The room I write in is currently WAY too hot, like I'm dying. Summer got here too quickly, and I'm really not looking forward to it. Also the humidity is making my hair look like a bird nest. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this chapter, feel free to drop some hot takes. Love you all for the support!

I AM NOT PROFITING OFF THIS. ANY RECOGNIZABLE PEOPLE, PLACES, OR EVENTS BELONG TO J.K. ROWLING

Chapter 23

"Bella, stop moping. Be glad I showed up to help you at all." Narcissa sighed. While she was thankful to be home from school, her oldest sister's dour moods left a lot to be desired when she visited.

"This is stupid. I shouldn't have to go to the party if I don't want to. I'm an adult for Salazar's sake." the dark witch sat in front of her vanity while Narcissa did her hair.

"At least your date isn't ugly. I still can't believe I have to go with Goyle, he's so...ugh." Narcissa cringed, but Bellatrix just looked more upset as her expression grew sour.

"You know you're engaged to him, right?"

"Yes, but then I can just poison him and all's well that ends well." Narcissa sniffed. Bellatrix tilted her head in consideration of that plan. Still, she had grown tired of all the niceties of high society. The resentment and unrest festering inside her was itching to break free. It was making her feel like a kid again in all the worst possible ways.

"If you keep slouching, your spine will get stuck like that, and you'll look like aunt Walburga." the blonde warned, and Bellatrix grumbled before eventually sitting up straight. After a couple moments of silence, Narcissa smiled at her creation.

"And you're all set. Those summer trips to France have paid off." she beamed, and Bellatrix couldn't help but feel like an idiot. She looked like an expensive doll that somebody had dressed up, and she scowled at her reflection.

"I hate it." she muttered before standing and leaving her room. In the foyer of the Lestrange Manor, Rodolphus and Goyle were waiting for the sisters, and they both leered appreciatively. Bellatrix snapped at her husband when he tried to take her arm, and instead apparated by herself.

The gravel path leading towards the Black Manor was lit with green torches, and couples made their way along as they looked at the various beautifully sculpted topiaries. Bellatrix marches past the slower people so she could walk in through the front door, ignoring the man who tried to announce her so she could drink herself into a stupor in her father's wine cellar.

"Are you sure you don't want to wear something nicer? It's a party after all." Jesse asked as he cast a judgmental eye over his niece. Rose looked at her worn jean jacket and corduroy pants, now a faded yellow.

"I'm not mingling like the rest of you, now hurry up and get your damn circus in gear." Rose grumbled as she sat in the lion's cage, which was being towed behind an expensive carriage, which her Uncle had rented for the occasion. Jesse himself was dressed to the nines in a flamboyant teal suit adorned with peacock feathers, and a gaudy top hat that had little bird skulls around the brim. Peppers was sitting around his shoulders, ready to do his job when he was told so.

"Fine fine, but I'm disappointed in you. The least you could do is make this a little fun. Oh, this is going to be exciting!" Jesse crowed happily before jumping into the driver's seat and clicking the reins. Rose didn't bother to improve her mood, as it would only help keep her transformation up, but she wished they had parked the carriage a little farther away to give her more time to get in the zone. She could see the top of the mansion from the rolling hill where Jesse had hidden his caravan.

"It's fine, I can do this. As long as we all remember our jobs, we'll be fine." she thought before dredging up her most unpleasant and anger-inducing memories. Soon, she blacked out completely.

"Mr. Weasley and Miss Prewett, congratulations on your engagement, and a Happy Christmas to you." a wizard in deep purple robes shook Arthur's hand and kissed Molly's knuckles politely before flitting off to mingle with others. Arthur nodded before sipping his champagne nervously. Molly patted his hand affectionately.

"I've always hated these stupid parties. This will be the last one I come to, mark my words." Arthur whispered to Molly as they walked through the crowd.

"You can say that again dear." Molly threw back her drink in one gulp before plastering a pleasant smile on her face as she went to talk to another couple with Arthur.

A couple feet away, Gideon and Fabian were telling their most amusing tales to rile up the crowd a little, working them like clay and offering them drinks.

"I actually home-brewed this one myself." Fabian boasted as he drew a small bottle from his pocket. Unlabeled, the party-goes couldn't tell that it was elven wine mixed with veritaserum. Just enough to loosen some lips. A large man in an ill-fitting suit drank happily, and the twins stepped back to see what kind of ruckus he would create later on that night.

"Do you see Lucius yet?" Gideon mumbled to his brother as he kept a happy expression on his face as they greeted distant relatives.

"Not yet. I suspect he'll be showing up with Andy soon."

"Right you are. Well, keep an eye out. I'm going to schmooze over some of these poor bastards while we still have the chance."

"Bonus points if you get Rabastan Lestrange drunk before midnight."

"You're on." the brothers bumped fists quietly before going their separate ways.

The jaunty waltz music played by the live band was making Andromeda unreasonably nervous. She felt like something would go terribly wrong, but the squeal and hiss of the instruments made it feel as if this was just another fancy party. Lucius held tight to her arm, and she felt demonstrably angrier at that. As soon as she could, she would dump his ass in the crowd. She looked up at the man, noticing the slight bruising near his nose and how the bridge wasn't quite as straight anymore.

"Something happen?" she asked as she delicately scratched her own nose, and Lucius gave her a warning squeeze on the arm, but didn't say anything. When they waited for the applause to stop when they were announced, Andromeda wiggled out of his grip to greet her sister. It appeared that Bellatrix was already missing.

"Andy, you look angelic as always. So naturally radiant." Narcissa said in a soft voice as she hugged her sister tightly. Andromeda noticed how Narcissa's gaze held slightly over her shoulder, where Lucius was standing and looking around with a haughty glare.

"You can have him if you want." Andy snorted, but Narcissa pulled away with a wistful sigh and straightened her dress.

"I wish you wouldn't tease me like that. It looks like he's gotten even more handsome lately. A shame really." she glanced towards the floor "Have you seen Bella yet?"

"No, but I imagine she'll turn up eventually. If you'll excuse me, I have some friends to greet, but I'll catch up with you later." Andromeda gave her sister a quick peck on the cheek before mingling with the throng of influential witches and wizards. Her heels clicking on the polished black marble floors, the brunette smiled and greeted others as she scanned the crowd for her team. Two tall redheads could be seen on an upper balcony talking to several ladies who burst into fits of giggles on occasion, but every once in a while, a brother would look down for trouble. Molly and Arthur were working the crowd appropriately, and so Andromeda hoped they would come up with something useful.

"Ah! I say, Andromeda is that you?" Andy turned when she heard an older man's voice, and was surprised to see James with his mother and father, who both smiled at her.

"Mr. Potter, I didn't realize you would attend this evening, how wonderful." Andromeda shook his hand politely. James practically stared at Andromeda, but she ignored him.

"Couldn't pass up the chance for a good party, now could I?" he chuckled as he twirled his mustache, then he leaned in with a shifty glance "I also heard there would be a foreign entertainer here tonight, a famous animal trainer! I simply can't wait to see what your father has cooked up this time!" the eccentric man laughed loudly.

"Yes of course. I'm sure you'll enjoy it thoroughly." Andromeda nodded. She groaned inwardly when she remembered she had to greet her mother and father. Cygnus and Druella were, of course, waiting on their own private landing together as they oversaw the festivities. Hiking up her skirts, Andromeda made her way off the floor and up a few short flights of stairs to visit her parents. She passed Sirius in the hall, who was already snogging some girl. Andromeda gave him a look, and he blushed furiously before excusing himself, much to the girl's disappointment. In the private landing, Andromeda gave her parents a quick hug.

"Lovely to see you dear. How are things with Lucius?" Druella asked primly.

"Fine. I'm traveling a bit more before the wedding. You can understand why." Andromeda gave her father a hug as well before looking over the crowd with them.

"Understandable, as long as you do your job later. I can only hope that you'll try harder than Bellatrix has." Cygnus grunted as he took a sip of his wine. Andromeda felt a stab of anger, but it subsided quickly and she smiled instead, thinking of better things. Druella nodded happily.

"There she is. Always the hidden gem, you were. Now, go and enjoy yourself darling. I expect this party to be a real hit." the older greying witch waved her daughter away. Andromeda stood at the edge of the floor for a moment, hands folded across her stomach.

"Now we wait."

Bellatrix sat up, slightly dizzy on account of the several bottles of wine she had guzzled. She wasn't sure why, but the noise upstairs had stopped.

"Odd." she slurred as she stood holding a bottle of 1577 vintage by the neck. Stumbling, she crawled out of the chilly cellar and closed the heavy oak door behind her and wobbled down the hall until she was looking down onto the ballroom floor from the doorway. Though her vision kept tilting and swirling, she focused hard enough to see that the guests in the ballroom had stopped dancing and were watching a cleared ring in the middle of the floor.

"What the hell?" she pitched forward dangerously before straightening herself out.

"This is it. Brace yourself dear." Arthur leaned into Molly to whisper, and she snickered like he had told her a secret. In truth, their hearts were beating wildly.

"It will be fine Arthur." she tried to reassure him.

Gideon and Fabian watched with bated breath as teal and gold smoke began to swirl and rise from the center of the floor. A cacophony of shrieking and growling and rumbling could be heard, like somebody had unleashed a jungle onto the ballroom. Guests shrank back in fear as the silhouette of a man standing with his arms outstretched became visible in the smoke. As if on cue, the band struck up a snazzy tune as the smoke whirled around the ballroom. Exotic birds in a wide array of colors flew around the room in a spectacular display. Every one of the guests watched in awestruck delight.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Jesse's voice boomed throughout the room, and each of the Order members snapped to attention, watching as the smoke cleared and Jesse Sauer stood on a podium surrounded by various animals, all staring up at him "May I present to you, my menagerie! A collection widely sought after, known worldwide, and wonderfully unique in every possible way!" he announced joyously, and the crowd clapped in delight.

Bellatrix didn't know who this bloke was, but something about him was nagging her the wrong way. An American was jarring enough, but one who specializes in animals? Squinting through her boozy haze, which was already fading, she noticed a rather large charcoal grey python circling the base of the podium that the man was standing on. She had seen that snake enough times, knowing the pattern of spots along its large scaled body that something in her brain clicked.

"Why is she here?" Bellatrix narrowed her eyes. She should have been happy, but the circumstances were too unusual, and she hadn't heard from Rose in ages. The wards wouldn't have even allowed her inside, so why was her snake here? Bellatrix glared at the man on the podium and wondered if she had perhaps taken a polyjuice potion, but even that wouldn't have worked properly. The man flamboyantly twirled in his glittering suit as colorful frilled lizards did some sort of intricate dance on the floor. She jumped when a hand gripped her arm, and she turned to face Rodolphus.

"He's waiting outside. You'll be ready when he comes?" he asked, and Bellatrix wrenched her arm away.

"I've been waiting all bloody night. What's taking him so long?" she spat as she stomped away from her husband, down onto the ballroom floor to get a closer look at the spectacle.

Andromeda saw the beautifully styled black hair before she saw Bellatrix's face as her sister waded through the crowd.

"Shit, why wasn't I looking out for her? This could blow the whole thing!" the brunette moved from where she was standing to grab her sister's hand quickly. If anybody was capable of blowing Rose's cover, it was Bellatrix. Her older sister turned with a snarl, and a scowl that deepened as she saw who had gotten her attention.

"Andy."

"Bella, please can we talk for a moment? In the study perhaps? I wanted to apologize about how I've been behaving-"

"This is only making me more suspicious. I'm not an idiot Andromeda, I know that you and Rose were friends in school, and all Narcissa talks about is how you keep disappearing. That's her snake over there, isn't it?" Bellatrix hissed, gripping her sister's hand dangerously tight. Andromeda's stomach flip flopped, the noise from the celebration blocking out how loud her heart was beating.

"There's something going on between you, isn't there?" Bellatrix accused, but this nearly caused Andromeda to fall on the floor. She was stunned by the older witch's thought process.

"I knew it! You know, I had suspected it to be that mudblood Tonks, but this is even worse. How could you? You filthy bitch." Bellatrix yanked her sister back out of the crowd, towards a hallway.

"Bellatrix no, please it's not like that." Andromeda begged, breaking out of Bellatrix's vice like grip. The pale witch spun around and instead, something startling crossing her face. Bellatrix looked hopeful, and yet she still looked so angry.

"If it's not that, then tell me, you must know where she is? If she's alive? And why haven't you told me?" Bellatrix's hissed "Have you been hiding her away somewhere?"

"You sound insane, compose yourself!" Andromeda shouted, shoving her sister away from her. Bellatrix quickly pulled a silver dagger out of the folds of her skirts and was suddenly aiming for Andromeda's stomach, holding her close like they were hugging. A motion that didn't look strange to any pureblood passing them.

"How selfish you are, Andy. I have lost so much in my life, for you and for Narcissa. You were one of the only people who knew how much I loved Rose. And still love her. You're just being cruel to me now." Bellatrix murmured as she gently pushed the dagger closer to Andromeda.

"And this is why! You are delusional Bella! Don't you think that if she wanted to reach you, she would have by now? If I was really keeping her all to myself as you say, don't you think she would have at least made an attempt to come and see you?" Andromeda felt sick lying like this, but the way that Bellatrix's grip slackened as she stepped back proved that it was the best way to get to the woman.

"Bella, let her go. For your own sake. I'm sure there are plenty of other women who would love your attention. But you can't go on loving a memory."

"You act as if she's died…" Bellatrix trailed off, and now Andromeda genuinely saw how hurt by this her older sister truly was. That was until Jesse Sauer began to speak again, and another hush fell over the crowd.

"Watch and be amazed," Jesse clapped his hands once and the rest of his animals disappeared except for Peppers "as I prepare to dazzle you with the finest show of strength in the animal kingdom." he began ominously. The crowd was magnetized to his every movement.

"I know I have a few Slytherins out there," he winked and there was chuckling and clapping "and you're all away of an age old rivalry. Well, perhaps tonight you can see the score settled once and for all!" Jesse announced before throwing a smoke bomb on the ground and disappearing. Both Bellatrix and Andromeda were caught up in the spectacle. Andy, however, was torn; she needed to alert the others if there was trouble, but she wanted to keep an eye on Rose, now especially since Bellatrix was sober and out of the basement.

Rose didn't want to lose total control, but all she could really think about how angry she was at everyone, everything, and herself. Brief glimpses of the party through her haze indicated that Jesse had drawn all of the attention on her, just like they planned. Crouching low and growling at the guests dressed in expensive clothes, she liked how they backed away in fear. It felt nice to have power again. Then, she heard a hiss and came face to face with Peppers.

"Okay, that's the signal. Let's see if we can round up some of these ponces." Gideon muttered to his brother before they split up. Hestia had given them lists to study, each with certain suspected targets for them to find and subdue. Moody had warned them about direct confrontation or riling up the crowd, because the second their cover was blown, the Death Eaters could potentially become untouchable. Weaving through the crowd, Fabian found the first, a young man by the name of Rosier. Luckily, he was already sloppy and drunk as he stared at the fighting animals. Removing a pinch of belch powder from his pocket, Fabian tossed a dash of it in the man's drink as he bumped past him.

"S'cuse me mate." Fabian mumbled as Rosier glared at him before taking a long sip of his drink. In a matter of seconds, he began to convulse, holding a fist to his mouth as he quickly extracted himself from the crowd. Fabian followed him at a distance, waiting until the stumbling man belched and ducked into a bathroom. Rosier noticed too late when Fabian knocked him out cold.

"Alright...looking for a mark." the red haired man mumbled to himself. There was nothing on the man's neck, but as after rolling up the sleeves on his jacket, Fabian felt chills roll down his spine. On Rosier's arm was a tattoo of a skull, and a snake looping through its mouth.

"Merlin, so it's true then." he breathed before he heard a knock at the door.

"Rosier, you alright in there?" Fabian heard a man ask, and he realized he was trapped in the small bathroom.

"What's taking them so bloody long? They didn't come here to attend an actual party." Moody growled, but Shacklebolt just patted him on the shoulder.

"Patience my friend, I have faith in them. Besides it's only been a few-oh look at that." the taller wizard noticed a light shimmer over the estate from the hill where they were positioned. The small squad of Aurors they brought with them tensed in anticipation. Moody and Shacklebolt watched as the barrier fell quietly around the estate.

"Okay, we move now! Quickly, before things get out of hand!" Moody bellowed, and the Aurors apparated to the front gates and rushed the mansion.