Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Author's Note: Once again, I do not speak French. I am using a dictionary/translator on my computer, so I'm aware it won't be perfect. If you do speak French, I would like to apologize now for any slaughtering of the language I may have inadvertently caused. Otherwise, what do you care, right?
French translations: ((example))
Responses to reviewers for the last chap: tkmoore, (prays that you'll still speak to me when this chappie's over) Remember: You love me and I love them! Catalina Royce, wonderful review as always, my dear! love ya! Jan, love ya! please don't kill me when this chappie's over! cloaked, (resolutely holding your review spot for you) aoi-yuki-yume, (begs you not to completely flip out) Just bear with me! el chikita joules, as usual, thanks for the awesome review! jenn, you're the best! thanks! sillysun, thanks! love ya! SkotosEnigma, your review was as awesome as your pics! thanks! angelfire33, deep breaths…more mira action in this one! TarynMalfoy88, thanks! that was, like, the best compliment ever! Sphinxtress, thanks! short arse, sorry it was sad, but it had to be! :) Haunted-Shadows, freaking out a little bit there? well, read on! ForeverLoyal, no! here's a new chappie, don't go bald! lol Psi, thank you!!!! gin rose raposo1, thanks! sorry it almost made you cry! nicky j, THANK YOU! Unforgiven soul, thanks, I will! kayla, there will be no giving of pictures. I'm not completely stupid, and you're a bit stalker-ish. potts, sorry I didn't get you in the review response on the last chap, but I got yours right after I'd posted. So, thanks for both! Abi, yeah, you could say that…:) syco3, THANKS! kia, thank you!! quimbytimmons, THANK YOU!!!! brooke, nooooo, they're not 'too gay', I promise! Tytianne, behold the next installment! lol AnitaBlake/BuffyFan, awesome, as usual! thanks! Voldemort8, I liked his description too, lol! me, thank you soooo much!! Wicked Not Evil, thanks!! and I love your name, by the way! :) Angie, thanks, I will! RebbeccaTurner01, glad to have made that experience better! love ya! Fallen, I thought you'd like the song, lol. :P Iced Faerie, if you thought that was a cliffy, just wait…:) babykelyse, glad you liked it! fizz-stix, THANK YOU!!!! a:Sam, they find her, alright…(runs away before you can clobber me) Georgentosser, hope you like this one, too!! mz.sammiz, here's more! lol
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Blaise stood motionless on the low branch of a tree, his senses spread out in a giant net around the dark, imposing fortress that loomed before them. It was built like an ancient castle, much like Hogwarts and many others, but the foul energy surrounding it definitely set it apart. It felt dark, yes, but it also felt vile in a way that their magick never did. There were guards stationed all around the perimeter, but he wasn't concerned with them. They were easy prey if it came down to it. And he was going to make sure that it did. His rage still churned violently, waiting just under the surface to explode, and he did nothing to dampen it.
Everything was sharply in focus, and he could feel every living thing within Nor Gorgun. Everything with blood flowing through its veins stood out in his mind like a beacon, creating an unseen map inside his skull, behind his eyes. It was like seeing two different things at once, but he was used to it. Draco was on the other side of the fortress, his own mental net meeting Blaise's in the center and melding with it, and they knew that it was almost time. Looking back at the team behind him, he grinned ferally. Blood was going to spill this night. Voldemort should never have taken Pansy. A roll of dark power flowed out of the fortress, and they froze, waiting.
They had discovered from a few of their spies that Voldemort was leaving that night, going to the Americas to try and round up more new followers. Assembling two different teams, they had wasted no time. Dumbledore had told them not to go, that the Aurors would get them back, but what did that old fuck know? The Aurors would die, slowly picked off one by one. They had no idea what to expect, but the Slytherins did. And they weren't leaving Pansy and Daphne's fate in the hands of white magic fools that were too 'noble' to kill. Because there was no way, absolutely no way, that anyone could break them both out of Nor Gorgun without quite a few people dying.
Yes, he thought vehemently, people will most surely die this night. He shouldn't have fucked with us. The roll of the Dark Lord's essence finally slid over them and away, not sensing them due to shields forged by Cocidius, which were wrapped tightly over each group. After another ten minutes, Blaise leapt out of the tree and to the ground, landing lightly and motioning his team forward. His hair was pulled back in a single, tight braid so that it didn't get in his eyes at some crucial point or another, falling down his back between the crossed hilts of his swords, and his robes were tight and split down the sides so that he could move around easily.
They all wore graphorn-hide vests underneath to ward off most curses, not that they were too necessary. The amulets had been reinforced when they'd discovered that Pansy's had been ripped off by a tree root, and they'd made them unbreakable. Anton leaned in and laid his head on Blaise's shoulder, his cold, furious eyes sweeping over the enormous mass of black stone in front of them, and Blaise slid an arm around his waist. They were waiting for Draco's signal, and Blaise ran his gaze over the other members of his team. George was standing behind him, his blue eyes bright in the dim light, and Vincent was behind him, twirling a thick, metal club in one hand with anticipation.
Blaise smiled cruelly, as he knew how well Vincent wielded that weapon, and he knew the strength in those bulging arms. Sebastian was off to one side, his sandy blond hair swaying around his face as he braided Mira's, who was busy buffing one of her daggers with her sleeve. Her eyes lifted and met his, and they shared a knowing look. It was almost time. His gaze going back to the fortress, his arm tightened around Anton when he saw the snow in front of them start swirling ever so lightly. No one in the fortress would think anything of it, but Blaise and the others knew what it signified. It was time for the games to begin.
Lifting one arm, his Mark flashed brilliantly, though none of the guards on the wall could see it. He felt an answering tug from the other side of the castle, felt the shields going up. No one inside would be able to call for Voldemort. No one inside would leave alive. And now…now it was time for the fun to start. Sinking to the ground, he took several deep breaths before he let the walls holding his magic back fall into nothing. Everything shifted suddenly, and he was looking down at the castle from above. The wind whipped past him and cradled him, and he called its power to him. Molding it and warping it, he fed his energy into it, just as it fed it's own into him.
A jolt shot through him before Draco's essence intertwined with his for long moments that felt all too fleeting when the time came to separate. Very nearly bursting with collected power, metaphysical lips met metaphysical lips before they were ripped apart and made separate once more. Feeling and hearing the first deafening 'BOOM', Blaise slammed back into his body and rose, electricity crackling over his skin madly as the sky began screaming, seconds before clouds the guards could have sworn weren't there moments ago opened up, soaking everything instantly. The first fork of lightning flashed down and hit the uppermost tower, the wind began howling eerily, and he could feel their fear.
Expanding his senses once more, he could hear their mutterings and frightful exclamations even over the roaring of the rain and the thunder. Good. The storm was to scare them, spook them, fry a few if they were particularly unlucky. But the two teams that converged on the fortress were their deaths. Blaise and Sebastian took care of the first guards on the wall, since Sebastian was quite the expert with a blowgun and Blaise simply liked to throw the tiny, poisoned darts. Four limp bodies tumbled over the low ledge and to the ground, and Blaise let claws slide out of his fingertips before sinking them into the tough stone.
Scaling the wall took only seconds, and he turned and leaned over the ledge, stretching his hand out and picturing the air around his team solidifying. A tug later and they were flying over the wall, landing softly on their feet. Throwing his hand out again, Blaise watched as a bolt of lightning crashed into the top tower again, this time staying for several seconds before he let it go. There. The other team would know they were in. A whirlwind of water spun into the front wall like an anvil, and he knew that the other team was inside as well. Lifting a finger, he became still again, determining where the closest Death Eaters were. Another smile pulled at his lips, and then they were running along the wall for the door that led inside.
The two guards on either side of it died instantly, and as soon as they crossed the threshold, Blaise opened his link with Virginia wide and felt her fill him to the brim, seeing what he saw and feeling what he felt. She was riding in Draco as well, and the spell that allowed her to do so had been the only thing that had kept her from following them when they'd left. They'd explained to her that they were not taking her into the Dark Lord's fortress, especially not when she was all that he needed to gain the last of his power back. It had come down to them almost locking her inside their room, but Cocidius had intervened and told them of a spell in the Book of the Ever After.
It allowed her to place her spirit inside of them, joining her power with theirs while she stayed safe within the wards of Slytherin. Padma had undergone the spell as well, and she rode inside the twins while her body rested next to Virginia's inside a circle of protection. Experimentally calling in a handful of flames, Blaise had a moment of fascination when they appeared immediately. He had linked himself with Draco in such a way before, had called in ice and snow, but this was different. It was hot and scorching like his own energy was, but strange in the way that it flickered and coiled even as it reminded him a bit of darkfire. And it felt…feminine. It felt like Virginia.
His passiveness gone as quickly as it had come, he laughed as the next Death Eater was incinerated in seconds. The one after that met just as quick an end, and never even saw it coming as Anton snuck up behind him and slit his throat. The majority of the Death Eaters didn't bother with their masks while inside Nor Gorgun, as most of them thought themselves unreachable there. Not so. Cocidius had gotten them through the wards easily, and Draco and Blaise were almost positive that they could have done it themselves, but it would have taken quite a bit longer. Motioning to his team again, they spilt up, activating their tracking charms in the process.
Anton and George went to the right and down with Blaise, while Vincent, Sebastian and Mira went up. None of them spoke, as words weren't necessary, and they disappeared into the shadows. They had gone on missions like these before, although not at the Dark Lord's fortress, and they knew that they had the skill to wipe out the guards inside. Most were too lazy and careless when inside Nor Gorgun to be any sort of challenge. They just needed to be out before Voldemort returned, which wouldn't be for a good while yet. Their spies had made their excuses that night, and none were in the building, so they didn't have to worry about running into any of them.
They left quite a trail of bodies after them, not bothering to hide them in the least. It was quite the opposite actually. It was a…statement. If the Dark Lord wanted to play games, then they'd play fucking games. They were quite good at them, after all. He idly wondered, as his teeth sank into a Death Eater's flesh, how angry Voldemort would be when he found out that his followers had been slaughtered by a group of sixth and seventh years. Arranging the man's corpse dramatically over the stairway, they continued down, killing everything that breathed except for the dark creatures that Blaise was able to turn to their side.
Their purge included the muggles that were kept prisoner in a thousand different places all over the fortress, and it was mercy killings more than anything else. They actually felt a bit sorry for the twisted, abused creatures that they saw nearly every time they turned around. Many were missing limbs and eyes, fingers and tongues. All they did was mewl and cower, their minds long broken. It was quite pathetic. A few of them could still string a few words together, and they begged for death's release. He'd known that muggles were weak, and those just confirmed it. Any pureblood would have been able to let go and die, turning their magick against themselves, if their situation had been as hopeless.
His body was already covered in a fine layer of blood, his hands sticky with it, but that didn't impair his shooting at all, and his bow sung as he let three arrows go in quick succession. Two more wizards and a witch slumped to the ground that time, and he allowed himself another smile at their brief looks of disbelief. Fools. They knew who their master held, didn't they? Because if they did, they really should have expected something like this. Or maybe not. Nor Gorgun was supposed to be as impenetrable as the Manor and Tenebre Stella. Hah. Millennia of protection spells had been forged into the very stones and earth of their House Seats by the most powerful witches and wizards of the ages.
No one could duplicate that, he knew with a flash of pride, his sword taking off a Death Eater's head, warm blood spraying his face. Especially not a single Dark Lord. Or four, his mind corrected, remembering the prophecy the Lady had let Virginia hear. He sincerely hoped that he ran into one of them. A newly awoken fledgling Dark Lord would be quite a bit of fun to toy with. And even if the three newbies had helped ward Nor Gorgun, the defenses still couldn't match theirs. Both of their families had had plenty of Dark Lords of their own, after all. They were almost to the ground floor when Anton stiffened, his pupil's splitting into his Animagus form's and his breath escaping him in a hiss.
"I can feel her." He said quietly, his eyes distant. "She hurts, she's in so much pain…Oh gods…" He turned green remarkably quickly and would have fallen to his knees had Blaise not caught him and let them both sink to the floor gently. He was obviously trying his damnedest not to be ill, his body shaking and his eyes wild.
"Let the link go." Blaise whispered next to his ear. "Let it go, Anton. I'll find her, I swear it, now let it go!" Pushing calming energy into his friend, he felt the shaking stop after a moment, felt his breathing even out. They stayed that way for over a minute, and George's hand lighted on Blaise's back, sending Padma's soothing touch through him and into Anton. Finally, that dark head lifted, and utterly enraged hazel eyes met his own.
"Take me to her."
Four simple words, but they rocked Blaise to the core. Anton had sounded so ragged, so lost, and yet his utter faith that Blaise would never fail him shone through it all. And he wouldn't. Looking at one of the few people that he truly cared for, that he would die for, he promised himself then and there that he would return Anton's love to him at all costs. Because that's what she was. He could see the telltale glint deep in his friend's eyes, had just observed their connection. Soulmates, he thought distantly, recognizing them for what they were. He and Draco had experienced it with each other and with Virginia, after all. And there was no other way that Anton could have linked to Pansy like that, since he knew that they hadn't taken their marriage vows yet.
"Always, mon ami." He replied, rising to his feet and pulling Anton up with him. Laying a chaste kiss on his lips, Blaise continued. "Let us go save your lady, hmm?" Anton managed a small, grateful smile. ((my friend))
"Thank yo—" Anton started, before stopping abruptly as a dagger flew past his head. It stuck in something with a wet 'thwap', and they both turned to see a Death Eater fall about twenty yards down the hall before they looked back at George and stared.
"What?" He asked innocently. "I have yet to hear a Slytherin say 'thank you' for anything, and I saw no reason to start now." He said cheekily, ignoring their glares as he summoned his knife.
They continued in silence for a while, Blaise letting his senses spread out and envelop all again. It was easier to try and find Pansy and Daphne now that they were inside, and after three or four minutes of scanning the place from top to bottom, he pinpointed them to be somewhere below them, at least six floors underground. There were more Death Eaters the lower they went, as well as more of the hapless, deformed muggles, and all died silently. Except for those in one room, a large group of ten or eleven. They screamed and cast curse after curse, but every one of them fell to their fury. They hadn't stood a chance since Blaise and Draco's teams had swarmed over the walls.
"This way." A voice suddenly intoned from behind them in the doorway, and Blaise spun with an arrow already drawn and ready, since he'd heard their stealthy approach. He stopped just as he was about to let it go, and watched the woman in the doorway warily. He really didn't want to kill her, but if she tried to raise the alarm…"Come, I will take you to her." The witch continued, but Blaise didn't lower his bow.
"And why should we trust you, Bella?"
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Lycelle paced back and forth in the Slytherin common room, her arms crossed tightly over her chest and her eyes red and stinging from crying. They had Pansy. They had Pansy. Voldemort had her sister. Every once in a while, she'd glance over at the group of sixth and seventh years that were getting ready to go after her, arming themselves from head to foot and trading caustic jokes so that their younger Housemates, who watched them with wide, nervous eyes, wouldn't be too frightened. Fat chance of that, she thought morosely. Her eyes turned to Virginia and Padma, both of whom were preparing circles of protection and warding.
Virginia had been so angry when her request to go to Nor Gorgun had been denied that Lycelle had thought she was going to bring the castle down around their heads. Cocidius's timely intervention had been the only thing that had stopped her from completely exploding, and Lycelle was quite thankful for it. Padma had decided to stay behind as well, because they all knew that Virginia wouldn't have taken it well if she'd been allowed to go. Ripping her eyes away, she glanced at Draco and Blaise. They were hiding daggers and poisoned darts all over themselves, and she lost count after the fifteenth blade disappeared into Draco's robes.
Severus stood to the side of all of the busy movement in the center of the room, a scowl on his face that could have melted glass. He was not pleased with Draco and Blaise's decision, but he had agreed to shield their actions from Dumbledore after they'd threatened to sneak out past his guard as well. Knowing that that was all too possible from past experience, he'd reluctantly caved and promised to watch over Virginia and Padma once they'd gone inside the circles and activated the spell. So now, he was fulfilling his role as the disapproving godfather, and he didn't look like he was planning on stopping anytime soon.
"Let's go." She heard Blaise say, and her attention went back to him.
He and the others were dressed alike and all in black, their faces set in determined masks. She knew that if anyone could bring her sister back, it would be the people right in front of her. But she couldn't help wondering if something would go wrong. She couldn't help wondering if she would never see any of them again. Virginia rose to her feet slowly, as did Padma, and they walked over to where the others were preparing to leave. Unshed tears shimmered in their eyes, and she knew that they feared the same things that she did. Padma kissed both Draco and Blaise on the cheek before turning to the twins, and Virginia looked at her lovers with growing panic.
Her boyfriends seemed to know exactly what she was thinking, and they drew her into their arms at once, their fingers running through her curls as they whispered reassuring words in the old tongue. They look like assassins, Lycelle thought absently, like death given form. They really do care about my sister. But I wonder if they would be able to stay so calm if it were Virginia trapped by that fiend? She turned away just in time to see the twins murmur something to Padma that had her blushing ever so lightly, her eyes widening fractionally with surprise and…delight? Shaking her head, Lycelle told herself that she could figure that out later.
"Come back to me." Virginia said softly, pulling back and looking them in the eyes. "Promise me that you'll come back. Promise me." She demanded, her hands tightening around their robes, which she was hanging onto as if they were a lifeline.
"We promise." They said in unison, gracing her with small, indulging smiles. "Now, stop worrying so. You'll be with us the entire time, remember?"
"Yes." She responded, and she kissed them each voraciously before letting them go and turning her back so that she wouldn't have to see them leave. "Je t'aime." ((I love you.))
"Je t'aime aussi." They replied, running their fingers through her hair one last time before they both turned on a heel and left, heading for Severus's office to floo out of the castle. ((I love you, too.))
The others who were going followed them, and Severus ushered the younger students into their dorm rooms while those that were left fell into chairs and cushions, couches and divans. He didn't make Lycelle leave, it was her sister they were going for after all, and he even handed her a goblet full of wine to soothe her nerves. Downing half of it without even thinking, she kept pacing, and would have continued to do so had Padma not pulled her down next to her and Virginia. Feeling instantly better as soon as Padma touched her, she drained the rest of her wine and let the goblet fall from her fingers to the thick, black rug underneath them.
"Would you like to help?" Padma asked, while Virginia stared blankly at the wall, having fallen into a cross-legged position as soon her lovers had disappeared out of the common room. Lycelle knew that Padma was asking her to distract her, and she thanked the older girl silently.
"Alright. What do you want me to do?"
"Well…" Padma looked around thoughtfully. "You asked Hermione to come down in a little bit, didn't you?" She asked, and Lycelle looked over at her quickly. How did she know about that?
"Umm…Yes." She said after a moment, wondering if she was about to be told off for it.
"Okay. Then why don't you help me get the rest of the stuff for the spell ready? We'll be in the circles by the time she gets here, and it'll keep you occupied until then." Padma said neutrally, as if it didn't matter to her one way or the other.
Lycelle nodded, and they got to work without another word. The circles had to be drawn with the blood of six willing virgins, and they had, sadly enough, had to bribe and threaten some first and second year Hufflepuffs, since no one in their House had qualified. In the end, they'd been willing enough (depending on your idea of the word), and she and Padma dipped their fingers into the ever-fresh jar that was brimming with the thick red fluid, beginning the outer circle and conferring with a book that's title was hidden and that made Lycelle's spine crawl. They left a foot wide gap in the circle's perimeter, and began on the next, and then the next.
The circles interwove with each other, and only long years of practice made the lines so smooth and perfect. They'd been drawing circles for their parents for practice long before they ever needed one of their own, and it was natural to feel her fingers sweeping over marble (they'd moved the rugs), natural to feel little bits of her magic flowing into it unconsciously. Once all three circles were done, they moved on to the runes, and Lycelle jumped when her arm bumped into someone else and she looked up to see Virginia. Her smoky eyes were hard and intent, her fear for her lovers shoved back so that she could do what was necessary.
"We can finish this, Virginia." Lycelle said quietly. "Really. You don't have to, I mean—"
"I need to, alright?" She interrupted, those fathomless charcoal eyes boring into hers. Lycelle nodded slowly.
"They will come back, you know." She said, starting another rune and lowering her gaze to the floor. She liked Virginia, but the girl was too…dark for her to meet her eyes for long. It was like that with most of the older Slytherins, and with the twins and Padma, too. It just showed how different she was from them. Nearly everything did.
"They'd better." Was all that the older girl said, going back to tracing runes on the floor.
They lapsed into silence again, and ten minutes later, they were done. Lycelle moved backwards and out of the circles, while Virginia and Padma moved to their center with the strange, unnerving book. Another ten minutes passed before they grabbed their forearms and shut their eyes, mumbling words in a language that Lycelle didn't recognize, which was rare. They began to glow with a soft, faint, blue-black light, and Lycelle moved over to let Severus close the outer circle with his wand. Three shields the color of the blood on the ground sprung up along the circles' lines and closed over the two older girls' heads, wavering before evening out and becoming still.
"They'll be alright, won't they?" She asked no one in particular, but Severus answered her as he moved to one of the couches.
"Virginia and Padma? Yes, they'll be fine. And probably weak depending on how much energy they feed into the boys."
Boys, Lycelle swirled the word around in her head. Somehow, it just didn't fit. The twins, Draco, and Blaise were all past their majorities, so they definitely weren't boys. But calling them men seemed strange as well when you pictured them, since 'men' in her mind looked much older, and they were eternally youthful. But how could anyone look into their eyes and still manage to call them 'boys'? Because Draco and Blaise's eyes hadn't been young or childish in any way for longer than she could remember, if they ever had been, and the twins had a new depth in their own as well. You could get lost in those eyes; could go utterly mad from staring into them for too long.
"Someone comes." Severus said suddenly, shaking her from her thoughts. She stood quickly, moving for the wall where the entrance was.
"I'll see who it is." She called over her shoulder, her wand out and ready in case it wasn't Hermione. But it was, and she let the other girl in, not missing Severus's poisonous glare. He wouldn't throw her out, though, not while the Gryffindor girl could still claim Virginia as a friend. Hermione's eyes became huge when she saw the warded circles, and she couldn't stop her questions from pouring out.
"What are they doing?"
"I can't tell you."
"Where are the others? Do they know what they're doing?"
"I can't tell you."
"Is it dangerous? It doesn't have to do with Voldemort, does it?"
"I can't tell you."
"Can you tell me anything?" Hermione huffed, and Lycelle smirked humorlessly.
"Not really." She said as they sat on a divan that was across the room from Severus but still close to Virginia and Padma.
"Oh lord; it has to do with Pansy, doesn't it?" Hermione asked, and Lycelle had to give the girl points for her quickness. It had been two days since her sister had gone missing, and the incident had been hushed up so far, since Dumbledore didn't want the students to panic. She knew that he wouldn't be able to stop her Housemates from telling the entire world, though, if Pansy or Daphne died.
"I can't—"
"I know, I know." Hermione grumped, looking positively bursting with curiosity. Well, Lycelle couldn't help her there. Nothing was worth what would happen if her Housemates suspected she was leaking anyone information without their consent. "I'm really sorry about your sister, you know."
"I know, Hermione." Lycelle agreed, wrinkling her nose at the other girl and making her grin. "You've only told me about a thousand times in the last forty-eight hours."
"Well, I am. I know Pansy and I don't get along so well—"
"She hates you."
Hermione paused. "Right. But I still don't want anything to happen to her."
"Why?" Lycelle asked, honestly curious. "Why should you care what happens to someone who wouldn't care if you suddenly fell over dead?" It was a hard concept for her to grasp. It was a hard concept for any Slytherin to grasp. She was one of them enough to know that, at least.
"Because…because it's the right thing to do." Hermione finally responded, chewing on the inside of her cheek. "It's the humane thing to do."
Lycelle bristled. "Well, I don't think so. Does that make me inhuman?" Hermione looked startled.
"What? No, of course it doesn't. I mean, you were raised—"
"Never mind." Lycelle cut her off, sighing. "Let's just drop it, okay? If we want to stay friends, there are probably some subjects that we just shouldn't discuss." Hermione gave her a weird look, before grinning and nodding.
"Alright. Forget it then." They sat in companionable silence for a long time after that, both lost in their own thoughts.
Lycelle couldn't help but compare herself and Hermione in her head. They were so alike, but so very bloody different at the same time that it was mind-boggling. Most would say that their friendship had no hope of lasting, and Lycelle would probably agree with them. It was just…ludicrous to think that they would be able to stay the way they were forever. They came from completely different, not to mention completely clashing, backgrounds, her sister hated her, all of her other friends hated her, and her family would freak and probably disown her (she was the second-born, after all, and weak when compared with her sister, as her parents so loved to remind her).
And while it was true that they were both different from the rest of their Housemates, they were each still loyal to their House. It wasn't that hard for Virginia and Padma to cut all ties with their own, but neither of them had ever really been meant for those Houses to begin with, had belonged even less than they did. And Lycelle and Hermione had been meant for their separate, rival Houses. It was sure to come between them eventually. She didn't know how long she sat there going over all of the foreseeable possibilities, but she knew it had been a pretty long time when she looked over to find Hermione asleep, curled up on the end of the divan.
"Oops." She murmured to herself, stretching.
Looking around, she saw that Severus was still diligently watching the two older girls, and it didn't appear that he'd moved so much as an inch. She stood and went to sit beside him, since it made her feel safer. Severus had always looked out for his Slytherins, and he was like a second father to most of them. They were with him more than they were their own parents, after all, and he had seen them all through some very hard times, and through the simpler, typical-teenage ones as well. The Slytherins looked to Draco and Blaise for leadership and action, but they looked to Severus for guidance and stability. Their respect for him ran deep.
"I really wish you wouldn't bring her here." He said as soon as she sat, still not moving his eyes off the girls in the circles. She felt bad instantly, but she didn't want to give in, either. Because if she did, it would just confirm their suspicions that she was meek and easily led. And she was, in a way, which made it even worse. But she was different. Gods, how she was starting to hate that word.
"I know, and I'm s—" Catching herself just in time before the apology slid from her lips, she tried again. "She's my friend. And Virginia's." She added the latter for good measure, but he saw right through it, as usual. And without even looking at her. That was Severus for you.
"She's a mudblooded Gryffindor." He said bluntly. "She can never really be your friend." He was practically voicing her own thoughts aloud, and she wished he would stop.
"But she is." She argued, and he did turn to look at her then.
"Lycelle, I know you never fit in here like the others." He started, and she really, really wished he would stop now. "But you're still a Slytherin. You may not be the ideal Slytherin, but—"
A bright flash of light and an unearthly shriek cut him off, and they whirled around to see the shields around the circles swirling and twisting. Padma was holding Virginia, tears running down her face as she did so, while the redheaded girl screamed and screamed, trying to break free. She was too weak, though, and all she could do was wail, one heartbreaking keen after another that had Lycelle running for her, tears streaming down her own cheeks before she even knew what was wrong. Virginia looked like her soul was being ripped out with jagged, rusty hooks, and Severus was desperately trying to break the raging circles.
Padma didn't seem to be able to do more than rock back and forth with Virginia in her arms, trying to restrain her and keep her in the circles. She looked stunned and shell-shocked, and a bit like she'd just been torn in half. Virginia, though…Virginia was wilting right before her eyes, her hair lightening to a dull auburn, the curls coming loose and hanging limply in sweaty strands around her face. Her skin turned a pasty gray, her lips losing all of their color and fullness, and dark, sick-looking circles appeared around her eyes. A loud crash from the other side of the room had Lycelle turning, and when she saw what had caused it, she nearly fainted.
The altar in the corner had erupted in a fountain of…blood? Yes, that was definitely blood. Nothing else smelt like that. It was coating everything, and it had knocked all of the offerings and candles off, which is what had made the noise. Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Spinning back around to face Virginia and Padma, she nearly fainted when she saw that they'd pulled their sleeves up. That in itself wasn't what made her lungs feel tight with dread. No, what did that was the fact that the Marks on their arms were dying, withering, their light going out. But it still wasn't until she lifted her head and met Virginia's eyes that Lycelle felt the world drop out from underneath her.
Because Virginia Weasley was going mad, and that could mean only one thing. Draco and Blaise were dead and her god was gone.
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Draco moved swiftly through the empty corridors, winding farther and farther into the heart of Nor Gorgun with every step. Fred and Melody shadowed him, and Gregory, Millicent and Marcello were on their way to meet them with Vincent, Sebastian and Mira. He was seeking Blaise out at the moment, as the time had come for their teams to join before they went even deeper to get Pansy and Daphne. His senses told him that the guards around where the two of them were being held, and a few wandering others, were the only Death Eaters still alive. They had been quite thorough in their purge. His team met with its other half and with the other three from Blaise's, and they started down again. Hearing voices up ahead of him, he slowed, as did the others.
"This way. Come, I will take you to her." He knew that voice.
"And why should we trust you, Bella?" And he would know that voice even in death. Creeping forward, he closed his eyes and concentrated, listening to them carefully and letting the sound waves that they produced with every tiny movement create a picture of them and their surroundings in his mind. Blaise stood with his bow ready, an arrow nocked and ready to fly, and Draco knew that he would use it if he had to. Because Bella was tricky and sly, even in her insanity, and only a fool would let his guard down around her. Blaise was anything but a fool.
"You shouldn't." Bella replied, her raspy, sultry voice reminding him of broken, fluttering butterfly wings. "But I'll still take you to her."
"This isn't a time for bullshit, Bella." Blaise said evenly, just the slightest hint of a threat in his voice. She'd known them for to long not to recognize it. They'd visited her as often as they had Sirius.
"I'm aware of that, beloved of my nephew." She said in her singsong voice.
"Then don't try anything stupid." Blaise responded dryly. "And what happened? I thought you adored your mudblood master."
"No one ever truly masters a Black." She said, and Draco couldn't help a small smirk. "And he has angered me." Her voice turned pouty and slightly putout.
"Did he now?" Blaise questioned, everything about him utterly still but for his lips, his concentration never wavering. "And how is that, dear Bella?"
"He took the girl." She said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Perhaps it was. "He took your little friend. Your pure friend. She reminds me of me, you know." Now that twittering voice had gone dreamy, changing with her mood, which was as flighty as the wind. "And she's such a pretty little thing. Or she was, anyway." She added, and Draco felt his insides grow cold in a way that had nothing to do with his cherished ice.
"Was? She's not dead." Blaise said, his voice sure.
"No, not dead." Bella agreed. "Not dead yet, anyway. She wouldn't talk, you see, and his judgment leaves him when he gets angry. And he was so very angry then…"
"Show me!" Blaise snapped. "Take us to her or get out of our way!"
"Now, there's no reason to get snappy." Bella huffed. "I said I'd take you, and I will. But I want to see my nephew and—" Draco moved into the hallway before Blaise or Anton came completely unglued.
"I'm here, Auntie." He said, and she spun, the smirk on her face turning into a soft smile as she looked him up and down.
"How very Malfoy you've become. And how very Black, at the same time." She said, holding her hands out to him. He went to her and took them, kissing each of her cheeks and leaving bloody lip-prints as a reminder. Blaise's bow was still steadily trained at her heart, and since she and he both knew it, he didn't worry about her trying anything just yet, if she planned to at all. She'd sounded genuinely upset. Well, as genuine as Bella ever was.
"Take us to her, Auntie. Take us to the pure witch that reminds you of yourself." Draco crooned, and Bella smiled again, her eyes as black as her hair, as black as her name. She was night where his mother was day, but their faces were almost identical. They were barely a year apart in age, and had been the best of friends before Voldemort had snapped Bella's mind. There were still vestiges of her old self that shone through, though, and they usually appeared when she was around family.
"Yes. Come with me." She said, and started down the hallway.
He shared a look with Blaise before continuing at her side, and his lover followed with the others, his bow still raised and ready. He could hold it like that forever if need be, Draco knew, and the arrow would kill Bella before she could get him with a knife or her wand. She led them silently down the hall, the only noises being the storm outside and her occasional girlish giggles. Yeah, Bella had definitely lost it. They'd gone down two more floors when she stopped in front of a door that he could sense a small group of Death Eaters in, and tilted her head to the side. She leaned in close to his ear, her crimson lips hovering just over the skin, and whispered.
"There's another one in there that he got the same night. You interested?"
"Yes." Draco replied, moving away the slightest bit when she flicked her tongue out. The subtle, yet potentially deadly, creaking of a bowstring seemed to bring her back to reality, and she pulled away, grinning like a lunatic once more. Sometimes she forgot that the bloodlines didn't intermingle so closely. Sometimes she just forgot everything entirely.
"Open the door." Blaise said calmly.
He knew the way she worked as well as Draco. Bella had to be handled with extreme caution, and not many people could tell her what to do. But she would listen to them, and to her sister, and she usually listened to Voldemort. So she did as he said and swung the door open, sauntering in and waving at the other Death Eaters. They slunk back from her, all of their attention on her, and it proved quite fatal. Draco went through the door after her first, and relished the looks of dawning terror on their faces as they saw his glowing eyes and mocking sneer. The first died in a blast of lethal ice, the next in a wall of flames, and the third fell beneath his claws.
He moved to the side smoothly as the first arrows whizzed into the room, two Death Eaters falling bonelessly to the floor a split second later, arrow shafts sticking out of their throats almost comically. One tried to run, but Melody was on him in a heartbeat, her short sword sliding between his ribs like a child would impale an insect. Only two still stood, and Marcello and Vincent moved toward them before they could even get their wits about them enough to try and throw a curse. Vincent's club smashed into one's skull, while Marcello swung the bladed staff in his hands expertly, taking out the last one's legs before happily removing his head for him.
"Where is she?" Melody asked, looking around and not seeing Daphne anywhere. "Where is she!?" She repeated, her voice becoming frantic.
"In there." Draco said after a moment of searching, nodding at a side door.
He shared another look with Blaise, before he moved for the door and Blaise kept watch over Bella and the doorway that led to the hall. Melody tried to follow him, but he motioned her back. She didn't listen, and he nodded at Sebastian and Mira to grab her. He could feel the agony radiating from that side room, and he didn't want Melody to see what was behind that door just yet. Maybe not at all. He didn't even really want to see it, but that didn't stop him from throwing open the door, one of his hatchets in his hand and ready to throw. He stopped dead at what he saw. There was only one Death Eater in the room, but he was doing more damage than any of the others.
Daphne was strapped to a rickety old bed, the restraints rubbing her wrists and ankles raw and a gag stifling any screams that she might have let loose. But she wasn't screaming then, just staring blankly at the ceiling as the bastard on top of her shoved himself inside her roughly over and over again, grunting and panting barbarically. He didn't even feel himself move before he'd already ripped the half-nude wizard off of her and thrown him into the far wall. He stalked up to him, every sense on overdrive, enjoying the raw fear in the man's eyes when he lifted his head blearily and saw who came for him. His hatchet came down for the first strike just as a scream spilt the air.
"NO! LET GO OF ME! LET GO OF ME, GODDAMNIT!" Melody yelled as his blade cleanly cut off the Death Eater's left hand.
The other hand followed it, then his feet, his arms, his legs…And his screams were the sweetest symphony this side of the Summerland. Leaving him a bleeding, dying torso, Draco turned, not really wanting to look at the girl on the bed. But then again, he'd done a lot of things that he hadn't really wanted to do, and he looked all the same, wiping his hatchet off on his robes methodically. Daphne still lay catatonic on the bloody sheets, her thighs and breasts and…well, just about everything sticky with the dark red fluid. There were numerous welts and bruises and cuts marring her once smooth skin, and Melody was on her knees beside her, sobbing brokenly as she tried to cover her with the dripping sheet.
"Who is she?" Bella asked quietly, nudging Blaise with one velvet-clad arm. He turned vicious indigo eyes on her, and didn't object when she took his hand and gave it a motherly pat.
"Daphne Wilbrige." Blaise said after a moment, and Bella's eyes widened in denial.
"No."
"Yes." He hissed, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her, turning her to face Daphne. "Yes, Bella. See what your master has wrought? See what he is doing? That is no muggle before you; that is no mudblood. That is a Wilbrige, Bellatrix Black, kin of your kin through Rodolphus. That is a strong, dark pureblood that he's let this happen to, and another lies just around the corner. Who was your best friend again besides Narcissa? Célina Parkinson? Yet where does her daughter lie, Bella? Hmm? Where does her daughter lie?"
"I—" Bella seemed utterly transfixed by whatever she saw in Blaise's eyes, and a war began behind her own. She sank to the floor, a thin layer of sweat springing up over her skin as she began trembling violently. Blaise lowered himself next to her, letting her fall into his arms. Knowing that it was now or never, Draco took the chance that he'd been waiting years for. Seeing Daphne, finding out who she was, had shocked Bella badly enough for her to push the Bane's veiling fog back, and he didn't plan to waste the opportunity it presented. Going to her side, he crouched in front of her and made her look him in the eyes.
"You are a Black." He stressed, staring deep into those mad, haunted eyes. "You come from an ancient, noble House and every drop of blood in your veins couldn't be any purer. Remember who you are, Bellatrix Phae. Remember what you are. You are strong, strong enough to push back the taint. Smash it, tante, smash it like you've always smashed anything that challenged you and tried to best you. We will help you heal, I swear it, but you must fight. You must fight or be his slave until you die." ((aunt))
A million things ran behind her blacker-than-black eyes, a million emotions and feelings that she hadn't experienced in nearly two decades. He fed strengthening energy into her, felt Blaise doing the same, and he saw lucidity enter those gorgeous eyes for the first time in his life. Something that he'd only seen bits and pieces of before flooded into them, something so undeniably Bella that he felt like crowing with joy, even as his rage still ate at him brutally. Their time was running out, and he didn't have any more to help her just yet. But he would, because she was family, and they'd always loved each other in their own way.
"Come on, beautiful." He said quietly, and her eyes filled with such instantaneous guilt and horror that he almost flinched back. She scrabbled for her sleeve, ripping it off in her haste and screaming when she saw the black, scabby skull on her porcelain flesh. She clawed at it violently until Blaise grabbed her wrists, rising to his feet and pulling her writhing form up with him.
"I'll kill him!" She shrieked, fighting to get free. But Blaise's grip stayed like iron, and all she could do was rage verbally. "I'll fucking kill that half-blood bastard for Marking me! How dare he? How dare he!? Gods, I feel so dirty, so dirty…You have to get me clean, neveu, you have to get me clean…" She said, her struggles finally ceasing as she fell into a dazed state, the shock becoming too much for her new, fragile hold on some sort of sanity and clarity. ((nephew))
"Give her to Vincent." Draco intoned, looking at his aunt as he slid his hatchet back it its sheathe. "We have to get Pansy and get out of here."
"I'll carry Daphne." Gregory offered, and Melody opened her mouth to refuse before nodding slightly and standing, her whole body still shaking with sobs. Mira was beside her, her arm around her waist, and Gregory and Vincent each picked up their charges easily. Anton was standing stock-still, staring at the bloody sheets on the bed, and Draco and Blaise went to his side.
"Come, mon ami." Draco said, taking his hand and leading him out of the room.
Blaise stayed right behind them, his eyes and senses scanning everything, and the others followed, Melody walking beside Gregory so that she could hold Daphne's limp hand. Five more Death Eaters died before they reached a short hallway that was filled with Pansy's scent. Only two doors were in the small corridor, one a plain wooden one that they knew she was behind, and another that was made out of intricately worked silver, runes of death and plague, disease and extermination carved into it. Making as wide a circle around that one as they could, they were in the room that held Pansy moments later.
He and Anton were the first through the door, and no one moved for a long moment as they took in the scene in front of them. Draco felt Virginia's rage blossom throughout him, and he let it. Pansy's broken body was curled up on a small, run-down bed much like the one Daphne had been on, and her eyes were glazed and dull, staring ceaselessly at the far wall. Her arms had been shattered, her legs had been shattered, her face was a pulpy mess, and lacerations and abrasions covered her slight form. Her nails had been ripped out, and large patches of skin were gone from various parts of her, as if she'd been carved on with a dull knife. A piece of thick chain was wrapped around her throat like a leash, bolted to the floor underneath the cot.
His fury turning absolutely freezing, he started to move forward when Anton exploded. Quite literally. The dark-haired Slytherin fell to his knees, his eyes locked on his fiancé, and the surprised Death Eaters just stared for a moment. A moment that killed them. Because Anton started glowing darkly in a way that he'd never seen his friend do before, his hazel eyes turning as black as Bella's before a blast of magick mushroomed out from around him. It killed everything in the room instantly but for his lover and his friends, whom Draco had thrown a shield over as soon as he'd realized what was happening.
One by one, the Death Eaters fell, their bodies crumbling into ash as the darkfire ate them from head to foot in seconds. Anton slumped to the ground with them, utterly drained, and Draco caught him before he could hit the filthy floor. His whole body was convulsing, his eyes still black and sightless, and Draco could do nothing but croon and soothe him, Blaise joining them and mimicking his actions. The first time that they'd expended so much wandless magick at once it had been much the same, after all. The body wasn't used to it, and the power of unfiltered magick in your veins was quite overwhelming, especially for one who'd never experienced it before.
"Sweet Merlin…" He heard Mira breathe out from behind them, and he cocked his head enough to see her examining the room and the ash piles with narrowed eyes. Everyone else but Bella and Daphne were doing much the same, before their eyes were slowly but surely drawn to Anton. There was something new in their gazes, just the tiniest hint of fear, and Draco almost smiled. He could still vividly recall the first time that they had looked at him and Blaise like that, but now was not the time for reminiscing.
'Blaise, stay with him, alright?' He asked quietly through the Marks, and Blaise nodded, taking Anton fully into his embrace.
He kissed both his lover and his best friend briefly on the lips before moving towards Pansy's shaking form. He knelt beside the cot and moved into her line of sight, if she could even see anything. But, apparently, she could, considering that she scrambled backwards so fast that the ruined, flayed skin on her back hit the wall hard, causing her to whimper. Her tormented eyes slowly turned to him, and she stared at him for a minute that stretched on for what seemed like an eternity. Then she sobbed once, opening her mouth to speak with a voice she no longer had, and he was very nearly sick for the first time that he could ever remember.
They'd cut out her tongue.
Sending an urgent plea down his link to Blaise, he told him to keep Anton away at all costs while he tried to leash Virginia's burning outrage and ire and his own nausea. He'd done worse things to people, and had seen much, much worse things done to people, but watching a girl who was like his sister struggle with a grisly, macabre attempt at speech, the black stub of what had once been a sharp, elegant tongue just visible, was something that even he had a hard time stomaching. Especially with Virginia's own pain and feelings of sickness swamping him. It had only been two seconds, maybe three, since Pansy had first tried to talk, and she snapped her mouth shut just as quickly.
More glad than he could say for his years upon years of facial control, he kept the horror that he felt at seeing her in such a state locked deep inside, and held his arms out to her. She hesitated, her eyes flickering from side to side like a trapped cat, which she had been, in a way. Then those deathlike eyes locked onto him again, and she threw herself at him, her thin, broken arms trying to wrap around his neck and failing. He gathered her up gently, cooing soft words in her ear and sending healing energy into her, deadening her nerves to the point of feeling no pain as he snapped the collar off with one hand. No physical pain that is. He could sense and smell the potions running through her bloodstream, and knew that she'd thought she'd been here much longer than she actually was.
"We're going to get you out of here, darling. Anton's here, too. He killed all of the bastards who hurt you. There's nothing to worry about anymore, hmm? Come on, lovely, let me take you away." He whispered, lifting her carefully and trying not to think about her blood running over his hands. He wished, at that moment, for nothing more than to crack Voldemort's skull open and feed the insides to his dogs. Slowly.
Blaise was standing to the side, Anton in his arms and his eyes trained on Pansy. There was murder in those indigo orbs, murder and torture and crackling fury, and one glance was all it took to know that they would be coming back for that bastard later. Their main priority at the moment, however, was getting their friends back to Hogwarts safely where they could heal them. Or heal what they could, anyway. They'd barely made it out to the hallway when he felt it. Something behind that silver door was moving closer, something divine and…foul. There was a startlingly clear moment during which Cocidius's voice blossomed in their minds, before everything fell apart.
'Flee! Get away as quickly as you can! You must get awa—'
And then, in a move that let him and Blaise staggering and gasping, their Marks went dead and silent. They could still feel Virginia faintly through the spell, the link stretched too far and almost snapping, and they lifted their heads to meet the twins' nervous eyes. Simultaneously, they handed Pansy and Anton over to them and started pushing everyone down the hallway. Hearing the door slamming open behind them and knowing that their time was up, he and Blaise threw out the portal stones they'd made to get them out and watched them smash open on the ground. A black hole opened up in midair, spinning and spinning as it got larger, the air beginning to whip around it.
They started shoving their friends through before they could protest or complain, and they almost had them all in when a bolt of energy came soaring at the twins, Pansy and Anton. Not thinking, only knowing that they had to get them safe and keep them together, they jumped in front of the energy blast and pushed them through just as they were hit and the portal closed. Feeling as if he were being torn into pieces, he fell to his knees hard beside Blaise and made himself look up. A god stood before them, there was nothing else that it could be, and it wore the most menacing, satisfied expression that they had ever seen.
Recognizing the death sentence in its phantasmal eyes, they clasped each other's hand tightly, watching emotionlessly as it advanced. There was no fighting a god, they knew that. And their Marks were inactive, which meant that something had befallen Cocidius. They had no choice but to meet their deaths with open eyes and a sense of victory, knowing that their friends were safe. Virginia passed through their thoughts, coating them and enveloping them in her essence, and they knew an entire world of grief in mere seconds. Then the god was on them, its enormous hands snatching them up and burning through their robes and clothes. They last thing they knew before blackness claimed them was Virginia's agonized scream as the link shattered.
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Cocidius roared as the constraining power of the Sky Court enveloped him in chains of sunlight and magma. Traitors! He thought viciously, straining at the magical bonds that held him. He had time only to send a warning to his Chosen before he felt their connection snap, and a well of emptiness filled him from head to foot, weakening his resolve. No, he thought furiously. No! I will not let them die! His struggles beginning anew, he tried to call out to the Lady before he remembered that She had sunken too far into the void. How could the Light royals have betrayed him like this? They knew it would mean war between the Courts!
His father, Hades, Osirus…None of them would stand for this, and they knew that! If they found him, it would mean war. If he broke free himself, it would mean war. If his Chosen were harmed in any way, it would mean war. Surely they were not so foolish? Testing his bonds again, he knew that he could escape them. But he would have to lose himself in visions, gathering the whole of his power to him before releasing it. It could take a day, a week, a month, but what was time where he was? He started to let himself ease into a trance, when he felt a small ripple. Virginia had used one of her wishes. She was asking for…Damn it! He could barely feel her.
No, wait; there it was again…She was wishing for her lovers to return to her. Her heartbreak fueling his rage, he sent out a wild thought to the Sky Court royals. It promised revenge, promised retribution, and he felt their fear. Not concentrating long enough to scan their thoughts, he began his trance again, calling the living darkness of the void into him between the gaps in the chains as quickly as he could, which wasn't nearly as quickly as he would have liked. He was almost insensible when a familiar, hated voice cut through his subconscious and spoke words that had his fury solidifying into a sharp, destructive point.
It was not the Sky Court that had trapped him. They had no knowledge of what had happened; they had not consented to such an action. They were not so foolish, after all. No, it was only one of them that had done this; only one of them that had betrayed them all. Only one had been siphoning the other Light royals' energy; only one had been stealing it and feeding off of them without their knowledge. Leech, Cocidius screamed internally, you filthy fucking leech! It was a grievous transgression, treachery of the worst kind, and was punishable by eternal banishment and the removal of crown and station. The words echoed and echoed through his head, and he couldn't stop them.
'I have them, Cocidius, I have them and there is nothing thee can do to save them. No, it's much too late for that. I hold all the power of the Light Court, and it will be thy downfall. I will take the others soon, and nothing shall stand in my way. Their deaths weaken thee, while I, who thee always thought weak, will rule all. Irony at its best, if I do say so myself.'
Dagda would pay for this.
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Well. Please don't kill me. And please review!