Black Blood

Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah... Why do I even still put this here?

A/N: Just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone (if you're in America, of course) and let you know that I'm thankful for all of my reviewers. You guys are so sweet to me! I hope you like this chapter. There are some details from HBP that I would have liked to review before posting this, but my HP books are inaccessible at the moment. So if you notice something I may have gotten wrong and would like to point it out to me, I'd be grateful. Thanks! Enjoy reading!

Luv, Liveley.

Chapter 8 - A Lucky Disguise

"It really isn't all that difficult. They have Sirius. We don't want him killed. So we need to get up off our butts and go get him right now!" emphasized James as he, Remus, Jordan, and Raven sat together on a couch.

Albus Dumbledore stood before them. He turned his benevolent eyes to James with sympathy. "I know you're worried about him, James, but there is no need to act rashly. We all know full well how capable Sirius Black is. The sooner we come up with a plan, the better. But we can't afford to send the entire Order of the Phoenix in without thinking this through first."

"We don't have timeto think! We need to act! The longer we wait, the worse his chances get!" countered James, his cheeks reddening and his voice growing with his temper. "If we can't afford to send everyone, then I'll go alone."

"James..." started Dumbledore again.

"I know!" shouted James excitedly. "I'll take the polyjuice potion! As some random Death Eater, they'll let me in the house, and then–"

But James wasn't thinking rationally now and Dumbledore and Remus both began shaking their heads. They were used to these sorts of things happening by now, though for Remus and James it had never hit this close to home. Raven and Jordan merely sat listening to them, not knowing if they were allowed to say anything.

Remus interrupted James. "Prongs, do you happen to keep a lock of Lucius Malfoy's hair in your back pocket? We'd need a Death Eater's hair to change into a Death Eater in order for the polyjuice potion to be useful." He turned to Raven and Jordan. "Did either of you happen to pull out a piece of Bellatrix Lestrange's hair in passing and save it?"

Jordan shook her head meekly as Raven slowly looked up at him with her eyes wide. He rose an eyebrow at her, but she then shook her head as well.

James rose from his chair and began to yell. "Well then you come up with something, Moony! Sirius is our best friend! We can't just sit here while he dies!"

Remus rose, too. "You think I don't know that?!"

Raven also rose from her chair and the two of them turned to look at her, expecting her to yell, too. However, Raven quickly walked past them and went through the door and into the next room without a word. They all stared after her.

Remus winced. "...Maybe we shouldn't mention the possibility of Sirius dying in front of her..."

"I suggest we get as many people together as we can and leave at first light," said Dumbledore, putting his hand on James's shoulder reassuringly. "Most of the Death Eaters have families and try to keep their daily routine as a cover. In the daytime, there will be less people there."

James was calmer now, but he looked to Dumbledore and shook his head. "There's no way we can wait until morning, Dumbledore." He lowered his voice in case Raven could still hear them in the next room. "Who knows what they could be doing to him right now..."

"James is right, Albus," said Remus, trying to stay composed himself. "The longer we wait..."

"I don't want any of you thinking I don't care about Sirius," responded Dumbledore. "But I know he is strong. And he wouldn't want any of you coming alone on a suicide mission to try and rescue him."

A voice sounded from the door Raven had just gone through moments ago. It belonged to a woman. She had her hood pulled down over the upper half of her face so that only her chin and lips could be seen. Her dark, wavy hair fell down and hung long around her frame.

"I've never really listened to Sirius, and I'm not about to start now."

Remus and Jordan stared at the woman, wide-eyed with furrowed brows. James looked up at her and did a double-take. They all knew what they thought they saw, but each of them also knew that it was impossible. Dumbledore simply let his eyes close and hung his head.

Raven threw back the hood and stared at them all, decidedly. Her eyes were sparkling, but determined. "I'm going to get him."

"Miss Ashe," started Dumbledore, "please–"

"No, Professor," said Raven firmly. "I can do this. Ever since our first year at Hogwarts people have been mistaking us for each other. If I keep my hood down, the other Death Eaters won't be able to tell the difference."

"Raven, no!" protested Jordan. "What about the real Bellatrix? They're going to know you're not her if she's standing right next to you!"

"I just need to get in as Bellatrix. They'll have some cronies guarding the doors, won't they, Professor?" She didn't wait for a response. "After I get past them, I'll–"

"She'll use my father's invisibility cloak," James chimed in and nodded at her.

Raven inclined her head. "Thanks, Potter."

"And what if you meet Voldemort himself, Raven?" asked Remus. "Do you happen to be an expert legilimens?"

"Wouldn't he want to keep more well hidden than that? I'll just have to pray for some luck. This is the only plan we've got short of waiting until morning, Remus. Like James said, we can't afford to–"

"That's it!" shouted Jordan triumphantly. "Luck! She needs luck!"

James blinked at Jordan. "Thank you, Jordan. Have you met Captain Obvious? He just moved to town," he responded, sarcastically.

"No! Raven, don't you remember Slughorn's lesson about Felix Felicis?? Lucky potion!"

"...Well, we didn't win it. You blew up the cauldron," countered Raven. "And can't it only be brewed on a full moon or something like that?"

"...That was in sixth year?" asked Remus, trying to remember those few years back. "I'll bet Slughorn keeps some of it handy." He looked to Dumbledore. "Could we get some from him? I know I'd feel a lot better letting Raven go if she had some."

Dumbledore was already heading for the door. After he left, the focus turned to Raven.

She forced a weak smile as she sat down rigidly. "All I have to do is be an evil, vindictive bitch," she said, smirking slightly. "How hard can that be?"

"Raven..." Remus looked at her sympathetically. "Sirius would kill me for letting you do this."

"Sirius isn't here, Remus. And I'm the reason for it. I'm the one who decided it'd be fun to follow the Death Eaters, and he got taken to protect me."

"That's how he is, Raven. It wasn't your fault. The fact that he cares about you doesn't mean he wouldn't do the same thing for anyone else, too," said Remus.

"I know he would have! That's why he doesn't deserve this. I'm doing it whether you think I should or not," Raven responded stubbornly.

"I know you are..." contested Remus. "I want to come with you."

"No," Raven shook her head. "You'll just make it harder for me to get in."

Dumbledore returned ten minutes later, a bottle of dancing, golden liquid in his palm. He sat.

"Miss Ashe," he began, "are you absolutely certain that–"

"Yes!" said Raven emphatically.

"All right," he nodded, "now listen to me. This is how it is going to work, Raven, and I am afraid that I can make no exceptions."

Raven nodded quickly.

He continued, "You and Jordan if she so wishes, will immediately be instated as members of the Order of the Phoenix." Jordan nodded. "It's such a shame that we already posed for our group portrait last week," Dumbledore paused to smile reassuringly at everyone. "You will take the Felix Felicis potion in its entirety just before you begin your quest. You will go in being as cautious as you possibly can and you will get Sirius out as quickly as you possibly can without compromising your caution. As soon as you are both out and a safe distance away, you will notify me directly, and I will show you how to do that in just a few moments. If at any time during this process you need help, Remus, James, Jordan, and I will be waiting with anyone else we can round up in the meantime. Is this acceptable to you, Miss Ashe?"

Raven nodded again. "But I can join the Order after Sirius is safe. We're wasting time by doing that now."

"I'm afraid, Raven, that this is where I was expecting you to argue with me. It is absolutely vital that you become an Order member before you do this. I don't have time to fully explain now, but being a member of the Order of the Phoenix will give you additional protection against Lord Voldemort. That will have to be a good enough explanation for now. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Raven answered.

"Now," Dumbledore turned to Remus and James, "I would like you both to go now and round up as many members of the Order as you can in the next half hour and tell them all to meet here. James, am I to assume that the reason Lily isn't here is because..."

"Although I'm sure she'd want to help, I don't think she can handle the stress right now," said James. "I'll tell her after Sirius is safe."

Dumbledore nodded. "Agreed. All right, gentlemen, please go now. Ladies, come with me."

Remus and James said their goodbyes to Jordan and Raven quickly and then left. Raven and Jordan follows Dumbledore.

Raven's hands were shaking as she uncorked the vial of gold potion that was still dancing in its bottle. Raven took a deep breath and then downed the entire vial. As the liquid ran down her throat, it took away the fear and doubt that was inside Raven and replaced it with a calm, collective confidence. She sighed and thought to herself, "Piece of cake."

She had never been to Malfoy Manor, but something in her gut was telling her not to just walk through the front gate. She sensed that it would be much wiser, and much more pleasant, to climb the fence and go through the gardens. After doing this, she was led around the back of the house. Without hesitating, Raven made her way toward a back door to the house that she just happened to see. It was partially hidden by vines. She made sure her hood was pulled low over her face, then raised her hand and knocked upon the door. It was immediately pulled open and a large, blonde man stepped out toward her, looking menacing. The thought that she would normally be afraid of this man made Raven almost giggle tonight, and when the man got a good look at her, his demeanor quickly changed.

"Bellatrix," he nodded submissively to her and stepped back to admit her, "I thought you would be with your sister tonight. How is she doing?"

"She's fine," answered Raven calmly, though she had absolutely no idea what the man was talking about.

"Has she had the baby yet? I thought she wanted you to stay with her."

Raven felt it would be best to laugh cruelly, and so she did. "I can't stand children. I came to interrogate the prisoner. You know..." she gave him a sneer, "blow off some steam."

"Again, Bella?" The man also sneered evilly. "Just don't kill him yet."

Raven let her tone of voice harden. "You think I'm that stupid?"

The man panicked. "No! No, ma'am. Please go ahead." He stepped out of her way.

Raven swept past him without another word and saw that there was only a small landing and then stone steps leading downward into darkness. She went quickly and quietly down the steps and came into light at the bottom where torches were lit along the walls. To her right was a room where the door stood ajar. It contained a large table with chairs around it. Raven felt it was best to ignore this room and continued to her left. She passed other rooms where the doors were shut and, she assumed, locked. She felt she didn't need to bother with these rooms right now because glancing down the hall, she knew exactly where Sirius was. Up ahead she saw a figure sitting on the ground and leaning against a door. It was Snape. If Sirius was anywhere, it was behind the door that Snape was guarding. She clamped a hand around the wand in her pocket. However, Raven was relieved, but not altogether surprised, to find that Snape had fallen asleep. It would have been extremely lucky except that he was blocking the door, beyond which Sirius was almost certainly being kept. And then just as Raven tip-toed closer with these thoughts running through her mind, Snape, in his slumber, fell sideways. Raven smiled as she watched his head come to rest gently on the ground. He began to snore lightly. Raven stepped cautiously over his legs, pulled out her wand and tapped the doorknob. She heard it click open and turned it.

Sirius was sitting against the wall as Snape had been. His head was bent forward, resting on his bare chest. His blood stained shirt was lying several feet away. Sirius had cuts on most visible parts of his body.

When Raven carefully closed the door, Sirius' head jerked up and he stared at her. "What do you want now, Bella?"

Raven bit her lip as she started toward him, not knowing if there was anything she could do to immediately comfort him.

Sirius' voice was low and almost animal-like. "I will never tell you what you want to know. You might as well just kill me."

Raven threw back her hood and knelt in front of him. "Sirius, shh." She put a hand to his cheek and looked into his eyes. "Snape's just outside the door sleeping."

Sirius blinked. "...Raven?"

She nodded and tried to smile reassuringly, but the sight of Sirius, bloody and weak, was making her incapable of doing so just then. They had clearly been torturing him to get information. "We need to get out of here right now. Can you walk?"

Sirius was still trying to fathom the fact that Raven and not Bellatrix was kneeling across from him. "Raven?!"

Raven felt something nudge her forward and she kissed him lightly. "I would hope your cousin, Bellatrix, would never do that."

She then noticed that his hands were bound and waved her wand over them. As soon as his arms were free, Sirius place both hands over Raven's shoulders and gripped her tightly. "Raven, I don't know what you think you're doing here, but you have to go right now!"

"Sounds like a plan," she responded. "Let's go, come on." She wrapped one of her arms under his and tried to pull him up.

Sirius struggled to his feet, although the pain he felt was blinding. "No, I mean you need to get out. I don't know how you got down here, but I'm not going to let you risk your life for mine."

"Dumbledore sent me in here to get you, Black. I'm not leaving without you. We need to go before my lucky potion runs out, so stop trying to save me already and move!"

Raven took his arm, placed it around her shoulders and led him forward. He groaned as he limped after her and she looked sideways at him.

He managed a weak smile to reassure her. "I'm okay."

She nodded and opened the door slowly, hoping that Snape was still asleep. He was. She pointed her wand at him as they stepped over his feet just in case he decided to wake up, but somehow she knew he would not. The two of them made their way slowly back up the hallway. When they were about to turn and go up the stairs, the blonde man from before came around the corner and gasped.

"You're not Bellatrix!" He pointed his wand at them before Raven could raise hers and yelled, "Snape!!"

Snape jerked awake, looked up at them all and quickly lept to his feet just as the blonde cast a spell at Raven and Sirius. The two of them barely had to duck to let the spell pass over their heads. It hit Snape in the face and he fell forward, stunned. Raven used the time to stun the blonde as well and then pulled Sirius up the stone steps. She led him through the gardens the way she came, and they hobbled along.

"As soon as we get off the grounds, we can apparate. Just a bit further, Black. I know it's painful."

"I said I'm all right."

"I know, but you're just trying to impress me," stated Raven, smirking sideways at him as she guided him along as best she could.

Sirius groaned as he continued to put weight on his bad leg. "Is it working?"

"Of course it is," she answered. "Now keep moving."

They continued on until they came to the fence that Raven had climbed over to get in, and Raven realized something.

"...I don't suppose you can climb that."

"I could try..." said Sirius.

Raven shook her head. "We'll have to go around the front."

Sirius shook his head. "We'll be seen for sure."

"We'll just have to count on Felix Felicis then. I know it's still working; I can feel it."

Sirius sighed. "All right."

Raven led Sirius slowly around the front of the house. Crabbe and Goyle were standing at the gate guarding the entrance and Raven quickly pulled James's invisibility cloak around them before they got closer.

Sirius looked to Raven, appraisingly. "We can take 'em. I've seen you in action."

Raven allowed herself to smirk. "Your leg's broken, Black. You won't be able to move fast enough."

"It's the only way out, Ashe."

Raven shook her head. "Something's telling me to give it a few minutes. Are you all right?"

Standing on his leg even though she was supporting him was very painful, but he lied. "Never better."

She smirked again. "I think you're bullshitting me, Black. You–"

Raven fell silent as the front door of the house suddenly opened and Lucius Malfoy came into view holding a baby wrapped in green satin.

"I have a son!" he said to Crabbe and Goyle. "One of you go and get Snape. He's going to be Draco's godfather."

Crabbe nodded at Goyle and then started around the back of the house. Goyle remained at the gate as Lucius went back into the house and Sirius suddenly began to laugh hysterically.

Raven whipped around. "Black, shh!"

She clapped a hand over his mouth, but Sirius continued on, possibly a bit giddy from the amount of blood he'd lost and then mounting pain in his leg.

"Snape, the godfather?!" Sirius choked out. "That kid's sure going to turn out nice!"

Raven slapped him across the cheek to stop him from laughing. "Will you get ahold of yourself?! Goyle's going to–"

The invisibility cloak was suddenly lifted over their heads and Goyle stood behind them with his wand raised.

Raven turned around to face him, struck by a sudden idea from Felix. "Hi," she said, smiling widely. "Is this yours?"

She raised her left hand to show him something that was clenched in it. As he peered down to see, Raven quickly thrust the heel of her palm up into Goyle's nose. As Goyle stumbled back, grasping his nose and yelling, Sirius stunned him and he fell backwards, unconscious.

Raven and Sirius grinned at each other for a moment.

"You're quick," said Raven..

"And you with the hand!" replied Sirius.

Raven shrugged. "All right, come on." She led Sirius to the gate and opened it with her wand. "Crabbe's gonna find Snape and know you're gone in about two seconds."

Sirius nodded and summoned the invisibility cloak that was still clutched in Goyle's hand. "Lead the way, love."

Raven smirked and led him through the gate. Once they were out, Raven paused, held onto Sirius's upper arm, and closed her eyes. She stayed this way for several seconds, then opened her eyes again.

"Um...Black? We have a serious problem."

"What?"

"...I can't apparate."

Something seemed to dawn on Sirius. "Shit. Okay, we need to keep moving then."

They continued down the street and Raven looked sideways at him. "Why can't I apparate?"

"The Death Eaters must have put anti-apparition jinxes on the entire property. Not only do they keep you from apparating while you're on the grounds, but certain kinds continue working for a while after you leave, depending on how long you've been on. It's so that people like us who aren't supposed to be there can't make a quick escape," Sirius explained.

"Oh, great," said Raven.

"There'll be a counter-jinx to get rid of the effects, but I don't know it."

"We should put the cloak back on then and keep moving," Raven told him.

She paused to take the cloak from him and wrap it around them. As she was doing so, Raven noticed that Sirius was staring dumbfoundedly ahead of him. Raven followed his gaze and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. There were some large houses with long driveways.

Sirius looked as though he had just seen the ghost of Moaning Myrtle naked as he rose his hand slowly and pointed.

There was some heap of metal between the nearest two driveways where Sirius pointed. The two of them walked towards it.

"Yolanda!" Sirius exclaimed, frantically. He reached out and touched what appeared to be the remains of a motorbike.

Raven looked from the bike to Sirius, and then from Sirius back to the bike. "Yolanda?"

"Oh god, what have they done to you?!" Sirius continued, sounding agonized.

"Black, it's a motorbike..." Raven pointed out.

"She is my motorbike!"

"Then how did she get here?"

"She was stolen last week," Sirius explained. "The idiot who took her apparently didn't know how to fly her!"

Raven put a hand on Sirius's shoulder. "She's toast, Black. I'm sorry."

"No! Help me get her up. She could be our only way out of here."

Raven laughed. "I'm not getting on that thing."

"Would you just help me?" Sirius asked.

The two of them righted the motorbike that had been laying on its side and Sirius swung his good leg over it. By some miracle, or perhaps Felix Felicis, the bike sputtered and came to life.

Sirius looked back at Raven. "Get on the bike, Sweets."

Raven crossed her arms and shook her head.

Sirius sighed. "Raven, look behind you."

Raven did so and immediately climbed onto the bike behind Sirius. Four Death Eaters were running toward them, Snape in the lead.

Sirius grinned. "You'll want to hold onto me."

The bike sputtered again, but as Sirius squeezed the gas, it jerked forward. Raven squealed and wrapped her arms tightly around Sirius's waist to keep from flying off the back. They sped miraculously off into the distance.

A/N: Yes, it IS in the books that Sirius named his motorbike "Yolanda." Read them AGAIN! Hehe. It's also in the books that his middle name is Lee and NOT Orion after his father, because I know JKR wouldn't be cruel enough to kill him off AND give him the initials S.O.B.! Poor Padfoot. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know, won't you? I would really be thankful for some reviews this Thanksgiving, lol. Have a good one.

Luv, Liveley.