The Half-Blood Princess

Chapter 8

Later that evening, after dinner had been finished, Severus approached Bellatrix.

"Bellatrix,"

"What Snivellus?" She said channeling her cousin for a brief moment.

"The Dark Lord wished for me to speak to you about a mission he had for you, but if you would rather not receive the information, that can easily be arranged..." He said smoothly as her face paled even further at the mention of Voldemort.

"No," she whispered. "Please tell me." She said almost pleading.

He looked at her. "All right, but he ordered that I tell you some where private so others can't eavesdrop, you wouldn't want Lucius to get the upper hand on you would you?"

She paled even further. She had already fallen out of favor with Voldemort so many times since his return, that she could not bear another failure.

"There is a clearing in the woods near the manor; we can go there to speak." She said a serious expression etched upon her face.

"Allow me to fetch my cloak, as Gwen stole it this afternoon." He said turning to the stairs and making his way up them to Draco's room. He knocked on the door and Draco opened it immediately with Gwen at his side. "Gwen, I need my cloak back." He asked her sounding polite.

"I'm so sorry daddy," she said as she went to pick the cloak off of the chaise lounge chair in the room as Draco pulled two large invisibility cloaks out of a chest near the foot of his bed. "Here it is." She said handing him his cloak as Draco put on his invisibility cloak on.

"Thank you. I'll see you later." He said as Draco slipped out of the room with Gwen putting her cloak on quickly and following them. She silently locked and warded the room, trying to make everyone think that they were much too busy to be bothered with anything else.

They stalked silently after Severus and Bella when they met on the landing by one of the back doors.

"I take it she had your cloak?" Bella said arching an eyebrow.

"Yes, Ever since she was little, she's always liked my cloaks." He said sounding something akin to pride.

"Oh. Follow me."

They went out the back door of the Manor and out to the forest. They walked for about ten minutes or so before coming to the clearing. Bella turned to Snape.

"Now what was that mission for the Dark Lord?"

Three commanding voices shouting "Imperio" answered her as each pointed their wand at her. Bella no longer felt anything.

Severus came to her first. "You will act like nothing is wrong with you. Tomorrow you will go to Diagon Alley with me and remove the cup from your vault, is that understood?"

"Yes, Severus."

"All right then, you are to go back to the Manor and go to bed and sleep."

Bellatrix began to head back to the Manor slowly.

"Phase one is complete." Gwen said quietly. She and Draco rushed back to the manor to arrive before Bella. They went in through the open window to Draco's room and had a nice long bath together to reward themselves for a phase gone right.

The next morning, Severus, Bellatrix, Draco and Gwen all headed to Diagon Alley. Severus to get some potions ingredients and go to Gringotts, Gwen to get a bit of change at Gringotts, as well as get a new cloak at Madame Malkins, Draco just wanted to get out of the house and to help with stealing the cup from Voldemort, and Bellatrix was there to do the actual stealing.

The group proceeded to apparate to Diagon Alley. Severus took the lead heading to Gringotts with Gwen at his right, Bellatrix at his left and Draco at Gwen's right. The few people that were there early in the morning gave them the widest berth possible, as Severus's cloak billowed even more menacingly than it did at Hogwarts. The four entered Gringotts together and Bellatrix approached the head goblin.

"You will take us to my vault now." She said coldly.

The goblin obeyed, taking the four of them to the area with the track. They all got on and went hurtling down the track and far into the cavernous interior of the earth. Eventually they made it down to the vault, and the goblin opened it up. Bellatrix stepped in and grabbed the cup before exiting and returning to the cart. Severus took the cup and put it deep into the satchel hidden beneath his cloak. He silently obliviated the goblin's memory of taking them to the Lestrange Vault. They then went to Severus's vault followed by Gwen's vault where each picked up a sackful of coins. They then went back out to Diagon Alley and got Severus's ingredients and a new cloak at Madame Malkins for Gwen. The group apparated back to Spinner's End. While Severus, Gwen and Draco were debating which potions to use to destroy the horcrux, Draco noticed that Bellatrix was acting oddly.

"Severus, I think the Imperious is wearing off." He said as Bellatrix's eyes cleared up and she realized what they were doing as she took out her wand, pointing it at Gwen.

"You! Avad-" She screamed.

"Avada Kedavra!" Severus shouted over her scream as the beam of green light left his wand and hit her squarely in the chest, her body crumpling into a heap on the floor.

"Let's leave this for when we're back at Hogwarts." Severus said quietly.

"What do we do with the body?" Draco asked.

"We make it appear that we had a scuffle with some Order members, and Bella was killed. We bring her body back to the Manor, and we stick with that story. There were Kingsley, Tonks, Lupin, and Bill Weasley." Severus told them as he proceeded to burn bits of their robes, and put a few well placed scorch marks on their bodies. He then put many scorch and burn marks on Bella's corpse before placing the satchel in his hand and shrinking it down to be able to fit in his pocket. "Ready?" He asked them. Gwen and Draco nodded. The apparated to Malfoy Manor with Bellatrix's corpse.

Draco took the lead when they arrived. "Father, Mother, come quick!" Lucius and Narcissa appeared quickly, running to their son and future daughter-in-law.

"Oh god, what happened?" Narcissa said taking the two of them into her arms.

"We were ambushed by some of the Order on the way back from Diagon Alley." Draco began panting.

"There were four of them. Kingsley, Tonks…" Gwen panted.

"Lupin and one of the Weasleys." Draco added.

"Bill." Severus amended for him. "They caught Bellatrix first, killed her. Nearly got the three of us before we managed to apparate." He also panted out. "I'll tell the Dark Lord of what has happened. He'll be most displeased."

"What will I be most displeased with Severus?" Voldemort's cold, high voice echoed throughout the hallway.

"My apologies, My Lord." Severus said gracefully standing and bowing before the Dark Lord. "I had not been a ware that you had returned from Nurmengard." Voldemort looked around at the scene, Narcissa with Draco and Gwen hugged to her, Lucius watching them, and Severus still with a hand on Bellatrix's dead body.

"What happened?"

"We were heading back from a quick trip to Diagon Alley. Gwen wanted to get a bit of money and I needed a bit to get a few potion ingredients from the shop, and Gwen needed a new cloak. We apparated to my home and were ambushed by four Order members, the aurors Shacklebolt and Tonks, as well as her half-breed werewolf husband, and the eldest Weasley son, Bill. They killed Bellatrix first and nearly got the rest of us before we were able to apparate away back here."

Voldemort paused after Severus told the account of what had transpired. He sensed no lies, and the complete truth being told to him. "You may want to head back to Hogwarts quicker than you had anticipated to prevent them from doing that again." Voldemort told them. "I don't want to lose my most loyal servants." He said sliding a long, cold finger down Gwen's cheek and patting Severus on the back once.

Author's Notes: I only own Gwen everything else is JK Rowling's.

Sorry about the wait, but I had a lot going on. Hope it was worth the briefer wait.

I really wanted to kill Bella off so I wouldn't have to deal with her later, and I just dislike her, so that worked for me.

Coming up: Ohh, the Final Battle. Who's going to live and who's going to die? The suspense should be killing you all.

For all of those who review, you will get an exclusive sneak peek into the future of the story with Lucius having a grandfatherly moment. Hilarity will ensue I promise!

Thanks,

DE : )