Chapter 22:
The group arrived at a restaurant V knew to be just off of Regent Street. She was surprised at the Dark Lord's choice of such a busy area, but also knew that they were less likely to be seen that way. Hog's Head fiasco anyone?
She turned to the Dark Lord as they approached the restaurant front and said quietly, "I know I haven't said it before, but I wanted to say thank you. I know how hard this all was." She made sure to squeeze His arm lightly as He escorted her inside.
He replied even more softly, "You will come to realize, V, that I would do quite a lot for you."
She ducked her head as he took her cloak from her shoulders to give it to the maitre-d, a lower rank Death Eater she had never gotten to know. She shivered as the cold air hit her practically naked body and thanked Merlin for the band aids she had used to cover her nipples. If I didn't know that it was Harry's job to kill Voldemort, dammit, I would do it right now. Stupid, damn, bloody, thin dress. Who the hell would come up with this anyways?!
The Dark Lord leaned down to her after her third involuntary shudder, as they walked through a dimly lit hallway towards the restaurant, and said, "Cold my dear? I'm sure I could do something to … say, warm you up?"
I won't spit on him, I won't choke him, and I will wait until the time is right!
"Nnno my Lord. I simply love the feel of this dress against my skin." She forced a grin.
He nodded and straightened up, saying, "I'm glad, I had Miss Parkinson come up with it for you."
Oh just another reason to kill that bitch, V thought grimly. She took in the restaurant as the main room came into view and had to fight back a giggle. All of the Inner Circle were there, sitting at separate tables for two, three or four depending on their faithfulness. The Parkinsons were there with their daughter who was shooting envious looks at a table across the room seating Lucius Malfoy, his son and his date, Ginevra Weasley.
Voldemort followed her line of sight to the slightly pouting Weasley and said, "You did well with her. I think, however, that she goes soft in Draco's hands. Perhaps they have an understanding?"
V looked up at the Dark Lord as he held her chair out for her and said softly, "Perhaps. Malfoy and I speak only of what we must my Lord. It keeps our missions clean and simple. Plus, I can not imagine an interest in any normal man my Lord, so perhaps I am a poor judge." She slid her hand lightly over his own as she sat and noticed his eyes follow her cleavage down. She bit back bile and repeated her mantra, It ends tonight, it ends tonight, it ends tonight.
Her table with the Dark Lord sat on an upper level, overlooking the rest. She glanced about for where Harry might be hiding, but couldn't place his individual aura out of the crowded restaurant. She hoped that he had a decent angle and would not hesitate too much that night.
Voldemort ordered them both a glass of Chianti and they sat talking over the Inner Circle and the family relationships. "My dear, I think you are one of the only purebloods who isn't fully related to most of this room," commented Voldemort after V had pointed out her own parents sharing an appetizer of tomatoes and mozzarella.
She nodded, "Indeed, I think that it may also be the reason the women are so stand-offish. They fear me because they have no hold over me. I come from purer blood than most of them can even attest to, and my parents are two of the most powerful people in our world." She nearly screamed when she felt a hand slide onto her leg. She shot Voldemort a surprised glance to see him staring at her with insane eyes.
"And what of my influence? Do they not fear you because of my connection to you?" His hand began rubbing circles on her flesh. "Shall I warm you up a bit, little one?" He said, in what she guessed he thought was a husky voice.
She controlled her urge to slap His hand away and pull her thigh out of his reach. Instead, she smirked slightly and said, "Oh they fear you, but I think they don't quite believe we are serious."
She knew she had chosen the right words when His hand stilled and His eyes shot over the crowd below. She watched with a sneer on her face as the two women at the Bulstrode table, the two at the Parkinson table, the one at the Malfoy table, and various other females across the room flinch and clench their left forearms. All eyes flew to the table overlooking them as Voldemort took V's hand in His own and laid it on the table. He scowled at the room and muttered to her, "That should keep them hushed."
She raised an eyebrow and said simply, "If you say so my Lord. I'm glad you have control over such vicious and curious creatures."
He was interrupted in His response by their appetizer of calamari being laid on the table, by none other than Fred Weasley. She quickly loaded her plate, hoping that if her hands and mouth were kept busy, the Dark Lord wouldn't bother her too much.
V was ready to jump out of her skin and never return by the end of the main course. She had of course enjoyed her simple filet mignon, but the fact that the Dark Lord was literally pawing her everywhere He could, made her want to throw up everything she'd eaten in the past week.
She was debating the pros and cons of escaping to the bathroom and having to deal with every other female in the room following her, when two flutes of Champaign were set down on her table. She heard the room below hush and watched in slight shock as Voldemort scooted back his chair and bowed to her.
"Veronique Lestrange, you have turned our small world upside down with your skill at magic, your passion for battle and your cunning in tricky situations. You have personally turned my head so that I no longer see the world in simple black and white, but in shades of green and silver," he fingered her dress as he said the last bit and she heard twitters below her. "Veronique Lestrange, become my wife, my Queen and help me take our Dark side to new heights." He held out a small ring box, a huge diamond set on a simple white-gold ring lay on the bed of velvet.
She noted the lack of a question in His little speech and placed her hand by her heart. She looked down to see Draco staring at a spot near the kitchens, nodding his head slightly. Taking a deep breath, she said, "My Lord, I know not how to express my emotions at this unexpected …" A spell came flying through the air, missing Voldemort by merely an inch and bypassing V.
Voldemort glanced over his shoulder, cast a protection spell around the two and said quickly, "My dear, now is not the time for niceties. An answer would be lovely as I need to organize my troupes."
She growled at Harry's poor aim and said loudly, so that she could be heard over the gasps and loud yelling below, "My Lord, I have just the answer you've been waiting for," she stood gracefully. Taking a step towards him, she suddenly swung her foot back and the brought it forwards with a sickening thump as it made contact with his crotch. The Dark Lord crumpled quickly and V cast an immobilizing spell on him, saying as His eyes narrowed at her, "all your miserable life, you great Snakey-Git."
She felt a few spells whiz towards her and spun to deflect them off. She heard footsteps coming up the stairs and only hoped that it was Harry. Suddenly a figure materialized beside her and said sheepishly, "Guess I missed."
She growled "Damn right you did. Now get to it, He's bound … never mind." She watched Voldemort stand up, wand drawn at both her and Harry. She grinned unabashedly at the Dark Lord, "You know you should check references, My Lord."
She mocked Him further, "I did in fact go to Hogwarts, but I was never in Slytherin. I do believe the Hat's words were 'GRYFFINDOR!'" As she yelled the last in imitation, she waved her hand at her clothing, changing it to her leather bandeau top and pants, now lined with red and gold. She shot a spell at the stunned insane creature in front of her. He barely threw it off when Harry cast another at Him from a little ways away.
He snarled at her, "I'll deal with you later, you traitor" he threw a tunnel of fire towards her and she quickly changed into her phoenix form to fly out of the way. Voldemort frowned at her, dismissed her as another shot came towards her from below – forcing her to dive and spin, and turned to Harry, "Potter, you're even less intelligent than I thought, coming here like this."
He flicked his wand right as Harry shot a spell of his own and the two connected, much as Harry had described from years before. V felt some of her tail feathers singe and flew down to V watched the scene in shock from above, but did another roll in the air as a water charm splashed towards her. She flew to the head of the stairs, just behind Harry's back and began hexing the Death Eaters attempting to climb up.
She could see sporadic fights out across the room and soon heard popping sounds to signify the appearance of the Order. She could only make out spells being cast as the Death Eaters quickly transfigured themselves into their signature robes. She watched Draco and the others of her group do the same and knew that it would cause fabulous, general confusion later. She winced as she was caught off guard by a Stinging Hex and pulled her samurai sword out to sever the neck partially off the offending Death Eater.
She turned to check on the battle behind her and heard Harry and Voldemort behind her trading insults. "Potter, you haven't changed much; you still fight like a boy."
Harry laughed harshly, "Is that really the best you can do Tom?" He batted his eyes mockingly and shot another few spells in quick succession across the room while throwing off a Crucio. "You insult my power? You take away my girlfriend, divide your soul, and have every minion on the lookout for me; am I really going to think you don't fear me? You're weaker than I thought Riddle."
Voldemort snarled, "She was a whore, your girlfriend, I didn't have to take her away – she came. Don't get so cocky Potter, you will die for it."
"You know, I'm not so sure of that anymore. You couldn't even tell that your precious Miss Lestrange was the former Muggleborn Gryffindor you hated so much," Harry shot back.
He grinned as he saw something slither up behind the insane wizard, heard Voldemort hiss, "Get the boy!" and watched as the snake nodded slightly.
Harry took advantage of Voldemort's distraction and shot a Slicing Hex at His wand arm. Voldemort let out a scream and quickly summoned His wand with His other hand, stumbling slightly.
Harry smirked and walked slowly towards the insane wizard. He said in a deathly voice, "or that your snake is a fake." He watched Voldemort's eyes widen and he hissed to the snake, "Show your true self - attack!" The snake turned quickly and struck at Voldemort's legs numerous times.
Harry stalked towards the now shocked wizard, easily deflecting any spells Voldemort managed to send. "You're finished Tom. Do you feel the poison coursing through your veins?" He pulled out Godric Gryffindor's sword from an invisible scabbard and raised it high above his head.
Meanwhile, V had been having a grand time changing into her various animagi. She had taken out four at once while in her lioness form and was able to sneak up behind another five using her fox form. After ensuring the Order members were holding their own down below, she transformed into her phoenix form and flew up to where Harry was poised with the Dark Lord.
As she perched on the banister, she heard a scream from the level below and turned to see the four Weasley men converged around one shaking Death Eater. She smirked, Looks like they found the spy!
She heard a gasp behind her and whipped her head back around, only to watch in horror as Voldemort thrust a knife into Harry's back, just as the younger man thrust the sword into the Dark Lord's chest. After watching Harry fall to the ground, she quickly cast a stasis spell on him to ensure he wouldn't get any worse before Madame Pomfrey could tend to him.
She stalked quickly over to the Dark Lord and bent down to look in His red snake eyes. She heard Him rasping for breath and knew He wouldn't last long. She leaned and whispered in His ear, "I was never innocent you know. I've been with Draco since before I was even introduced to you." His eyes shot to her own. "I even fucked him in the hall while you were waiting below tonight," she smirked, "and you didn't even notice."
His eyes shot wide open and he gave a last deep shuddering breath before his life force stopped completely, the snake's venom, different than the one he was reborn with, finally taking over his body.
V closed her eyes tightly for a moment. Then she moved quickly, portkeying Harry to the Hogwarts' Infirmary, transfiguring the Dark Lord into a toothpick, and pocketing it. She walked swiftly down the stairs and saw that most Death Eaters were in cages by then, although the floor was littered with a number of them. She didn't see any of the Weasley's and assumed they were taking care of their family problem. She saw her mother and father dueling with Alecto and Amycus off to the side and moved to join them.
Spells, however, were sent her way by another masked figure who had just taken down Dawlish and she swiftly gave him her attention. She shot a stunning spell with her wand while she sent a revealing charm with her other hand. The Death Eater was able to deflect the first, but not the second. She saw Dolohov as his hood was thrown off and snarled. She sent a series of hexes until she saw him collapse on the floor, unconscious. She conjured up a cage for him and looked around the room once more.
Her mother and father were the only alive ones left. She spotted a few dead Order members, but wasn't able to identify them. Her parents began portkeying the caged Death Eaters to the Ministry, while she placed all the dead in a group and portkeyed them out as well. She caught up to the Order members outside who had just taken down the last of the patrolling Death Eaters and motioned them inside to take care of all the wounded.
She walked up to her parents and said brusquely, "Let's go," and all three apparated to the Malfoy estate where Voldemort had held his headquarters.
The fight was still raging there and the three jumped in quickly. V was flinging hexes and curses right and left, using her skill of stealth to avoid notice in the evening darkness. She managed to make her way into the house, leaving her parents and a few others to deal with the decreasing chaos outside.
She stepped into the main hall and found that the main fight was happening within the house itself. The last of the Death Eaters crouched behind various objects of the sitting room, while the rebels and members of the Order rained spells on them from the balcony above.
She sighed and conjured up a few cages, banishing the unaware Death Eaters into them as they attempted to fend off the other oncoming spells. The members on the balcony gave a great whoop and charged down to finish the last few who had escaped V. She motioned to Lupin, Tonks and Moody for them to hurry outside and help the other aurors and Shacklebolt, who she had saved earlier from a rather nasty cutting curse which only took off a bit of her hair as she lunged in front of him.
She caught a flash of light from the back lawn and transformed into her fox form. She padded out the door and spotted Draco, along with Blaise, encircled by Parkinson Sr., the four Crabbes and Goyles, the younger Nott and Marcus Flint. V watched from the shadows as the two in the middle fought back to back.
She transformed and sent a few stray hexes, taking down Goyle Sr. while Draco took down the younger Crabbe. Nott and Goyle Jr. soon followed the other two and V was fairly sure she had gone unnoticed. She began to slip from shadow to shadow watching as Blaise took out Crabbe Sr, but then crumple as Flint hit him with a purple hex V recognized rather well from her 5th year. She looked over and realised in horror that Draco hadn't registered Blaise's collapse and therefore his imminent danger, in concern to the quickly approaching Flint.
She knew if she attempted to mentally contact Draco he would be thrown off of his furious duel with the older Parkinson, so she began to quickly head towards the duel. She was attempting to put barriers between Flint, who had been brought out a ways by Blaise, and Draco who was still battling fiercely with the enraged elder man. She couldn't get a decent enough read on Flint to shoot a hex at him, but knew he was headed back towards the duel.
Just as V saw Draco cast a particularly nasty hex, she saw Flint fire a spell at him. She didn't think for a moment and launched herself towards Draco, watching as Parkinson crumpled to the ground.
Draco turned with a shocked look and Flint appeared out of the shadows. She cast the killing curse at the far Death Eater just as she was hit by his spell. Complete blackness surrounded heard as she heard Draco's gasped, "No!" and a muffled thump beyond her.