AUTHOR'S NOTE: An anonymous person commented on this fic, asking if Ariel was still a virgin since the legs and other human bits she got from Snape are new. On the off chance this person sees this, I just wanted to say I legit cried real tears I laughed so hard. Thank you for that. But also, to answer your question, no I don't. Because virginity is a social construction which is what I was trying to say earlier with my Ariel-losing-her-virginity-to-a-swordfish joke (lies: I put it in there because I thought it was a great joke).
Anyway, thanks to everyone whose been reading this. Writing is the only thing keeping me sane right now and it's hella comforting to know people reading, and enjoying, my work.
Chapter Twelve: House of Giant Corpses
By daybreak, Malfoy Manor was flooded with the blood and gore of giants. So much, Nagini swam in it, her long sinewy body zigzagged in ankle-deep blood, her mouth unhinged, guzzling it down like water. In Voldemort's mind, this was the sign of another successful day.
Bellatrix pushed her wandless hand against the air while her wand emitted a white translucent light which pushed the rivers of deep red out of the dining room, through the kitchen, out the open glass door, dumping the red waste onto the luscious back yard; Narcissa dowsed the blood-soaked carpets with a blood-be-gone potion, her eyes glazed over with a monotony, for it seemed that once a week her house was dripping with blood and with every passing week her apathy towards her decadent house grew deeper and deeper; and Voldemort hummed as he hacked the limbs off of a giant's corpse, froze the bloody appendage with a quick flick of his wand, and tossed the frozen meat over his shoulder into a rancid smelling pile in the corner for Nagini to enjoy at her leisure.
"You're going to eating well for a while Nagini," he remarked in parseltongue with a chuckle as he whipped a finger the size of his leg into the bloody meat pile. Torrent of blood rained down on the already soaked wizard, splashing his white skin and black robes. He loved the feeling of blood raining down on him the way most people loved summer rain.
"Ssssomeone's coming…" Nagini warned.
He looked over his shoulder to see the green flash of light coming from the dining room fireplace. He turned and raised his wand lazily for Bellatrix and Narcissa had their wands drawn and pointed at the mouth of the smoking fireplace, ready and waiting to attack whoever stepped out.
"Wait, we're still going on that date, right?" Ariel asked as she was pulling on her dress. It was daybreak after they eventually went back to Snape's office to have earth-shattering sex, slept, and reluctantly rose to part ways.
"If you still wanted to," Snape said from the other side of the bed as he tied his shoe.
"What do you mean if I still want to? You're the one that got the unfortunate luck of starting an affair with Lord Voldemort's adopted mother." Ariel argued, self-deprecatingly. She gave him an appraising side glance and remarked, "A saner man would run while he had the chance."
"Perhaps," said Snape as he leaned across the bed to deliver a kiss, "But I was never a sane man."
He walked her to the fireplace, handed her a handful of Floo powder, and kissed her farewell.
"Got any tips, secret agent man?" Ariel whispered half-teasingly.
"Keep reminding him of your usefulness," Snape offered. Then he took a step back and suggested, "Play scared if you can. He loves being feared."
Ariel turned her nose at him. "But I am scared of him."
"Good. Use that. Better to be scared of him than to let him trick you into a false sense of security."
She frowned. What am I getting myself into? She wondered. "Is that how he got you?"
"No, sadly, I used to be a fool and share a lot of his…ideologies."
"What made you change your mind?"
Snape looked to the side like he spotted a ghost in the corner. Then after a heartbeat, he said, "When he killed my best friend and her spouse, I knew I was on the wrong side."
He said it so matter-of-factly she wanted to cry but instead she gave him a small apologetic frown then let out a heavy sigh. What am I getting myself into? She thought as she looked down at the powder sitting the palm of her hand. She looked up, her red lips a tight line of worry, and told him, "Good-bye, professor."
"Farewell, Ariel."
She landed in an ankle-high pile of ashes, which shot back up into the narrow chimney and stung her mouth and eyes, causing her to cough. She was waving away tendrils of smoke when she stepped out of the fireplace to find Bellatrix, Narcissa and Voldemort dripping from head to toe in blood, each pointing a wand directly at her.
She froze at the sight of the deadly weapons. She didn't attempt to conceal the look of horror on her face as her eyes scanned the three wizards' blood-soaked bodies, looking like they got out of a bloodbath with all their clothes on. Her hung mouth widened as her eyes drifted over to the blood-splattered walls, the blood-drenched floors or the towering pile of blood and gore standing in the corner.
"Ariel," Voldemort said in a friendly voice as he quickly stuffed his wand into his robes and walked through the shallow puddles of blood over to her. "What are you doing here?"
"W-why…why is there…blood everywhere?" Ariel made out incomprehensively, her eyes transfixed on the scene before her, the color draining from her face.
"I told you I had a meeting today," he said.
"D-did…the meeting…go bad?" She stammered.
"No," he replied simply. "It went…well, it went pretty good actually." He waved at the carnage and said, with a dismissive laugh, "This is just how meetings usually go for me."
Ariel watched with a dazed expression on her face as Bellatrix air-mopped the floors clean and Narcissa washed the bloodstains from the carpet with a flick of her wrist like they were simply two sisters tackling chores together rather than abating a murder scene. She almost didn't hear Voldemort's voice when he said to her, "I thought you'd be searching for housing right now."
Nagini swerved her massive body around her ankles, swishing the blood and splashing the hem of her dress as she circled her, threateningly. She could hear the snake warn her, I wouldn't try anything if I were you. Ariel snapped out of it long enough to tell him, "I wanted to see you."
He blinked at her, looking like nobody had ever said those words to him before. "Really?"
"Yeah." It felt like a lie. It tasted like a lie when it left her tongue. But for some reason, even as she stood on feet coated in giant blood, staring into the face of a man she knew would kill her with a smile on his hideous, noseless, lipless face should she betray him, she wanted to be there. Or rather, she knew she had to be there. "I don't think we've ever seen each other for two days in a row. Thought we could change that."
Voldemort beamed at her like it was the only thing he'd ever wanted to hear. "Great." He said with a breathy laugh. "Let me clean all this first and," (he looked down at his blood-caked robes) "Myself. Ha. And then, we can do…breakfast?"
"Um, I'm not that hungry," she confessed as she watched a sour-faced Bellatrix cast a water spell onto the ground, spraying the ground with her wand, and forcing the blood into a nearby balcony where it undoubtedly was pushed onto the property's soil.
"So, tea then?" He suggested.
"Tea sounds…" She began, a waft of blood reached her mouth and coated her tongue. She could literally taste the metal in the air. "Lovely."