you think. Do you really think he'll be pleased if you take me out?"
"He'll reward me for my loyalty," Bellatrix snarled.
"No," Severus replied, "He'll kill you for denying him the pleasure of taking me out himself. Think about it Bella; I know you're not that foolish. Surely your lord—if he is so powerful—is more than capable of dealing with me. But if you step in and rob him of that glory...all he will see is a usurper..."
"That is if we let you live long enough to face him," Augusta added, glaring at the wild haired woman.
Bellatrix stared at them with fire in her eyes before amusement passed over her face, as if a funny thought occurred to her.
Severus realized with growing dread that her eyes were fixed over his shoulder.
"And who is this?" she questioned, demented glee lighting up her eyes, "This fair lady?"
Ponderosa tucked Eileen behind him and Lily and Augustus stood in front of them both.
"Is that your mummy little Sevvie?" Bellatrix cooed, "Your dear, sweet mummy?"
She took another step.
Severus leveled his wand right between her eyes, "Not another step."
Bellatrix snickered, hands raised in mock surrender, "I only want to say hello; it's been a while since anyone's since the lost heir of Prince."
"L-lost," Eileen murmured, "Why lost...where am I?"
"Oh," Bellatrix simpered, "Feeling not quite yourself, my dear?"
She stepped closer, "A bit...touched in the head, are we?"
"Back away, Bella," Severus ordered.
"Tell me, Sevvie," Bellatrix sneered, "Does your precious, precious mummy know what happened to her darling hubby? To dear Tobias?"
"T-Toby?" Eileen perked up, looking around hopefully.
Bellatrix cackled, "He's not here, sweetie. Hate to break it to you, but your darling Tobias is six feet under."
Something registered in Eileen's eyes, a flicker of life, "No..."
"Stone cold!" Bellatrix crowed, "Worm food! All that's left of your dear beloved is for the maggots!"
"N-no..." Eileen started shaking her head, "That can't be...Toby..."
"Dead!" Bellatrix sang, "Cold and dead. Never to rise again."
"Enough!" Severus roared, slashing his wand at Bellatrix.
Bellatrix let out a little cry as she sidestepped the curse, taking the brunt of it to her arm.
Bellatrix rubbed at her singed flesh, drawing in a sharp breath between her teeth. Still, she smiled that maddening smile.
"Little snake's showing his fangs, is he?" she mocked, "I would have thought you'd be happy, Sevvie. It was no secret that your daddy was a bastard. Tell me, how hard did he beat you?"
Lily stepped forward, enraged, but Augusta held her back.
"How I would have loved to see it," Bellatrix said dreamily, "I bet you screamed and cried beautifully."
"Toby wouldn't," Eileen said feebly, more to herself than anyone else, "Not my Toby..."
That only made Bellatrix happier, "Poor thing's in denial. A sorry excuse for a Pureblood and a piss poor excuse for a mother!"
"That's not true!" Eileen cried.
"Pining away for the man who beat her little boy," Bellatrix laughed, "How hilariously tragic."
"I'm a good mother!" Eileen insisted, pushing forward.
Ponderosa held her back, "Ellie, no."
"Ellie yes!" Bellatrix taunted, "Let the barmy bitch fight me. I'll take her limbs off! Flay her alive and let her watch her son die right before her very eyes as she bleeds out!"
Severus had had enough, "I won't let you have the chance..."
Darting to the side, he took advantage of Bellatrix's momentary surprise to shoot a stinging jinx at her.
Bellatrix managed to block the jinx at the last second, taking a step back, "Ready to play, I see. Fine boy, I'll play."
Wasting no time at all, Bellatrix shot a curse wordlessly at Severus. A bright red streak; the crucio. Severus barely got out of the way in time.
"Sev!" Lily cried, leaping forward.
"No! Protect my mother!" Severus shouted.
"Yes, mudblood," Bellatrix cajoled, "Protect his loony mummy."
Augusta tsked, "Enough of this."
Rolling up her sleeves, she spared Ponderosa a glance.
"Protect Eileen," she barked.
Dashing forward, Augusta intercepted a curse headed Severus's way, parrying it with a spell of her own.
The curse sliced through Bellatrix's hair, strands falling to the ground at the witch's feet.
"My hair!" Bellatrix said angrily, one hand going to her lopsided haircut.
"I'd say it's an improvement," Augusta quipped.
Bellatrix glared daggers at the older woman.
"I'll save you and that Prince bitch for last," she promised, "Make you watch as I kill these rosy faced children as a brutal reminder that you failed!"
"Don't make promises you don't intend to keep!" Augusta challenged.
Her and Severus lunged at Bellatrix from opposite sides, each firing off a series of curses and hexes.
Bellatrix gave as good as she got however.
In fact, she gave more.
"You're too soft!" she taunted as Severus narrowly avoided another crucio, "Do you really expect to win against me when you cling to your precious morals? What's a matter, Augusta? Too scared tto use an unforgivable?"
Augusta sneered at her, "More like I'd rather light you on fire; that won't land me in Azkaban, and you'll scream a lot more for it too!"
"Oh really?"
Augusta tripping was the only reason the green blast from Bella's wand missed her.
"Severus!" Eileen cried out, reaching for her son.
"Mrs. Snape, you can't," Lily said, trying to push Eileen back while keep her shield up against errant spells.
"But my son!" Eileen screamed, "My baby!"
Bellatrix laughed, dancing to and fro against the barrage of curses from her foes, as if it were a game to her, "Yes, your baby. Your itty baby boy. Whatever will you do when he's dead too, gone the way of his daddy?"
"You're fight is with us," Augusta shouted, "I don't take kindly to being ignored."
"Tell me, will you cry?" Bellatrix asked with a disturbing amount of cheer, "Will you cry, Eileen? When little Sevvie's dead?"
Eileen strained against Ponderosa's arms, "Severus!"
Cackling, Bellatrix fired off a random curse at Lily's shields' earning a roar of rage from Severus.
Severus shot Bellatrix with a burn hex, the woman letting out a shriek and dropping to the ground.
"Did we get her?" Augusta pondered aloud. She took a hesitant step further.
Bellatrix sprung up suddenly, that same depraved smile on her face. A quick look of her form showed the spell hadn't even struck her; it had been a ruse.
"Crucio!" she cried happily.
Severus hit the ground with a scream, dropping his wand as he clawed at his chest and face.
Before Augusta could react, Bellatrix blasted her off her feet, sending her hurtling into the wall.
"Stop it!" Lily screamed, unable to do anything but stand and watched as Bellatrix advanced on Severus.
"Did you really think you could beat me?" Bellatrix asked, turning mocking eyes to Lily and the others, "I'm the Dark Lord's favorite for a reason. What could a bunch of blood traitors and mudbloods hope to do against me?"
Dropping the shield, Lily desperately ran at Bellatrix, only to be hit with a stunner and frozen in place.
Ponderosa held Eileen back behind him, staring on in horror.
"Now watch," Bellatrix hissed sinisterly, "Watch as your precious Sev is killed like the filthy halfbreed he is."
"Born in the gutter," Bellatrix intoned, leveling her wand at Severus twitching form, "Died in the gutter."
"Bombarda!"
There was an earth shattering blast and a flash of light, the room shaking.
Bellatrix let out an earsplitting screech of agony. Twisting in pain, blood splattered down from her arm, from the mangled mess that once was her hand. Her wand lay in splinters on the ground
"My hand!" she shrieked, her eyes becoming more crazed with the pain, more rabid. She looked about her frantically, ferally, "Who did that?!"
Eileen stood there in all her frightening fury, eyes wild, jaw set. In her hand she clutched her son's forgotten wand.
"M-mum..." Severus mumbled, struggling to stay conscious.
"Not my son," Eileen muttered, half mad, half teetering back into the realm of sanity, "Not. My. Son."
With another blast she reduced Bellatrix's left foot into a gorey pulp, the witch screaming in abandon as she fell to the ground.
"No one takes my baby from me," Eileen cried, "They've taken so much from me. My life...my family. Never again!"
A curse struck Bellatrix in the face, blood pouring from the place her right eye used to be.
"You join Toby in the grave," Eileen spat, "My baby won't be going to meet him."
She sent another curse Bellatrix way, but the woman managed to collected herself enough in her suffering to apparate away.
"Not my son," Eileen repeated to no one, eyes burning as she began to sway, "Not my son..."
With those final words, Eileen slipped into unconsciousness, leaving the others in stunned silence.
BAM! Badass mama bear came out to play! And badass Augusta too. You now I had to show that old crone dueling in her prime.
Anyone else still find the visual of house elves fighting to defend their homes and wizard families to be both amusing and endearing?
Also, I've always wanted to see Moody tackle a Death Eater out of a window. He's crazy enough to do it.
Not sure if anyone missed Ponderosa, but I always planned to bring him back. Why? You'll have to wait and see *evil laugh*...seriously thought, it's nothing bad though.
I had a great deal of fun in both writing Bellatrix and brutally maiming her. Is that bad? I don't think it's bad. Is it?
Review please!