Black Night~
Part 13~
Rated R~
Narcissa/Lucius, Bellatrix/Severus
The fire didn't make the cold any less, and so there seemed to be little point in actually sitting near it. The rain had stopped, but a chill had settled into the air that seemed to be impenetrable. Instead of listening to Snape and Sirius argue and shoot insults at each other, Remus stood and paced for a while, staring up at the moon - was it three days from full? It looked like less, much less - and thinking hard about what little their Patronuses had actually done and meant.
Sirius' was a werewolf, and this meant something to him, something deep, but it also hurt to think that what symbolized safety to his friend was the thing he feared most. Himself. The monster.
His own was James, and this made more sense, he thought, than Sirius'. Prongs. Prongs had been the one who backed him unconditionally, who listened to his reason instead of charging forward. Why couldn't Sirius' be Prongs as well? But then Remus supposed that perhaps Sirius knew James too well, knew more of his flaws than Remus did. From where Remus sat, James was a prince, and Sirius his brother, and he was their advisor. A powerful position, indirectly. And Peter was - how could you explain what Peter was? He looked up to them, but he had power of his own. He was the one who always saw it for what it was. If a plan was foolish, he'd shake his head doubtfully, and poke holes in it; the necessary what-ifs. If a plan was perfect, he'd nod eagerly, grinning with the rest of them.
The Marauders.
But each of them was going their separate ways, really, Remus thought worridly. No matter how often they saw each other, James had Lily, and Peter his Ministry position, and Sirius his job and his adventure.
And Remus? Remus had the moon.
It was almost a bitterness that started to fill him. Yes, he had a job. But it wasn't anything important, not at all. He grew rare and exotic plants for the Minstry, and occasionally would pick up the odd job when he went in. His plants were put to great uses, and he would advise lower officials, sometimes, as to what to do about a situation, although that was more of a hobby than a job - they would come to him for help once in a while, these people with power and money and lives, and ask him what he thought of the situation with the Dark Lord, or of a certain attack or perhaps something about Quidditch or celebrities or Muggles, and he would answer smooth as anything, and they would nod and leave, sometimes pressing a few coins into his fist and telling him to buy himself some lunch.
He never did.
So he didn't really have all that much.
He stopped pacing and glanced over to where Bella sat, her fingers flying over a piece of parchment, her face illuminated by a dull, flickering glow that didn't come from the fire. She was murmuring to herself, shaking her head in frustration, and her fingers flew faster across it.
He moved over and sat down next to her. It was away from the fire she sat, far enough away that the sharp conversation between Snape and Sirius was an indistinct mutter in the growing wind.
"Hello," she said, not looking up. "You all right?"
Remus was silent a moment. Then, "No," he said calmly, "but I'm not telling IthemI that."
She smiled breifly, glancing up at him. He looked down at the parchment, which was glowing an eerie sort of violet. Images were flashing through it, and he recognized them as the images that had flashed in the flames that had shot up around the wand. The wand itself was off to the side. Bella saw his glance.
"I'm trying to figure out where it IisI," she said in obvious frustration, "but I can't slow the images down enough to match them to anything. The Portkey was to where they had Andry, I'm sure of it. I just - can't - match it."
"Had?" Remus asked. "You think she isn't there anymore?"
Bella looked up, away from the repeated flashing pictures. "The Patronus," she sighed, leaning back and conjuring a chair - he realized she was sitting on one already, and she motioned for him to sit down next to her, "is, as you know, a tool for many purposes, one of the most common being to drive off dementors or lethifolds. Other beasts can be chased away with the Patronus, although most of them do it merely from fright, not because of the spell's effect. But there are a number of uses that barely anyone knows - one of the foremost being, with enough power, to drive down Dark spells. When they are placed on a single object or person, it can nullify the magic, but in some cases, it does too much, if the power is sufficient. I know of a case where there was a witch with several Dark curses on her. No one knew what to do, so a warlock tried the Patronus. He was very strong, and when some of the other people did the same, the curses faded. But when the Patronuses vanished, it left the woman without a trace of her magic powers. She was a Muggle, a Squib. They can be terrible weapons as well as defenders."
Remus was staring at her. He had never heard of anything like the story she had told - it had chased away a witch's magic? It seemed impossible, inconceivable -
"But the Patronus will not let itself be conjured solely for that purpose," Bellatrix continued. "The Dark Lord, for instance, would be unable to use it properly, even to ward off dementors if he needed, I believe. He has an aura of Darkness, and it would charge down the nearest source of Darkness - not the dementors, but himself. It's an interesting spell. But when we used the Patronuses, I believe yours and mine especially had a bad effect on the Portkey charm. It doesn't work any longer, only in imagery. It wouldn't teleport you anywhere. I'm glad Sirius didn't touch the wand, though, that wall of fire would have consumed him."
"I'll bet not all of us are glad I stopped him," Remus said, suddenly unable to help himself, glancing over at Snape.
"Eh," Bella said vaguely, "I don't think he'd wish that death on Sirius. They're both gits, but God help me, I love them both, in their own ways, as I hate them. It's a bit of a paradox. So many flaws, but such souls. And now I'm getting vague and sentimental. I'll start spouting poetry any moment now. Please don't let on to Sirius I don't hate him entirely. It'd spoil the fun."
Remus didn't answer. "He's not all that bad, really," he said at last. "Neither of them are. I hate Snape, but if things had been different, he and I might have been friends. If I'd been Sorted into Slytherin - I thought I would be, with my curse -"
He trailed off, and then started again. "Sirius - he's still bigheaded, and immature, but God, he's like my brother. He - they all care about me, you know? For ImeI. The wolf is nothing to them. The wolf is just a part of me, to them, and since -" He stopped abruptly, realizing what he had been about to reveal. He changed quickly what he'd been going to say. "- since the prank, you know, we've actually gotten closer, because he and James both deflated their heads and their egos a bit enough to realize that Snape's life had been what was at stake, and that it wasn't a laughing matter. He isn't that bad now. I mean, he's more - more sensitive, and less -"
From over by the fire, Sirius' voice exploded and Bella and Remus both looked over quickly. Sirius had stood and was waving his arms, gesticulating fiercely and making quite rude gestures with one finger.
"- BLASPHEMOUS, REPULSIVE LITTLE PIECE OF HIPPOGRIFF --"
Bellatrix was biting her lip, obviously trying to prevent herself from laughing. Remus was not trying to prevent it, he had thrown his head back, roaring with laughter, tears of mirth streaming down his face. Obviously, this insult had a slight amount of meaning to him that had missed Bella, but before long she was laughing too, and Sirius and Snape were both glaring at them.
Remus let out a final amused sigh, and moved back to stare at the piece of parchment, wiping his face with a slightly muddy sleeve and succeeding in getting streaks of dirt all over his face.
With a glance at him, Bella started to laugh again. He stared balefully at her until she tapped his face with her wand and muttered, "Scourgify." Remus twisted his mouth and grinned.
"Scourgify," she said again, leaning over to tap his sweater and then his cloak, which was pulled haphazardly around his shoulders, "Scourgify."
He rolled his eyes, and Bellatrix's mouth curved into a smile as she watched him - a true, nice smile, not just of wry amusement or forced, and Remus looked away, at the parchment. He fumbled a moment for his wand, then pulled it out and concentrated a moment. He tapped the piece of parchment. "Impedimenta."
The image currently on the parchment froze, and Bella gasped, staring at it.
"What is it? Do you recognize it?" Remus looked at it closer. It appeared to be a cave, looking out into a valley, and she murmered something - the pictures moved again, and "Impedimenta," she breathed. They stopped on another picture, from the same area, looking at an angle out of the cave more clearly - into a forest in a deep valley. She gasped again, shaking her head. "No," she whispered. "Impossible. . ."
"What is it?" Remus demanded quietly. Bella looked up at him, aghast, and then away.
"Severus!" she called, her voice almost hissing. "Severus, I've got it!"
Remus glanced at the picture and saw that through only a few trees appeared to be a clearing, and there was a darkened bit in the center of the clearing. It wasn't quite visible, but he recognized it with a shock as Snape hurried over, and whispered words he had long suspected.
"You're a Death Eater."
Snape had heard them and he stopped, reaching obviously for his wand. Bella, looking up at Severus with a half-panicked look in her eyes, shook her head. Sirius had stood up from near the fire. He hadn't heard, but Remus thought he had sensed the tension. Bellatrix looked at Remus, straight in the eye, and nodded slowly.
He made his decision.
The fire didn't make the cold any less, and so there seemed to be little point in actually sitting near it. The rain had stopped, but a chill had settled into the air that seemed to be impenetrable. Instead of listening to Snape and Sirius argue and shoot insults at each other, Remus stood and paced for a while, staring up at the moon - was it three days from full? It looked like less, much less - and thinking hard about what little their Patronuses had actually done and meant.
Sirius' was a werewolf, and this meant something to him, something deep, but it also hurt to think that what symbolized safety to his friend was the thing he feared most. Himself. The monster.
His own was James, and this made more sense, he thought, than Sirius'. Prongs. Prongs had been the one who backed him unconditionally, who listened to his reason instead of charging forward. Why couldn't Sirius' be Prongs as well? But then Remus supposed that perhaps Sirius knew James too well, knew more of his flaws than Remus did. From where Remus sat, James was a prince, and Sirius his brother, and he was their advisor. A powerful position, indirectly. And Peter was - how could you explain what Peter was? He looked up to them, but he had power of his own. He was the one who always saw it for what it was. If a plan was foolish, he'd shake his head doubtfully, and poke holes in it; the necessary what-ifs. If a plan was perfect, he'd nod eagerly, grinning with the rest of them.
The Marauders.
But each of them was going their separate ways, really, Remus thought worridly. No matter how often they saw each other, James had Lily, and Peter his Ministry position, and Sirius his job and his adventure.
And Remus? Remus had the moon.
It was almost a bitterness that started to fill him. Yes, he had a job. But it wasn't anything important, not at all. He grew rare and exotic plants for the Minstry, and occasionally would pick up the odd job when he went in. His plants were put to great uses, and he would advise lower officials, sometimes, as to what to do about a situation, although that was more of a hobby than a job - they would come to him for help once in a while, these people with power and money and lives, and ask him what he thought of the situation with the Dark Lord, or of a certain attack or perhaps something about Quidditch or celebrities or Muggles, and he would answer smooth as anything, and they would nod and leave, sometimes pressing a few coins into his fist and telling him to buy himself some lunch.
He never did.
So he didn't really have all that much.
He stopped pacing and glanced over to where Bella sat, her fingers flying over a piece of parchment, her face illuminated by a dull, flickering glow that didn't come from the fire. She was murmuring to herself, shaking her head in frustration, and her fingers flew faster across it.
He moved over and sat down next to her. It was away from the fire she sat, far enough away that the sharp conversation between Snape and Sirius was an indistinct mutter in the growing wind.
"Hello," she said, not looking up. "You all right?"
Remus was silent a moment. Then, "No," he said calmly, "but I'm not telling IthemI that."
She smiled breifly, glancing up at him. He looked down at the parchment, which was glowing an eerie sort of violet. Images were flashing through it, and he recognized them as the images that had flashed in the flames that had shot up around the wand. The wand itself was off to the side. Bella saw his glance.
"I'm trying to figure out where it IisI," she said in obvious frustration, "but I can't slow the images down enough to match them to anything. The Portkey was to where they had Andry, I'm sure of it. I just - can't - match it."
"Had?" Remus asked. "You think she isn't there anymore?"
Bella looked up, away from the repeated flashing pictures. "The Patronus," she sighed, leaning back and conjuring a chair - he realized she was sitting on one already, and she motioned for him to sit down next to her, "is, as you know, a tool for many purposes, one of the most common being to drive off dementors or lethifolds. Other beasts can be chased away with the Patronus, although most of them do it merely from fright, not because of the spell's effect. But there are a number of uses that barely anyone knows - one of the foremost being, with enough power, to drive down Dark spells. When they are placed on a single object or person, it can nullify the magic, but in some cases, it does too much, if the power is sufficient. I know of a case where there was a witch with several Dark curses on her. No one knew what to do, so a warlock tried the Patronus. He was very strong, and when some of the other people did the same, the curses faded. But when the Patronuses vanished, it left the woman without a trace of her magic powers. She was a Muggle, a Squib. They can be terrible weapons as well as defenders."
Remus was staring at her. He had never heard of anything like the story she had told - it had chased away a witch's magic? It seemed impossible, inconceivable -
"But the Patronus will not let itself be conjured solely for that purpose," Bellatrix continued. "The Dark Lord, for instance, would be unable to use it properly, even to ward off dementors if he needed, I believe. He has an aura of Darkness, and it would charge down the nearest source of Darkness - not the dementors, but himself. It's an interesting spell. But when we used the Patronuses, I believe yours and mine especially had a bad effect on the Portkey charm. It doesn't work any longer, only in imagery. It wouldn't teleport you anywhere. I'm glad Sirius didn't touch the wand, though, that wall of fire would have consumed him."
"I'll bet not all of us are glad I stopped him," Remus said, suddenly unable to help himself, glancing over at Snape.
"Eh," Bella said vaguely, "I don't think he'd wish that death on Sirius. They're both gits, but God help me, I love them both, in their own ways, as I hate them. It's a bit of a paradox. So many flaws, but such souls. And now I'm getting vague and sentimental. I'll start spouting poetry any moment now. Please don't let on to Sirius I don't hate him entirely. It'd spoil the fun."
Remus didn't answer. "He's not all that bad, really," he said at last. "Neither of them are. I hate Snape, but if things had been different, he and I might have been friends. If I'd been Sorted into Slytherin - I thought I would be, with my curse -"
He trailed off, and then started again. "Sirius - he's still bigheaded, and immature, but God, he's like my brother. He - they all care about me, you know? For ImeI. The wolf is nothing to them. The wolf is just a part of me, to them, and since -" He stopped abruptly, realizing what he had been about to reveal. He changed quickly what he'd been going to say. "- since the prank, you know, we've actually gotten closer, because he and James both deflated their heads and their egos a bit enough to realize that Snape's life had been what was at stake, and that it wasn't a laughing matter. He isn't that bad now. I mean, he's more - more sensitive, and less -"
From over by the fire, Sirius' voice exploded and Bella and Remus both looked over quickly. Sirius had stood and was waving his arms, gesticulating fiercely and making quite rude gestures with one finger.
"- BLASPHEMOUS, REPULSIVE LITTLE PIECE OF HIPPOGRIFF --"
Bellatrix was biting her lip, obviously trying to prevent herself from laughing. Remus was not trying to prevent it, he had thrown his head back, roaring with laughter, tears of mirth streaming down his face. Obviously, this insult had a slight amount of meaning to him that had missed Bella, but before long she was laughing too, and Sirius and Snape were both glaring at them.
Remus let out a final amused sigh, and moved back to stare at the piece of parchment, wiping his face with a slightly muddy sleeve and succeeding in getting streaks of dirt all over his face.
With a glance at him, Bella started to laugh again. He stared balefully at her until she tapped his face with her wand and muttered, "Scourgify." Remus twisted his mouth and grinned.
"Scourgify," she said again, leaning over to tap his sweater and then his cloak, which was pulled haphazardly around his shoulders, "Scourgify."
He rolled his eyes, and Bellatrix's mouth curved into a smile as she watched him - a true, nice smile, not just of wry amusement or forced, and Remus looked away, at the parchment. He fumbled a moment for his wand, then pulled it out and concentrated a moment. He tapped the piece of parchment. "Impedimenta."
The image currently on the parchment froze, and Bella gasped, staring at it.
"What is it? Do you recognize it?" Remus looked at it closer. It appeared to be a cave, looking out into a valley, and she murmered something - the pictures moved again, and "Impedimenta," she breathed. They stopped on another picture, from the same area, looking at an angle out of the cave more clearly - into a forest in a deep valley. She gasped again, shaking her head. "No," she whispered. "Impossible. . ."
"What is it?" Remus demanded quietly. Bella looked up at him, aghast, and then away.
"Severus!" she called, her voice almost hissing. "Severus, I've got it!"
Remus glanced at the picture and saw that through only a few trees appeared to be a clearing, and there was a darkened bit in the center of the clearing. It wasn't quite visible, but he recognized it with a shock as Snape hurried over, and whispered words he had long suspected.
"You're a Death Eater."
Snape had heard them and he stopped, reaching obviously for his wand. Bella, looking up at Severus with a half-panicked look in her eyes, shook her head. Sirius had stood up from near the fire. He hadn't heard, but Remus thought he had sensed the tension. Bellatrix looked at Remus, straight in the eye, and nodded slowly.
He made his decision.
