Chapter Eight

It's Better When I Bleed For You

Narcissa tossed back her cloak and faced off against her husband. Draco had never ssen his mother that angry.

"Narcissa," Lucius began.

"I warned you, Lucius Malfoy," Narcissa snapped, her voice quivering with rage. "All you had to do was leave my son alone."

"Big words, my darling wife."

"I suppose it was too much to ask for an apology," Narcissa said. Then her wand came up, slashing angrily through the air. Draco turned and tackled Ginny, bringing her to the ground as spells began to fly.

"Holy shit, Draco. Your mother is bad ass."

He managed a smile. "Yeah."

"Draco, son, get out of here," Narcissa commanded. "And take your lovely litle girlfriend with you."

"Mother, I won't leave you," he snapped.

"Who told you to leave her alone?" Sirius Black asked, coming into the clearing. He didn't have his wand out, rather, his hands were in his pockets. He looked like he was out for an evening walk, not walking into a serious magical battle.

"Sirius!" Ginny gasped.

"So the blood traitor joins us," Lucius sneered. "Quite a vanguard you have, son."

"Yeah," Draco muttered. He was concerned. His father might have been cornered, but Draco wasn't so stupid as to think the man was defeated.

"Ginny, Draco, get back inside the wards," Sirius said. Draco looked at him. The whole summer there had been a playful and carefree note to everything Sirius said even when he was training them. That note was gone. Sirius Black was all business.

Draco scooped Ginny up in his arms. He didn't want to do it but he knew Sirius wouldn't let anything happen to his mom. At least he hoped so.

Narcissa hadn't seen Sirius in years. She was surprised by how he'd changed.

"Narcissa, please aide your son," Sirius said.

"Sirius, you can't mean to take him on on your own," Narcissa snapped.

"Cissy, me? I wouldn't dream of getting hurt."

Narcissa didn't look like she believed him. "I'm not leaving."

He shrugged. "Fine. Hey, catch."

Before she could do anything, her cousin threw a small object at her. Without thinking, she reached up and caught it. The familiar pull of a portkey started in her stomach and she stumbled back, falling down to the ground.

"Cissa?"

She opened her eyes and stared up at her younger sister. Bellatrix Lestrang stared down at her, a curious expression on her face.

"What are you doing here?" Bella asked quietly.

"What?" Narcissa asked.

"You're bleeding."

Narcissa looked down. She'd been so absorbed in the fight that she hadn't noticed that a spell had caught her leg and it was now bleeding.

Her walls, her strength drained away in one moment and she started crying.

Ginny, Draco and Cedric were sitting in the kitchen. Cedric was helping heal a nasty cut on Draco's leg while the house elves scurried around. Cedric could feel the tension in the room. He didn't know what had happened in the clearing but it was obvious that Ginny and Draco had seen something they weren't ready for.

Cedric knew enough to not say anything.

"We aren't ready," Ginny finally said.

"C'mon, you were doing awesome," Draco said.

"Thanks, Draco, but you're my boyfriend," she said with a smile. "Your professional oppinion is bound to be biased."

"I've seen you in action," Cedric said. "I agree. You're more than good. You're awesome."

She gave a sad smile.

"You just need more practice. I mean, my dad is psycho. He's the best there is," Draco said.

"Maybe not the best, but he is pretty good," Sirius said, coming into the kitchen. He was bleeding from a head wound. He looked like he'd walked through a fire. He was grinning though.

"You look like shit, unc," Draco said but he sounded relieved.

"Go help him," Ginny commanded Cedric. Cedric was the best at healing spells and potions and he walked over to the older man. He began spells to stop the bleeding. He was almost finished the first one when there was a popping noise.

"I'm going to kill that son of a bitch!" Bellatrix Lestrang screeched, wand out and eyes blazing.

"Lucius isn't here," Sirius said calmly.

She rounded on him. "Where is he?"

"Limping his way back to your Dark Lord," he said.

"He's not mine," Bellatrix hissed. "Not anymore."

"Am I missing something?" Draco asked. He looked a little shocked.

"Once upon a time, your aunts got along with each other and with me," Sirius said. "Care to take over, Bells?"

She glowered. "Lucius was an ass in school but he was going to be powerful wizard and a head of a powerful family. He could have crushed our family with one hand. When Andromeda married a Muggle, we became first on the Dark Lord's hit list. It wasn't surprising for the Weasleys to fraternize with Muggles but the Black family was alwasy darkly affiliated. Shortly after the marriage, Lucius came to me. He told me if I worked with the Dark Lord, he could protect Narcissa and Andromeda from the Dark Lord."

"And you believed that?" Draco asked, sounding incredulous.

"Don't be fresh," she admonished him. "But yeah. I did. Then the Dark Lord fell and I thought it was all over. I was in jail but that didn't matter. Until..."

She rounded on Sirius, jabbing a finger into his face. "You sent Narcissa to me on purpose."

"You can't prove that," he said with a grin.

She sneered but turned to Draco. "I'll take care of your mother, boy. I want you to take down that bastard who helped you into this world."

Draco blanched then nodded. "I can do that."

She nodded then looked at Ginny. "I assume you already know your part in this."

Ginny's lips went tight and she looked down. Cedric wondered what that was about but he guessed she knew what Bellatrix was talking about.

Bella looked over at him suddenly, her look appraising.

"I don't know you, boy, but I guess you're in as deep as these others are. Take care of those you love. But don't be like me. Don't sell your life and your soul to do so."

Cedric nodded. Bella smiled wryly. "Have fun, kids. See you around. It's only going to get harder from here on."

The End

To be continued in Move Along