Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.

Challenges listed at the bottom.

Word Count - 1750

Warning - Murder, gore, and a somewhat graphic description of attempted rape.


Avenging Angel


Blood covered her hands.

That wasn't a new experience, of course, but he…

She hadn't wanted it to end this way. Not with him.

She didn't understand why he had to make her so mad. Everything had been going well, she hadn't even… she'd stopped killing people. She'd been normal. He'd helped her be normal, and then he'd made her mad and she…

Dead eyes stared up at her, shining with betrayal even though the life had left them.

Her rage settled slowly, leaving her tired and shaking and, for the first time, horrified by her actions. It was… she couldn't help herself. She hit a certain level of anger and… it happened.

He…

Why had he said those words?

Why had he asked her to come out with their relationship? Everything had been fine. Great even.

And then… why would he do that?

Molly sunk slowly to the floor and gripped her hair with her bloody hands and she cried.

Life wasn't meant to be like this.

Sweat dripped down the back of her neck from her hairline and she flipped her long hair over her shoulder as she sat down on the barstool.

Blaise handed her a tumbler of whiskey and a tall glass of iced water.

"There's a guy over there that has been staring at you for over an hour," he said, nodding his head behind her subtly.

"He's got a snowflake's chance in hell," Molly replied disinterested.

Blaise laughed and raised his own glass from behind the bar as though to toast her. "To that snowflake's hope in hell then."

Molly rolled her eyes at him, but gulped at the water greedily.

She loved Blaise's bar. He never judged her, no matter what she did, and it had the beautiful advantage of being a Muggle bar, so nobody who knew her family ever showed up there either.

She'd asked him once, why he chose the Muggle world, but he'd simply raised his eyebrow at her and said, "You know the world I grew up in. Would you want to stay in a place where everyone judges you for the colour of the tie you wore as a teenager?"

She had to admit that he wasn't wrong and she never brought the subject up again.

"Hey baby," a voice behind her murmured, a hand resting on her lower back. "You looked real good out there on the dance floor. Wanna dance with me?"

She turned slowly to see the guy that Blaise had pointed out, that she'd noticed five minutes into arriving at the bar, leering down at her. He wasn't even trying to be subtly. She barely restrained herself from rolling her eyes.

"Think you can keep up with me, champ?"

"I can take whatever you got," he replied, in what he clearly thought was a seductive voice. Molly just thought he sounded like he needed to lay off the cigarettes.

"Show me what you've got then," she said, sliding off the barstool. She winked at Blaise, who was watching from where he was serving someone else. He shook his head at her but smiled when she grinned.

Molly led the way onto the dance floor and wasted no time in getting all up in the guys space. She lived for this, for the feel of another body against her, the motions of grinding back onto a willing partner for as long as the music flowed through her.

It was intimate, it was sexy, and she loved it.

Molly pulled her leather jacket on and leant on the bar to press her lips to Blaise's cheek. "See you soon, babe."

"Later, gorgeous," he replied waving to her. She grinned at the bouncer on her way out and flipped up the collar of her jacket when she realised how chilly it was.

Slipping into the side street, she raised an eyebrow when she saw the man she'd danced with leaning against the wall, a cigarette hanging from his lips.

She continued on her way, stopping only when he put his arm out to grab her upper arm.

"You're coming home with me, sweetheart," he said, a glint in his eyes that told her he absolutely wasn't intending to take no for an answer.

Still she shook her head and yanked her arm from his grip. "I really don't think so."

He turned, a smirk lifting his lips. From his pocket, he pulled a knife, the blade glinting in the small amount of light from the street lamp down the way.

"I think I can persuade you."

Molly slipped her hand into the waistband of her trousers and pulled out her wand. "Perhaps," she agreed pleasantly. "But perhaps not."

She pointed her wand at him, unsurprised when he laughed.

"What on earth do you think you're going to do with a stick?" he asked, shaking his head.

She thought about stunning him. She really did. Or even just obliviating him and sending him on his way. She would have done one of those if he'd just kept his mouth shut.

"Go on baby, fight me. I love it when they fight me, it makes it that much sweeter when they're finally begging."

Molly stared at him for a moment, and before she knew what she was doing, a cutting curse was leaving her lips and blood was spurting from his neck.

She watched him bleed out dispassionately before she stowed her wand. It wasn't like it was any loss to the world, really.

She'd just done a public service.

The polyjuice potion was uncomfortable. She'd always hated the taste of it, but the plain Muggle girl she'd stolen the hair from tasted gross.

The priest at the front of the crematorium was talking, but Molly couldn't focus. Her attention was on the handsome wooden box at the front. It was closed, but she knew who was in there and she knew…

She shook her head, crossing one leg over the other. She couldn't think about that.

Her hands trembled in her lap so she pushed them together, pressing tight enough that her skin turned white from the pressure.

When they were called up to the casket, Molly hung back to the end of the line. When she finally stood beside it, she couldn't take her eyes away from the photo resting on top. He was laughing at something, and he'd never looked more handsome.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, resting her hand against the varnished wood for a moment before she stepped away, returning to the back row of the chairs.

A single tear slipped onto her cheek and she let it fall. She owed him that much.

"I love you," he murmured, stroking a hand through her hair. Molly froze and he looked down at her, concerned. "What's wrong?"

"You can't love me."

He frowned at her. "Molly, we've been together for six months, of course I can love you."

She shook her head firmly, her red hair swinging around her shoulders.

"I was… I was hoping we could stop hiding," he admitted, sitting up. "We've proven that we work as a couple and-"

"No," she shouted, standing up. "No, no, no! This isn't the way it's supposed to… You're mine! I don't want to share you and what we have with everyone else!"

He blinked at her, clearly confused. "You… never want to tell anyone about us?"

"I, you're, stop," she begged. Her head was hurting and the pain was getting worse, a million emotions and thoughts pounding at her skull.

"Molly -"

"Stop, please, just stop."

He stood up, moving to her side and when he wrapped his arm around her arm, she flipped. Her rage was uncontrollable and her wand was in her hand and the words that had left her lips so many times before were once more falling from them.

It had never meant to be him.

"What's wrong, dad?" Molly asked when she saw him pouring over the Daily Prophet.

He looked up, smiling at her as he always did in the mornings. "Just… someone that was at Hogwarts in your Uncle Ron's year. He was murdered."

Molly felt a moment of panic but she forced it down, applying a concerned look to her face. "Did you know him?"

"I knew of him," her dad said, nodding as he looked back down at the paper. "Blaise Zabini. Didn't know him personally. It's odd though. He owned a Muggle bar, and there's been a string of murders there over the last year and a half. The Muggle law people didn't have a clue who was committing them but… well. Maybe it was him. He was a Slytherin after all. Maybe he did it and murdered the wrong person. The Aurors are going to look into the case."

Her dad shook his head and looked back up at her. "Don't you worry your pretty head about it, Sweetheart. How about we go and get breakfast. It's been a while since we've been out just us?"

"I…" Molly swallowed hard. "Yeah, dad, that sounds great. Just lemme get ready, kay?"

He nodded, and Molly turned around and run up the stairs. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she quickly opened her closet, pulling the box she'd hidden in the back of it. Inside it were memento's of each of the monsters that had tried to take her home, the animals that didn't understand that a dance was a dance and that was all.

She knew that it wasn't safe anymore. She shouldn't keep them, but… her grip on the box lid tightened. Instead of throwing them away, she put the picture she'd taken from the funeral and returned it to its place.

She was still angry at him, bitter that he'd ruined things but…

He was hers. He always would be.

Molly chose another bar.

She surveyed the crowd closely before she moved out onto the dance floor. Before ten minutes was up, she'd picked four scumbags from the crowd. She decided on one and subtly aimed herself his way.

She didn't always have to manipulate the situation, but she needed it. She couldn't… she needed to feel better and this was the only way she knew to do that. She wondered if, perhaps, it was her destiny to take the assholes from the world.

An avenging angel, perhaps.

A hand on her spine and putrid breath coming over her shoulder and Molly relaxed.

This was what she needed.


Written for;

Advent Calendar - Day 3, Emotion - Bitter

Character Appreciation - 18. Manipulative

Disney - T6. Someone doing something destructive in anger

Cookie's Corner - Galaxy - A Pairing sneaking around in secret.

Book Club - The Man Jack - Murder / Knife / Confused

Showtime - 42. Destiny

Lyric Alley - 6. To that snowflakes hope in hell

Sophie's shelf - AU3. Serial Killer!AU

Em's Emporium - 3. Intimate contact with a stranger

Angel's Arcade - 3. Pierce - Blaise / A bar/pub / Laughing

Bex's Basement - 9. Kyrie - Serial Killer!AU

Northern Funfair - Igloo, Layer 1 - Serial Killer!AU

Southern Funfair - Mistletoe - BlaiseMollyii

Eastern Funfair - Paper Snowflakes - 15. "You can't love me."