Bella, Draco, Kate and Harry were sat around a conference table in the middle of Harry's big ass department head office that Bella was definitely not jealous of discussing any upcoming plans for the Diagon Alley serial killer. "Does anyone have anything?" Harry broke the silence because it was clear that there were no clues concerning the whereabouts or identity of the man in question and so far the body count remained at four. The fifth girl who got away seemed to spook the man into hiding. The crew wasn't stupid, they knew he'd strike again.

"It's March," Kate spoke up.

"Is she serious?" Bella looked over to Draco. "She's serious." She looked at Harry who just shrugged at her.

"Yes it is," Harry was unsure what to say next.

Kate rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically, "it's March and that's when Bella said we would circle back around to the whole undercover thing."

"Oh that…" Bella looked uncomfortable. "Potter there has to be another way besides offering up one of my officers to a killer."

"She's volunteering, Auntie," Draco looked to Kate for confirmation. "I don't think she'd offer if she wasn't confident she'd be okay."

"She can't possibly know that she'd be okay in that situation. Anything could happen, including her death." Bella glared at the younger woman who wasn't faltering in her gaze.

"I'm not afraid," Kate replied, crossing her arms. "I know what's at stake and I'm ready and willing to do this to possibly save other girls who could be murdered and raped. So what's the big deal?"

"You could die!" Bella yelled.

"I'm aware of that but it's my decision if I do this or not," Kate then looked at Harry, "if Harry approves. It's up to him in the end, not you."

"Potter, you can't seriously be thinking about this." Bella looked towards her enemy turned friend.

"Well," Harry avoided the glare coming from his right, "it's really the only option and plan we have right now. If Kate's consenting to this then who am I to stop her. She needs a full plan proposal including her escape plan and emergency contacts as per ministry policy but I think she might be onto something here."

Bella stared at Harry with her mouth hung open unsure where this power shift had come from. Sure he was the department head but she usually got her way. "You're going to catch Phoenix shit, Aunt Bella." Draco said as he leaned over and whispered to his aunt causing her to snap back into the scene.

"You are all fucking crazy. It's suicide." Bella threw her hands up in the air.

"I didn't know you care about me so much." Kate grinned at her supervisor.

"I don't." Bella growled. "It would be really inconvenient for me if you died. I'd have to find a replacement. It would mean a load of paperwork," Kate rolled her eyes at Bella's feeble list, "and," Bella added a little softer, "If you die, you'd mess up Hermione's seating charts and I'd hear about it for the rest of my life. Trust me when I say it's not about my feelings for you, it's about my survival instinct and not wanting my fiancé to murder me."

"Uh huh," Kate smirked.

"She's been spending too much time with you Aunt Bella," Draco laughed, "not even a Black and smirking like she owns the place."

Bella slammed her fists down on the table, "fine. If this is what you want to do then do it but none of you assholes better come crying to me when Kate winds up dead." She got up forcefully knocking her chair over and stormed out of Harry's office.

"Well that went well," Harry said quietly after the door slammed shut, "okay let's get started on this plan of yours."

"I'll be right back," Kate said, looking at the door. She got up and made her way out into the department. She saw that Bella's door was slightly ajar. Taking a couple of deep breaths to calm her nerves, she walked over and lightly knocked on the door.

"Fuck off," came the angry reply of the dark witch.

"Bella? Can I please come in?"

"I said fuck off," Bella growled.

"I'm not leaving until you talk to me," Kate responded unmoving from her spot. "If she wants to do it the hard way, fine by me." She thought as she heard the woman behind the door grumbling.

"Fucking hufflepuffs. Fine get your ass in here and make it quick, new girl." Kate walked into the office and saw a distraught looking Bella sitting at her desk with a small glass of firewhiskey. "Why are you pushing this? Do you have a death wish, girl?"

"No," Kate replied looking at Bella as she took a drink.

"You are acting like me," Bella slammed her glass down and stared at Kate. "Not me now but the old me. Careless, driven, loyal to a cause. I would've died for my cause. I was stupid. Why are you so determined to do this when you know there's an actual calculated chance that we will find you dead behind the Leaky Cauldron?"

"I trust you to not let that happen," Kate answered quietly. She had never seen Bella this emotional regarding work before and It was the first time her boss had ever mentioned her past to her. The young officer was out of her depths here but persisted. "I know you won't let them get me."

"You were there. Teddy was taken and I could do nothing to stop it." Bella poured another shot and downed it, slamming her glass when it was empty, "Hermione almost died and I did nothing to stop it."

"This isn't the same."

"Isn't it?" Bella growled. "Well I suppose it isn't. Teddy didn't have a choice. Hermione made a rash decision and went on her own. You." Bella glared, "you, Kate, have a choice."

"I have to do this." Kate said firmly.

"Why?"

"Because," Kate finally looked away, "my mother was found dead. Naked. Strangled and raped. They never caught the guy who was responsible." Bella looked up and saw one tear rolling down her face. She spoke softly, "I have to do this."

Bella nodded, took out another glass, poured a shot of whiskey into it and slid it across the desk to Kate who nodded and took the shot in one go, "okay." She understood Kate's need now. The dark witch fully understood the drive that the young hufflepuff had to see this through to whatever end would come of it. "What's the plan?" She asked and saw Kate's eyebrow turn up in surprise. "I will support this however you need me to."

"Okay," Kate nodded and let a small smile of thanks cross her face that Bella hadn't asked her to divulge any more information about her mum at this time. It's been 11 years but the wounds were still as fresh as the day they found her dead, the same day she received her acceptance letter to Hogwarts. "Maybe we should head back into the conference room and figure this out as a team."

"All right," Bella said, putting her bottle away and casting a quick cleaning spell on the glasses before returning them to her drawer. She got up and followed Kate out of the door but stopped her with a hand to her bicep, "don't tell Potter out the whiskey. I don't need another fucking lecture about drinking on the job." Kate laughed as Bella rolled her eyes while they made their way back into Harry's office.

"Okay," Bella announced as they reentered Harry's office. "Apparently we are doing this so let's make sure New Girl comes out of this alive."

After the debrief, a preliminary plan was put in place to get Kate in Diagon Alley to start fishing for the wizard responsible for the murders of the four women. It would start two weeks from then in lieu of any new bodies being found dead. They needed time to perfect everything and to get the muggle detective equipment. "Why muggle police equipment?" Bella rolled her eyes.

"Because they won't be expecting it. If we use the microphones, they won't be able to detect them and we'd still be able to hear whether or not a muffliato was used," Harry asserted as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"All right. I'll sort it out," Bella got up and started to leave, "I have a meeting with Xenophilius that I don't want to miss." She cackled as she left the room and made her way out of the department of magic law enforcement.

She was currently sitting in the very cramped and heavily hoarded waiting room of the Quibbler when she got a text.

12:25pm

Please don't say anything that's going to lead them back to us.

12:27pm

Pet, you wound me. Like I would ever say anything overly incriminating.

12:29pm

Overly incriminating is on your business card, Bella.

12:30pm

It's not actually but I may have Potter add it. That would spice it up a little.

12:32pm

Bella, please I'm begging you…

12:35pm

Well I do like when you beg. Shit got to go. Luna is coming over. I'll try to be on my best behavior.

Bella put her phone away when her friend approached and told her to follow her back towards one of the offices, "dad is held up and apologizes so he asked me to get this started with you, if that's all right."

"No bother to me, just tell me what I have to do," Bella sat down across from Luna.

"Okay so," Luna took out her quill and parchment, "dad said you wanted us to run a story about Dolohov and Lucius Malfoy? This is because of the stuff Rita had been publishing in the Daily Profit? Is it okay if I use this quill?"

"Yes to all of that," Bella waved her hand dismissively, "Hermione said if any of us ever caught Skeeter publicly spying on them then I could speak to the papers." Luna nodded her head, "we should start off with the fact that I had no intentions of taking on the position as the new Dark Lord. However, I haven't ruled it out but at this point no official moves have been made," she winked at Luna. "We have to keep the people scared somehow."

"I'm not sure," Luna started but was cut off.

"No, Hermione isn't here. We can run the story that I could possibly be the next Dark Lord. It'll throw them all off." Bella smirked, "plus it's funny as fuck. But back to the other part. We should run with the angle that they are just a bunch of scared wizarding pure blood snobs who are threatened by muggleborns because they are making moves nobody could think of before. Oh," she snapped her fingers, "make sure you mention that hospital collab. Hermione is very proud of that. Dr. Hoffman has been a big asset with the project."

"Okay, I think we definitely want to talk about the hospital collaboration. Can you tell me more about that?" Luna asked, quill poised. Bella went through all the details she could think of off the top of her head.

"All I know is that they have started setting up an area on the third floor of St. Mungos to dedicate to muggle medicine. Maybe you might want to ask one of my sisters for a statement about the collaboration. They would have more hands-on details. Dr. Hoffman might even give a statement further down the line." Bella scratched her ear as she thought, "now back to the assholes who are starting this whole shit show. Should we talk about how Dolohov, Malfoy and Skeeter have been after the Blacks since our days at Hogwarts? Honestly they are probably all still so pissed off that we had better marks, were better quidditch players and countless other things we did better than them. Like this one time at the dueling club when I made Dolohov piss his pants. Classic," Bella cackled and shook her head. "Do you think we should mention that Rita is probably scared of Hermione because of the whole bug thing?"

"What's the bug thing?" Luna asked with big eyes.

Bella continued the conversation starting with the whole chat about Rita and her animagus form and ruthless little 4th year Hermione. The ladies chatted for a while before the blonde told her she had more than enough to give to her father for a front page story. "Excellent," Bella said, getting up from her seat. "Sort that all out and just make sure Hermione comes out looking sparkling."

"Are the two of you coming over for dinner soon?" Luna asked.

"Well we are having a get together at Black Manor at the end of the week, you and Potter should come." Bella waved her wand and the invitation appeared, she handed it over to the younger witch.

"Excellent. I'll bring over a rough draft of what dad will run on Sunday for your approval at dinner."

Bella stopped by The Granger's house after leaving the Quibbler. She needed to speak with Jack on his muggle expertise and she didn't want to have to go all the way back to the ministry to pick up Hermione so she just decided an unannounced visit would be okay. She apparate to just outside of the little town their house was located in and started the walk to the house. Bella was happy to see Jack's car was parked in the covered spot. She knocked quietly on the door and waited as she heard footsteps approaching. The door opened to a surprised face, "Bellatrix? Is everything okay? Is Hermione okay?" Bella nodded her head, "sorry I'm just a little on edge still after the last time. You don't often drop by alone. Come on through," he stepped out of the way for the dark witch to walk inside. "So what do I owe this little visit to?"

Bella shook her head and chuckled quietly. She could always count on Jack to be quintessentially muggle. "I have some questions, actually. About muggles."

"Well my dear," Jack swept her into the living room and pointed to the couch, "you've come to the right place. Not to toot my own horn or anything but I have been a muggle for the past 57 years. I consider myself quite an expert."

Bella eyed him suspiciously when he walked back in the room handing her a can of Coke. "We have a particularly frustrating case at work."

"The murders in Diagon Alley?"

Bella looked at him confused, "you know about that?"

"Hermione has been sending us both the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler since her days at Hogwarts. We like to keep up with the wizards even if we don't always understand it all."

"Fair enough," Bella shrugged and opened her can, taking her first delicious sip of coke in a while. "So, we are obviously having a hard time trapping this guy. You remember Kate?" Jack nodded in confirmation, "well she thinks she should go undercover which I'm vehemently against but I lost the argument there," she shrugged and went on, "but Potter think we should use muggle detective equipment to be able to trap this guy without using magic since he's evaded all of our previous attempts." Jack took a drink but didn't respond yet just absorbing all of the information Bella had just provided him. "So where might I be able to go to get microphones, cameras, recording equipment and something called a taser?"

A very unsettling smile crept up Jack's face and Bella's stomach dropped, "well there's only one place we will be able to get all of that."

"Don't say Tesco," Bella muttered.

"Tesco!" Jack said, putting his can down. "Let's go, love."

"Fine," Bella all but growled out, "but we are apparating. I'm not riding in a car and going to Tescos on the same day."

Jack's face lit up, "I love magical travel."

He led Bella out to the back of their house and she held her arm out for him to grab. "Hold on and please don't be sick on me." She spun them out away from the Granger's house and into an alleyway behind the tescos. Surprisingly there was no one around, not that she thought the muggles would pay any attention. "Let's make this quick," she started to walk around to the front but stopped and handed Jack her wand, "here you better hold on to this for the safety of everyone inside." He just laughed and slid her wand into the inside pocket of his overcoat. "Merlin help us all," she muttered following the man into the busy store. "Do you remember what we are looking for?" Bella asked while throwing dirty looks at a few muggle children who were looking at her clothes.

"Yes, we need to go to the electronic and sporting goods department in the back of the store," Jack pointed in the direction they needed to head. "Come on, this way."

"Wait," Bella exclaimed, clearly uncomfortable. "Last time I came here, Hermione let me hold onto her. Can I?" She pointed to Jack's arm. He just smiled, nodded and held out his arm for her to grab onto which she immediately did. "All the way to the back?" She gulped. "Okay. You first." She clung to his arm tighter as they traversed their way to the items in question.

Twenty minutes later, Bella found herself back inside of the Granger living room alongside Jack who was carrying two bags with the items he purchased for her. "I'm going to pay you back. This was an unexpected trip and I forgot my emergency funny muggle money Hermione gave to me." She saw Jack open his mouth to protest, "don't try to stop me. I'll pay you back next time I see you." She grabbed the bags from Jack, "anyway thanks for this stuff. And for accompanying me into the hellscape. Without you there I would've killed someone for sure."

Jack laughed and shook his head, "oh yes," he remembered reaching into his coat and handing Bella back his wand. "Everyone survived our trip to Tesco. And you are welcome. I'm always happy to help in any way that I can. It's not often I get to go out and buy spy equipment." Bella nodded and started to head to the door, "tell Hermione I said hello and please let me know when you catch the guy and how you found the taser. Top of the line it's supposed to be."

Bella smirked, "the taser, yes. I may have to try it out on someone." She pretended to be in thought, tapping her chin, "I'm thinking, Draco. A muggle form of torture, and here I thought you muggles were all talk no bite. My, how I was wrong." She shook her head, "okay I should be off. Get these things back to Harry and pick up Hermione for the night. Thanks again." She turned to head towards the door but looked back, "I never really had a dad. I mean I guess I did but he was a piece of shit. For what it's worth, Hermione is very lucky to have a father like you." She gave him a sideways smile then left before he could say anything.

She disapparated a few feet behind the Granger's house when she noted that none of the neighbors were out and landed outside of the Ministry. "Well I'm certainly not going in through the loo. I'll just use the visitor entrance," she walked around to the red phone booth and made her way down into the Ministry via the visitor entrance. "That wasn't as horrible as I thought," she started to say when a woman she didn't recognize approached her.

"All visitors need to wear a name tag," the young lady said.

"Oh fuck me," Bella rolled her eyes, "I work here. DMLE?" The girl just stared at her blankly while holding the name tag and pen. "Do you not know who I am, girl?" She shook her head no. "You must be new. Surely you've heard of me. Bellatrix Druella Black heiress to the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black and the potential new Dark Lord?" The girl's eyes widened. "Now, enough of this bullshit. Out of my way and hope that I forget your face when my reign of terror begins." She pushed past the stunned girl and made her way to the elevators. "What a rude little girl," Bella grumbled as she pushed the button to take her to the DMLE. As the door was closing, a hand shot through and stopped it. "Just fucking perfect. What my day needed," Bella glared as the polished platinum blonde entered the elevator, smirking at her. "Couldn't you wait until the next lift?"

"And miss the chance to talk to the next Dark Lord?"

"You just wish the papers even cared enough to give you a second thought," Bella scoffed, "all

those years sucking up to Tom for what? He's dead and you are nothing. Honestly the only reason I haven't killed you yet is because I care about little Dragon's feelings. The minute he realizes the truth about you, watch out."

"Bella, I'm wounded," he pretended to pout. "I thought we were friends."

"Friends?" Bella laughed. "We were never friends." The elevator dinged. "Don't forget to read Quibbler on Sunday Lucy." She winked, "I'm sure you'll find it illuminating." The doors of the lift closed before he could respond. "What a waste of good oxygen. I should've tased his ass." Bella shrugged, "oh well missed opportunity." She walked the rest of the way into the DMLE suite and saw Draco and Kate at their desks, "Dragon I just had a lovely exchange with your father. Didn't kill him again, mark it on the calendar." Draco shook his head and Kate swiveled around to the wall calendar and carefully wrote 'Lucius lives' under the current date and she added a frowning face which earned a cackle from the dark witch. "I love the way you think, new girl." Bella came around to the table behind where the desks were and put down the bag of goodies she got on her shopping trip, "took a little trip to the hellscape known as Tesco with Jack and rounded up everything I think we will need to catch this guy like muggle savages." She emptied out the bags onto the table and the two officers started sifting through all of the equipment.

Kate smiled, "who do we get to try the taser on?" She turned to Draco who looked back at her and scooted his seat away. "Draco?"

"Absolutely not," Draco eyed her hand with the taser. "Give it back to Bella. Maybe she can test it out on father. Or Skeeter if she ever runs into her."

"Fair enough," Kate put the taser down and started looking at the other equipment. "This stuff is great, Bella. Did you hurt any of the muggles at Tesco?"

"No," she scowled, "I gave Jack my wand." She crossed her arms and stuck her chin in the air, "it's not like I could leave this up to the two of you. I needed to make sure this was done right. If new girl dies, Hermione will blame me."

"Dinner party on Friday, right?" Draco casually said looking up at his Aunt who looked between him and Kate. Obviously she didn't invite Kate to the dinner and didn't want to have that conversation around her. "Did I say something wrong?"

"I'm guessing I wasn't invited to the dinner party and the pure blood in Bella is trying to decide if she needs to extend the invitation to me or not," Kate looked up at Bella as if to ask if she was right.

Bella ran her hand through her dark curls, "well yes. It would be rude not to invite you now since you know about it." She sighed, "it was only meant to be for family and then somehow Lovegood got an invite out of me. I mean," she looked uncomfortable by the way Kate was staring at her, "if you want to come we would love to have you." She mumbled the words, fuck her pureblood hospitality.

Kate smirked, "as heart warming as that invitation is, I can't. I have plans with my husband and I'm

guessing since all of you will be at Black Manor, that means I'm on call."

"Then why did you put me through that?" Bella growled.

Kate shrugged, "I like to make you uncomfortable." She picked up one of the mini mics and examined it as Bella was storming from the office, "I expect an owl for the next dinner party."

"Don't hold your breath!" Bella shouted back as she left the DMLE for the evening.

Friday evening rolled around faster than anyone had anticipated. Bella had hired extra house elves to help around the house and prepare dinner even though Hermione had insisted that they could cook the dinner themselves. "Do you want everyone to end up at Mungos with food poisoning, pet?" The question earned her a slap to her shoulder. "Hey! I'm going to pay the elves very well. They want to do this. Trust me, Twiggy says house elves are dying to work here because of how well they get paid, plus the paid vacation and time off. If we cooked this dinner, someone would've ended up in the hospital especially if I had to do any of the cooking." They were currently in their bedroom finishing up their looks for this formal dinner. "Why did it have to be a formal event?" Her fiancé asked from inside the walk in closet. "Because Cissy would feel obliged to come if it was formal." Bella simply replied, looking herself over in the mirror. She was wearing a dark green fitting suit, a black dress shirt, a white tie and a pair of very high black heels. "It'll do," she winked at herself and ran her hands through her curly hair, bringing it around her right shoulder and loosely bundling it with a tie. Her makeup was dark and Smokey as always with a black lip to match the eyes. "Come on out, pet. We have to get down there. You know Potter always arrives ridiculously early." She sighed and moved away from the mirror, her heels clicking as she walked. Hermione came out of the closet also wearing a fitted suit only she was bare underneath the jacket. It fit her well enough that it was modest enough for a family affair but still sexy enough to catch Bella's eye all evening. "Umm," Bella cleared her throat, "why have I never seen this look before?"

Hermione shrugged, slicking back her hair. "Does it look all right?"

"All right?" Bella scoffed. "Does it look all right? Pet, you look positively edible." Her voice was an octave lower than normal. Heels clicking as she made her way over to Hermione who had chosen to wear flats so it was a rare occasion that Bellatrix towered her. "Let me call this whole thing off and I'll

show you just how much I like this outfit." She leaned down slightly and brought her fiancé into a heated kiss. Her hand was already wandering into Hermione's suit jacket, toying with her excited peaks. The younger witch moaned into the kiss, breaking away to catch her breath, sucking on Bella's neck where her throat met the top of her collared shirt. "Pet, don't start something you don't intend to finish," she all but growled out.

"Who said I can't finish you right now?" Hermione whispered into Bella's neck and she reached around and cupped her fiancé's ass through her snug fitting trousers. "Fuck, Bella. You know what these do to me?"

Bella hummed, pinching a nipple between her thumb and finger causing a sharp hiss from the younger witch. "Aren't we meant to be waiting, my love?"

"Hmm?" Hermione questioned lost in the moment.

"For our wedding night," Bella lifted Hermione's chin, tilted her head down and kissed her slow and deep, feeling every inch of her mouth as she did so pulling back but capturing Hermione's bottom lip between her teeth, nibbling before she let go completely. "What was that about you not cracking?" She removed her hand slowly from her suit jacket, and straightened the material, not breaking eye contact.

The brunette visibly gulped, "a moment of weakness," she said but it came out high pitched and breathy.

Bella silently cast a spell that fixed both of their lipsticks and grabbed her hand, taking her into the bathroom. "Splash some cold water on your face, pet. Looks like you've been fucked six ways from Sunday and I barely touched you." She winked at her, leaving her standing in front of the mirror wondering how she ended up with her panties a sticky mess.

It took Hermione a couple of minutes to calm herself. She exited the bathroom and saw Bella standing in front of the window, "ready?"

Bella turned around and smirked at her fiancé, "depends on what I'm getting ready for. For dinner? Absolutely not. To fuck you? Yes."

"Bella," Hermione gave a warning.

"Okay fine," Bella rolled her eyes playfully. "Let's go before Potter gets here and starts wandering. He never does wait where the elves leave him."

They made their way down the back staircase into the kitchens to see if the elves needed anything for the preparations. They assured the misses that everything was taken care of and Twiggy smacked Bella's hand when she reached to grab a roasted potato off of one of the serving trays. "You'll spoil your dinner, mistress Bella." She small elf scolded her master. The dark witch just shook her head and took the potato anyway. The pair went on through to the foyer just as Harry and Luna came into the Manor, "see, always early," she said under her breath to Hermione who just laughed and shook her head.

"Harry, Luna, welcome," Hermione said in her most gracious hostess voice, walking over to embrace the pair.

"Wouldn't miss it, Mione." Harry said, hugging his best friend back. "Bella, thanks for the invite."

"Whatever," she shrugged, coming over to pat Luna on the head. "Now, don't wander off Potter. I know how you like to stray. You can wait in the family room with everyone else." Bella thought for a minute, "well no one else is here yet. Wait, where the hell is Andy?" She thought, looking up the stairs when Teddy came running from his downstairs playroom. "There's my little man," she said as he ran in wearing a pair of dress slacks and a black button up shirt. "Don't you look nice this evening, Master Teddy." He always giggled when she addressed him by that name. "Where's your granny?" She asked putting Teddy down so he could run over to hug his uncle.

"She was in the playroom with me," Teddy said, jumping up into Harry's arms, giving him a squeeze around his neck. "Missed you."

"I missed you too, Ted." Harry put him down and he went straight to Luna for his next hug.

"Did my grandson run out here, leaving me to clean up after him?" Andy asked as she came into the room, wearing a silver and lace cocktail dress. "Don't worry, I left the mess for you." She winked at her grandson.

"Aw man," she heard him say as he went to Hermione for the last hug he needed to complete his set.

"Now," Andy said, coming in closer to hug all the guests. "Why do you look so hot?" She eyed Hermione in the suit she was wearing causing a pink blush to over take her cheeks.

"I told her she looks too good for this family event," Bella laughed as she pulled her fiancé into her side by the waist, "she refused my offer to skip this for sex."

"I've never seen Hermione reach that shade of red before," Luna said absentmindedly. "It seems she's in a constant state of pink when the Black sisters are around."

"That's the way we like her," Andy cackled and winked at the younger witch.

"Okay," Hermione rolled her eyes, "let's talk about something else besides my blush and outfit choice."

"How's wedding planning going?" Harry asked with a smile when Hermione gave him a silent thank you.

"Let's move this into the sitting room and have some drinks while we wait for the others."

Draco and Astoria joined the group twenty minutes after the other arrived and they came right into the conversation and got drinks. There was only one person missing from the event and it was the reason the whole event was being thrown. "Where is Cissy?" Bella asked, only slightly annoyed. "She's late."

"She's only ten minutes passed the time on the invitation," Hermione told her. "She'll be along."

"That's not my sister," Bella rolled her eyes, "she's never late. Five minutes. That's all the longer she gets."

"Until what?" Draco asked.

"Until I apparate to her house and drag her ass here." Bella swallowed the last bit of whiskey in her glass. "Okay fuck it, I'm going now." Andy and Hermione shared a look that didn't go unnoticed by the dark witch. "What aren't you telling me?"

"It's nothing," Hermione said quietly.

"Yeah," Andy added, "let's just wait for her to get here."

"No," Bella stood, "there is something you aren't telling me and I don't like it. I'm going to now," she started to walk towards the door and everyone in the room followed an angry Bella towards the front door. "Now," she spun around to address the group, "is anyone coming with me." Nobody spoke up. Bella shrugged, "suit yourself. I'll be back with Cissy." She spun back around to the door just as there was a knock. Bella fixed her jacket and opened the door, she froze in her tracks, "who the hell are you?"