Chapter 40 – Double cross

Faye Belle looked up sharply from her marking and into the mirror in front of her. Her own face, frowning and worried, looked back at her; the room behind her was empty as far as she could tell, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her.

She glanced down at the paper she was marking, telling herself to stop being paranoid, and then she saw it, out of the corner of her eye – a slight shimmering just beside the wardrobe. Praying silently that it wasn't a student, she whipped round and sent a stunning spell in the direction of the movement.

The spell rebounded and a woman materialised, laughing softly.

"Very good, Faye. I see she's taught you well."

Faye looked back at the dark haired woman, holding her head high and trying not to look as terrified as she felt.

"Trix? What are you doing in my room?"

The dark haired woman frowned, though Faye was sure it was Bellatrix. And Katherine did call her Trix, didn't she? Had she remembered that right? Yes, she knew he'd said that – she could remember his voice telling her so...

...be as scornful as possible and only call her Bella if you're being really impatient or in a bad mood, otherwise it's always Trix...

"Taught you very well," the woman murmured. "You've certainly got her attitude down to a tee at any rate." She smiled sourly, stepping closer and peering into her eyes. Faye was ready for this however and turned back to her marking with an elaborate sigh, trying to ignore all her instincts which were screaming that she shouldn't turn her back on this woman.

"What do you want, Trix? Some of us have work to do, you know."

...and don't hold her gaze for too long if you can help it, not at close quarters at any rate. She knows Katherine, and she'll be able to tell...

"Yes we do, don't we. Like you, Katherine, where are you supposed to be right now?"

Faye arched an eyebrow, feeling a prickle of fear but determined not to show it. She couldn't slip out of character, not now, not in front of Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Well according to my contract, I'm supposed to be right here, marking these essays for tomorrow, but clearly you know better, so do feel free to enlighten me. Where exactly am I supposed to be?"

"In the south of France," said Bellatrix smoothly, placing her hands either side of Faye's shoulders on the back of her chair. "With dear sweet Lucius."

Faye folded her arms and met Bellatrix's dark eyed gaze in the mirror.

"And you think I can't be in two places at once, right?"

"Even Katherine can't manage two countries at the same time," said Bellatrix, smiling cruelly.

"I am right here, you know."

"Oh of course you are," agreed Bellatrix soothingly, as though she were talking to a little girl rather than a grown women approaching forty. "But you're not Katherine, are you? You're Faye Belle. The little naïve cousin that she's been working so very hard to protect from the big bad nasty world. Only now she's gone and forgotten you." Bellatrix leaned in closer, her mouth hovering next to Faye's ear and it was all the blonde woman could do to fight the urge to run. "And maybe her well intentioned safeguards weren't quite as good as she thought. Or maybe she just doesn't care. What do you think?"

"Bella, I don't know what the hell you're going on about," scowled Faye, with an impatient sigh.

"No?" asked Bellatrix, thick lips curling into a cruel smile. "Well, we'll see if your Uncle has a better idea, shall we? Honestly Faye, nearly thirty nine years on this planet and you've never once paid him a visit." Faye tried in vain to pull away as Bellatrix caught her wrists and bound them firmly, the dark eyes gazing into her own filled with malice. "Shame on you."

x – X – x

"Meliflua."

Nicola turned at the shout, searching for it's source. A sandy haired man hurried up to catch up with her, light brown eyes lined with age and worry.

"Hello. Lupin, isn't it?"

He nodded briefly, eyes flickering over the passers by, and Nicola wondered who he was trying to avoid being seen by. Aurors or Death Eaters?

"Do you know where she is?" he asked, keeping his voice light, though his eyes betrayed his desperation. Nicola half considered feigning ignorance, but decided against it; it looked important.

"Gone away for a bit; I'm not sure when she'll be back."

"Gone?" He seemed genuinely startled, but recovered himself well. "Can you get a message to her?"

"Is it urgent?"

"Yes."

"And does it require her immediate attention?" she asked, thinking of what Severus had said the week before. Lupin frowned, as though wondering if they were talking about the same person.

"Faye needs her help," he said quietly. "She's missing."

Faye? Now where had she seen that name that before today? Oh yes, the Aurors report on missing persons.

"She's the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, isn't she?" she asked slowly, her dark eyes narrowing slightly. Why would Katherine want to help her? She'd never mentioned she was a friend. Or maybe Lupin liked her – but he was going out with that rainbow haired Auror, wasn't he? Andromeda Black's daughter...

"Yes," Lupin was nodding, giving her a guarded look. "Listen, could you just get a message to her, please. She'll want to know, believe me." He started to turn away, but she called out and he turned back, frowning. "What?"

"I can't – get a message to her, that is. Even if I knew where she was, which I don't, the last thing she needs right now is more stress."

"Why? What's happened?" he asked, a new emotion flickering in his eyes now: fear.

"I don't know exactly, but," she glanced around quickly and seeing that no one was paying them much attention, continued: "She was a bit messed up, is all. Not as bad as last time, but she only got like that because she didn't have a chance to get her head sorted again. That's why I can't contact her – she needs to recuperate. I won't be responsible for dragging her back here."

"She didn't tell you what happened?" Lupin looked really worried now, running a hand through his hair so that it stuck up at odd angles. "But if she doesn't talk to anyone-"

"Calm down, she'll be all right."

"Who's she with? Is she with anyone? Has she got someone to-?"

"I don't know - I didn't sort it out and from what I saw it didn't look like she wanted to talk to anyone," said Nicola coolly, surveying Lupin with a thoughtful air. He really must care about her – almost as much as Severus did, maybe more.

"She didn't want to last time either," muttered Lupin frowning deeply, but Nicola shook her head.

"Yes she did – every time she snapped at us, all those nights sitting staring at the fire, she wanted to say something – that's why she went and found you in the end, she needed to talk. This time she doesn't, I can't explain it, but she doesn't. She just needs time to get over whatever it was that drove her over the edge like that." Nicola smiled apprehensively, hoping she'd done a little to ease his mind, but from the look he was giving her, she wasn't sure the message had been driven home.

"How do you know she came to talk to me?" he asked, light brown eyes narrowed in suspicion. Nicola hesitated for a moment, then opted for the truth.

"Severus told me. He followed her that night she came to find you – thought she was going to do something stupid, I guess." She shrugged, considering him. "You're not going to tell her, are you? She doesn't know he overheard."

"I'm surprised she didn't catch him," said Lupin, still frowning, but looking a little less ruffled.

"Really?" asked Nicola, raising her eyebrows. "I'm not. She was rather out of it for most of that year. I asked her about it a couple of weeks ago – that year I mean – and she laughed and said she couldn't remember most of it. I told her some of the stuff she'd done and stared at me as though she thought I was making it up."

"She can't remember? Isn't that a bit odd?" asked Lupin, looking rather disconcerted, but Nicola only shrugged, grinning again.

"Not really. Like I said, she was rather messed up – didn't know who she was half the time and didn't care for the other half." She paused, face becoming serious again. "I suppose I should really thank you – for getting her back on track again. She might never have recovered if you hadn't been there for her – she wouldn't talk to us."

Lupin frowned, eyes searching hers, then said quietly:

"She hasn't told you either, has she?"

"Told me what?" asked Nicola, thrown by his question. What did he mean 'either'?

"Why she snapped out of it."

"She talked to yo-"

"Why?"

It was one simple word, but it stopped Nicola in her tracks. Why? Why had Katherine talked to him? If she'd been wanting to talk to him all year, what had made her do it that night? She'd coped on her own up till then, so what had made her break? And why on earth had none of them thought of, much less asked, that question before?

"I always wondered why she turned up," Lupin was saying quietly. "I mean, we talked about what had happened since Christmas, but she never said why she was there and I was too busy being glad that she was speaking to me again to ask, but I'd always assumed she'd argued with you lot, or something? Are you saying that didn't happen?"

"Us? Argue with her? The state she was in? I'd have sooner jumped off the top of the Astronomy Tower – the survival rate would have been pretty much the same," scoffed Nicola, shaking her head. "I mean, she turned up at about nine in a weird mood, but she did that a lot. Oh, and she gave Leon a filthy look when he tried to talk to her, I remember that, because Angela Freyer came over and asked me if they'd had a fight."

"Had they?"

"Not that I knew of – I think I told her to go stuff herself, or words to that effect. She was just after Leon; most girls were. Couldn't stand the fact that he'd hooked up with a fifth year mudblood." Nicola noticed he frowned at her choice of words, but made no attempt to apologise; he may have been Katherine's oldest friend but that didn't mean she had to be nice to him - she just had to not hurt him.

"She's not a muggleborn," he said softly, putting a slight stress on the last words. Nicola shrugged.

"Yeah well, we didn't know that then, did we? She didn't speak much about her family and all we knew was that she'd been raised by muggles. What were we supposed to think?" She was silent for a moment, then sighed. "Look, do you want me to get a few friends to ask around for Faye? I could-" But Lupin was shaking his head.

"Don't worry about it. I'll figure something out. In fact, best not mention it if you can avoid it – she probably wouldn't want it advertised. I'll see you around, all right? Thanks for your help." And then he was gone, slipping away into the mass of people crowding the busy London streets, leaving Nicola with the unsettled feeling that she'd missed something important.

Ten minutes later, she was back in the Ministry, using up the rest of her lunch break to sift through the latest files on the desk. She found the missing persons report under a pile of folders and flipped it open, dark eyes searching the details for some hint that would link Faye to Katherine in some way, but there was nothing obvious. And then she looked at the inside sleeve of the folder, at the close up photo tucked into the brown card and stared into a face that was so like Katherine's it was disturbing.

So at least that explained why Lupin had wanted to reach her so badly, and why he'd said to let it go; he'd realised Katherine hadn't told anyone she'd got a cousin. Nicola hesitated for a moment, scarlet nails tapping thoughtfully on the brown card of the folder, and then, reaching a decision, she snapped it closed and slipped it into her bag.

This was not Auror business. How on earth were they supposed to track her down with Aurors sniffing around the place ruining things? No, this was definitely a private matter.

She feigned a migraine and left Christina in charge of the desk, hoping as she headed home, that Severus would know what to do.

x – X – x

When Faye came to, she was sitting in a plush chair, hands tied to the armrests with a strong cord. The walls of the room around her were panelled with dark mahogany, giving the small space an oppressive feel, contributed to by the fact that there were no windows. A man with black hair and amber eyes was on a sofa opposite her, sitting so still she nearly missed him.

Her mind raced, going through the bank of photographs she'd memorised and tried not to panic when she couldn't think of his name. She could see the photo, see the smirk, hear a voice saying '…and this is my cousin...', but the actual name eluded her. What on earth was it?

"You're awake, I see," said the man softly. "So sorry – that was incredible rude of her, but that's Bella for you. You'll get used to her – if you live that long."

What was his name? It was on the tip of her tongue…

"You know, it's ok. You don't have to pretend anymore – she's got you. Katherine would never have allowed herself to be taken like that – she'd have hexed Bella into next week before she'd come within ten meters." The man smiled, amber eyes showing something like regret. "And she tends to kill people when she gets annoyed."

"Yeah, I do," said Faye, scowling. "So I suggest you start running, Ju. I'll give you a couple of minutes because you're Severus' cousin, but that's all. Then I'm coming after you – right after I've dealt with dear Trixibell."

Julian snorted with laughter, staring incredulously at her.

"Trixibell?"

"What? You don't think it suits her? The way she trails round after Tom? I swear she's trying to- Well, that's not for young ears to hear, is it?"

"Kitten, I'm twenty nine."

"You're still ten years younger than I am, and don't you forget it," admonished Faye, wondering why on earth her cousin was nicknamed Kitten. She couldn't think of anyone less kitten like – a big cat, maybe, but not a kitten. Julian, gazed at her, amber eyes narrowed in thought; Faye decided she didn't like that look – it gave the impression that he was far too smart for his own good.

"Not going to chide me for calling you 'Kitten'?"

"I've given up," improvised Faye, scowling at him.

"You may as well give up the act too. I know you're not Katherine."

"Oh?"

"She's in France and besides, you don't look like her."

"Looks can be deceiving."

"So she always says, but I can tell when it's her – doesn't matter what she looks like. When you spend enough time around someone, looks become immaterial." He stood up, brushing off his robes. "I'm sorry – I really am. I like Katherine, but she went away and I had to survive somehow – I'm only doing what she taught me to."

Faye just stared at him as he left, presumably off to fetch Bellatrix, and then bent her head and bit off the dark jade stone that was set into the silver ring on her right hand. She swallowed it, glancing worriedly at the door as she did so; she didn't know how long it would take for Julian to get back with Bellatrix. She only hoped the potion would work as well as Severus had said it would.

x – X – x

"So Katherine is a traitor? And you have proof of this?" Simon Carr looked from Bella's jubilant face to Julian's impassive expression. "Lloyd?"

"We've got her cousin sitting upstairs and she told the Dark Lord she'd killed her," said Julian with a slight shrug.

"You see?" Bella rushed in, face glowing. "She lied to our Master. Why would she do that if she had nothing to hide? And she still hasn't told anyone how she escaped from Azkaban." Carr nodded, face grave.

"I think you'd better show me this Faye, don't you?"

x – X – x

Julian hung back as Bellatrix led Simon to the room where Faye sat, trying to convince himself that he wasn't doing anything wrong. What he'd said was true – Katherine had abandoned him – she'd swanned off to Azkaban and left him to fend for himself. True, the war was ending, but he hadn't known that, and besides, he was barely fourteen and everyone was looking to him to keep up the family's good name. What had he been supposed to do? He'd known Katherine hated Bella, but they'd been at each others throats for so long that no one remembered why; in any case, Lia had needed looking after and Severus had been busy with his own work so when Bellatrix had offered to help him out, he'd accepted gladly. He'd thought Katherine wasn't coming back.

And now? Now he felt like he was betraying her.

Bellatrix wasn't helping matters, she kept referring to him as Ischariot or Brutus and calling him Judas instead of Julian. He supposed she was reveling in the fact that he was working for her – him, Katherine's protégé, under her control.

He supposed she hadn't quite worked out that even though he'd been young when Katherine had been arrested, he'd already learnt a lot from her; Katherine tended to teach the important things first.

He watched as Bella unlocked the door to the room Faye was in, exchanging a few words with Alexandra McKenzie who stood outside, making sure she couldn't escape, and listened to Katherine's words from their first lesson sounding clear in his head, remembering that amused look in her eyes when he'd asked exactly which side she was on because she kept saying things that he wasn't entirely sure a Death Eater as prestigious as her should be saying, and the slight quirk of one eyebrow as she'd answered him.

"Mine, of course. Never forget that, Julian. If you can't choose – make another option. Makes things a lot simpler."

And now here he was, letting Bellatrix destroy her reputation and pull her life apart and he was only just realising that even though he thought he'd been on his own side from day one, he'd never stood a chance - one look into those crazy blue eyes and he was on hers. He'd looked around – at Severus and Robert and Lia – and thought what fools they were for following her blindly, for believing in the myths she helped perpetuate, and all the time he'd half believed in her too.

He'd thought he was different – that she didn't own him the way she owned them. She'd never asked him to do anything for her – but now he realised she'd probably not asked the others to either. That was the thing about her – she didn't need to ask. When she was strong, she protected those she liked and when she fell apart, there was always someone there to pick her up.

If Bellatrix ever fell apart, people would just stand there and watch. Katherine would probably bring popcorn.

Before him, Bella pushed the door open triumphantly and stepped back so that Simon could see into the room. He drew nearer too, wondering if he was brave or stupid enough to try and redeem himself and get Faye out after all. He hadn't bound her hands with magic as he would have done for any other prisoner, but he hadn't dared let her go himself either; Bella would've strung him up for sure – she may not have been quite as inventive as Katherine but you didn't need an imagination to be cruel.

"Katherine?"

Bella's victorious smirk froze at the sound of Simon's voice and Julian's heart skipped a beat. It wasn't Katherine in the room, he knew that, but Faye wasn't a metamorphmagus, so he couldn't see why Simon would think she was Katherine. He peered into the room as Bella dove in, marching up to where Katherine lounged against the fireplace, an amused look in her blue eyes.

"What have you done with her?" she demanded, grabbing a fistful of her robes. Katherine looked pointedly down at the fist and Bella released her, still seething. Katherine calmly smoothed out the robes and said softly:

"I presume you mean Faye?"

"You know I do, you-"

"I thought I explained all this, Bella – I'm pretending to be Faye. I-"

"You're in France!" growled Bella, fists clenched so tightly that her knuckles were white.

Katherine pulled at a fine gold chain hanging around her neck and dangled something in front of Bella.

"A Time Turner?" Bella asked, and Julian could tell she was shocked. So was he – this was a very smooth part Faye was playing and it didn't have Katherine's ring to it at all. This wasn't how she liked to play but it was how she acted – any minute now she was going to hint to Bella that she'd let herself be captured to wind her up which would make Bella storm out of the room and forget to check it wasn't a trick. Whoever had told Faye what to do and say had taught her very well, and he was certain it hadn't been Katherine – he didn't think she knew how she acted well enough.

"How else d'you think I manage to be in two places at the same time?" Katherine grinned, blue eyes daring Bella to find fault with her explanation and that was when Julian realised who had taught her. There were only two people in the world who knew enough about Katherine to create a reasonable imitation of her in this sort of environment and one of them was him. The other was Severus.

As Faye continued her scripted taunting of Bella and Simon Carr walked off in disgust, Julian caught sight of his cousin, treading quietly up the stairs. Dark green eyes met amber ones and his cousin held back a smirk.

"Is Bella around? Lucius sent me a report he said she wanted- Oh dear, what are they arguing about now?" Severus asked, pretending to only just notice the two dark haired women inside the room.

"Severus!" It was Katherine who spoke, or rather Faye. "Dad doesn't need Bella, does he? I can kill her?"

Bella scowled at these words and, snarling something indecipherable at Katherine, flounced out of room, Alexandra McKenzie hurrying after her.

Julian looked at his elder cousin thoughtfully as he suggested that Katherine go back to school because she'd been missing for nearly a day. As Faye apparated Severus turned to him and arched an eyebrow.

"What is it, Julian? You're giving me that look again." Julian smiled a little, shaking his head.

"What look, Severus?"

"That one. Seriously, Ju, you were bad before you met Katherine – now sometimes I think you're turning into her." Julian smirked as Severus tossed the report he'd brought onto a desk in the musty room. "How's Ophelia?"

"All right. Daniel's been signed up."

"Yes, I heard."

"I think Katherine's trying to get him killed."

"Kill him? For cheating on Ophelia?"

"What? You don't think she would?" asked Julian, raising an eyebrow dubiously. Severus sighed, and gave him a hard look.

"Julian, do you remember what your sister was like when she was young?"

"'Course I do."

"And what she's like now?"

"Yeah."

"And you think Katherine's going to kill him for that?" He laughed, dark eyes completely black in the dim light. "Julian, she's not going to kill him, she's going to destroy him." He shook his head, standing, his face gravely serious. "You know, you ought to have a think about who's side you're on, Julian, because she's fond of you, but if you pull another stunt like this, she's going to start thinking you don't like her and then nothing I can do is going to save you. So think about it, all right? Before it's too late."