Author's Note: "Surprise, bitches! Did you miss me?"
So, yeah, I decided to expand upon this fanfic because for whatever reason I can't get Snape and Ariel/ Voldemort and Ariel's story out of my head. But also, I won't lie, I was pretty mad at the original ending myself.
Chapter Thirteen Part Two: That's My Mother, You Colossal Idiot
She waited for him in the garden. She sat at a round little patio table, watching two albino peacocks wander through the manicured backyard freely until eventually one of them got tired of being followed and attacked their companion for no discernible reason. Shrieks were made; talons were drawn. The squabble ended as soon as it started with one victorious and the other cut up, missing tufts of feathers, red streaking the immaculate white body.
Voldemort came out of the corner of her eye, using his wand to carry the same two matching teacups and teakettle from yesterday. The tea set assembled itself onto the table before de-animating itself in the center as he took his seat across from her, smiling.
They reached for their cups at the same time, but Voldemort raised his cup for a toast. "To reunions."
Ariel tapped her cup into his.
"Would it be inappropriate to ask you," he said after he took his first sip, "If you slept well last night?"
She cut him an uncertain glance, but when she saw he was smiling, she said, "I did sleep well."
"And…Severus?"
"Was a perfect gentleman."
He smiled, bringing the cup to his lipless mouth. "Good." He sounded like he meant it. "You know, I never would have pictured you two together." With a snicker, he added, "He hates children."
"I don't know. He seems pretty fond of that…" She snapped her fingers, trying to jog her memory. "Shrine boy."
Voldemort started to laugh. "'Shrine boy'. Merlin's Beard," He leaned in and told her conspiratorially, "You know, until you came, I thought about hiding the shrine while he was away at school. That way I could watch his face as he tried to find it without asking anybody if they have seen it because how was he going to go around asking people if they'd seen his Harry Potter shrine?" His sentence ended in a fit of snickers.
"Leave the boy alone," Ariel said, listlessly. "You know, I had a marble statue of my crush in my treasure room when I was his age."
"Yeah, and look where that got you," he remarked.
Ariel looked down at her hands, the steam from her cup wafting against her forehead as she searched through the words she wanted to say next.
"You look…" Voldemort began. "Vexed."
"I am," she confessed. She lifted her head and said, "Severus told me what you…wanted to ask me."
"Really?" He asked, somewhat surprised. "Hm, I didn't expect him to tell you so soon. He usually dragggggs these things out for as long as he could." He glanced at Troubled Ariel and said, "We don't have to talk about this now."
"I think we should."
"Alright." He said, setting his cup down and lifting his head to give her his undivided attention.
Ariel didn't hesitate. She looked him in the eye and said, "We both know that I can't help you kill a child."
Voldemort wilted in his seat, looking mildly disappointed but unsurprised. "I know." He said. He lifted his lips and forced out a smile. "And I respect your… (sigh) moral objections."
Ariel squinted at him. "Really?"
"Yes." He sighed, rolling his eyes, looking more disappointed with himself than with her. He glanced at her and upon noticing her baffled expression, he said, "I would never force you to do anything you didn't want to do, Ariel." With another roll of his eyes, he muttered, "God, I'm going soft."
Ariel squirmed in her seat, unsure of what to make of this conversation. It didn't feel like a win. But then again, he wasn't reaching for his wand, which laid idly against his saucer plate, and she wasn't struck dead either like she had expected.
"Is something wrong?" He asked, his voice soft with concern.
Her mouth fluttered open but no sound came out. He waited, watching her struggle to find the right words, but then the sound of footfalls approaching made him lift his eyes. It was Narcissa. "My Lord, Fenrir is here to see you."
"Shit. I forgot I scheduled that with him today." He said, pushing himself up out of the chair. To Ariel, he said apologetically, "I'll be right back. This won't take long."
Ariel watched him disappear inside the house. When he was gone, she turned her attention to Narcissa who stood by, waiting for her command.
"You don't have to stand there. You can sit down with me if you want." She offered.
"That's very kind of you," Narcissa replied with a small bow before she took the empty chair across from her. Ariel lifted the tea kettle but Narcissa declined with a small shake of her head. "Thank you but I'm not much of a tea person."
"Neither am I," Ariel admitted, peering down into her barely touched cup with a heavy sigh. A small silence past by them which Ariel interrupted by asking, "Got any booze?"
Fenrir leered out of the glass sliding door, a salacious smile curled into his furry face as he watched Ariel talk to Narcissa. By the time Voldemort emerged into the kitchen, he was tittering with dark fantasies.
"Good morning Fenrir," Voldemort greeted with business-like politeness.
"Good morning to you, Lord Voldemort." He returned as they shook hands and headed to the living room to conduct business. "Though I can see, you are having a great morning already." He let out a knowing laugh then asked. "How much did that little chew toy set you back?"
Voldemort halted mid-step. "Pardon me?"
Fenrir wagged his furry chin to the backyard bearing a razor-sharp-tooth grin. "Don't be bashful, my lord." He said with a wink. "We all have weaknesses. But I'll tell you right now. Give me a couple of days alone with the red-head and I'll swear my allegiance to you right now."
A blinding rage threatened to pour out of the Dark Lord but he managed to suppress it long enough to join in on Fenrir as the werewolf chuckled salaciously.
"You think," Voldemort said in-between a wide-mouth laugh. "She's my sex worker?" Voldemort continued laughing darkly as Fenrir's face slacked with confusion. "That's hilarious! Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha!"
A split second later, the mirth in Voldemort's face died, replaced by a rage that contorted and scrunched his face. Fenrir's face paled instantly as he felt his body being bound by invisible forces, reducing his muscular body into a rigid heap. The air in his lungs slowly started to seep out of him, both from fear and from the Dark Lord's will, and he felt his throat constrict the little oxygen he had left. He gasped for air, his face reddening as he slowly and painfully began to suffocate. He could only watch as Voldemort drew closer to him and told him, to his everlasting horror, "That red-head is my mother, you colossal fucking idiot."
"I thought—" Fenrir choked out but Voldemort interrupted him with a Cruciatus Curse, sending an electric current of agony into the werewolf's body, unlike anything he had ever felt before.
Narcissa winked at Ariel before she pulled a half-drank bottle of wine from her robe's pocket and poured a generous serving into the two teacups. They toasted silently before they both tossed back the contents, laughing as they coughed up fire and poison.
"Oh, my cod!" Ariel cried out, in-between dry coughs and shudders. "This is some good shit."
"It should be. It is 200-year-old vampire wine after all." Narcissa informed with faint pride as she poured herself a second cup.
"Oh, this is vampire wine? No wonder I already feel light-headed." Ariel replied with a giggle.
Narcissa smiled into her cup but Ariel noticed when she raised the cup to her lips her eyes creased with quiet despair.
"You have a beautiful home," Ariel said, wanting so badly to comfort this woman who carried sadness with her like a piece of jewelry she never took off and to distract herself from the growing dread in her stomach.
"Thank you," Narcissa replied. "We inherited it from my husband's parents. It had been in his family for over fifteen generations."
"It doesn't look like an old house at all," Ariel replied, turning her head towards the grand mansion which stood so sharp, tall and proud against the cloudy sky it looked like it was turning its nose at the heavens itself. Then she turned her head to Narcissa and said, "I would love a tour sometime."
"I can give you one now if you want," Narcissa offered calmly though inwardly she was eager to finally get a chance at some alone time with this creature.
Desperate for adventure, Ariel hopped out of her chair, grabbed her mug of wine, and said with a sincere smile, "I would love that."