Chapter Title from "Bittersweet Symphony" by the Verve.
Excerpts from "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling.
This and the next few chapters will contain some overlapping events from the final battle, as I'll be giving you multiple points of view.
*** The Battle of Hogwarts***
POV: Rhiannon
Rhiannon's arms encircled her husband's waist, the thick layers of wool warm beneath her embrace. Her cheek rested against his broad back, and she became acutely aware again of the rhythm of his heart, steady and strong in spite of the tension in his frame as he stared out the Headmaster's office window. The trees waved their lush spring branches in the night's gentle breeze, accented by an eerie crescent of light. Life on the grounds itself seemed ripe with a hush anticipation.
"Severus, should you try to get some sleep?" she suggested softly, nuzzling her face back and forth across his back. Her palms squeezed themselves to his chest, relishing in the feeling of his sturdiness against the backdrop of dread hanging in the air.
"I should," he muttered. "But I won't."
Rhiannon knew that would be his answer. "What about food? You got all those things from the elves for Sirius and Colleen, but you barely touched your own plate. I could cast a charm to re-warm it?"
Severus shook his head slowly, and Rhiannon dropped back into silence, the only sound his heartbeat against her ear once again.
Thump thump. Thump thump.
"When I have left for the battle, you are to act according to your own intuition and not out of loyalty to me," he finally said after ages had seemingly passed. "You will do whatever is needed to ensure your safety and that of our child."
"Of course, Severus."
"I mean it," he insisted, turning away from the window to face her instead. "I want you to trust your instincts. I know I've always told you to use your mind, to consider the logical path, to be wary of consequences, but tonight I want you to trust your inner voice. You're a mother now — it will steer you far better than I can."
Rhiannon gave him a small smile, knowing how hard it was for Severus to acknowledge something like that. He looked down at her somberly, his hair falling in soft waves, his eyes encircled with dark strain, his very soul weary beneath their tired shadows.
"I love you, Severus," she whispered. "So much." Her lips captured his before he could reply— soft, pure, and honest as they twisted with his— flowing over his face like spoken words but in a mystical language far more powerful than any voice could utter. His strong hands gripped her arms, holding her firmly to him but not seeking any kind of sexual gratification or moving to give pleasure, their only purpose to keep her still while their kiss tried to transmit enough love to see them through the night, the next day, the week— whatever fate had in store.
When Severus finally broke away for a breath, his voice cracked under the weight of the "I love you, too," that escaped his lips. Rhiannon's eyes welled up with tears and she sobbed into his black lapel, the drops disappearing into the woven fibers. Her forehead brushed against a lump beneath his cloak, and she startled.
"It's your mother's talisman," he explained. "Colleen insisted I wear it until the war is over. Apparently she has a rather nagging intuition as well."
Rhiannon nodded, sniffing back further tears. "Then listen to her and keep it on. She felt a power from it that you, Sirius, and I couldn't feel. You said my father didn't even feel it. I told her Muggles must be more sensitive. But she's a mother too, and her instincts are to protect her family. Which includes you."
"Black expressed a similar familial sentiment when I left him in the forest tonight," Severus told her dryly. "That and for me to tell you he loves you."
Rhiannon wrapped her arms around her husband's neck, knowing that was a difficult phrase for him to utter as well. The two wizards had come so far in two years, from threatening to kill one another to fighting to keep one another alive. Rhiannon felt a small twinkle in her belly, the quickening of the life within her, and her mind drifted to the moment that life was placed there: the feeling of both wizards inside of her and of being completely enveloped in their love on the heels of their acceptance of each other. She knew deep down there were so many more beautiful moments to come, on the other side of all this terror, but that memory she would always treasure above all, as the first time her deepest desire had been fulfilled.
The couple continued their silent embrace, lulled into an almost meditative state in one another's arms until a violent tremor seemed to shake Severus away from her. It was an involuntary reaction to a disturbance on his left forearm, which he now sneered at with scorn.
"They've located Potter," Severus declared. "It has begun." And he stalked to the door of the Headmaster's office without so much as a glance back, for Rhiannon knew even a second of hesitation meant the difference between life and death for Severus Snape.
"Professor Aspenfell, will you be fighting with us?"
The voice was light and airy and accompanied by a hopeful smile that was all too sure Rhiannon would accept the offer. And the voice so easily forgot the second half of her professor's name.
Rhiannon looked from the eager blue eyes to the narrowed bespectacled green ones to their left. The owner of the green eyes jerked a hand toward his wand, but Rhiannon made no move for her own. Behind the two students, Minerva McGonagall stepped forth, her mouth in a tight line as she descended two stairs and put herself between Rhiannon and the teens.
"Yes, Professor Aspenfell-Snape, I do believe you are faced with a rather difficult decision this evening," McGonagall remarked. "Please know that if you choose to join your husband and his allies, you will be given fifteen minutes of cover to leave Hogwarts and join them. After that, I can do nothing to guarantee your safety. If you are to fight to defend the school, then I shall expect you in the Great Hall shortly."
Harry Potter stared at Rhiannon like she was an empty shell rather than a fellow human being. She'd known a glare or two from him in the past when she had chosen to break her engagement off with Sirius, but those were nothing compared to the compounded hatred for her offense of marrying Dumbledore's murderer and remaining by his side throughout the darkest days in Hogwarts history. Rhiannon looked away from him quickly, and she offered a sad smile in reply to Luna.
"Mr. Potter, Miss Lovegood, please do as I instructed a few moments ago," McGonagall continued, indicating an unspoken direction with her head. The students gave Rhiannon one final stare before obeying and turning back up the stairs. Minerva resumed her descent and made it clear she expected Rhiannon to follow.
"Minerva, you know me," Rhiannon began quietly. "You know I despise what has become of our school, and you know I have no desire to fight against our students."
"Then join us," the older professor said simply. "I would think your knowledge of your husband's battle prowess will serve us well."
"You know my husband also," Rhiannon said insistently. "You know he had no choice, you know..."
"There is always a choice, Professor," Minerva barked in a no-nonsense tone. "And your husband chose murder and betrayal."
Rhiannon just shook her head. Was the woman truly this dense? She had been Dumbledore's lieutenant for so long, and yet she still failed to see the complexities of Severus's unique position. Had Dumbledore truly kept her in the dark that much?
But this wasn't about Severus in this moment. He'd given Rhiannon the agency to choose her own path. She could easily remain relatively safe within the castle walls, regain her standing with the Order, and have her students slowly begin to respect her again. She could fight openly and proudly for the side of right without the guilt of betraying Severus, for she would be protecting herself and their unborn child, according to his wishes. Those fighting in the castle would be loyal to one another and protect each other to the end. Those outside the castle walls would only fight for themselves. The safer choice was clear.
Yet one other factor lived and breathed beyond the Hogwarts grounds. An innocent, helpless life whom Rhiannon had no hope of saving or seeing again if she laid her allegiance bare. She had to play the game until she could ensure some sort of future for Delphi— preferably one where the two of them were together. No one else could possibly understand the struggles Delphi would go through— the pain, the hurt, the emptiness. Only two people on earth could know what it meant to be Lord Voldemort's daughter.
"I know you are under a tight timeframe, Minerva, so I won't bother correcting your assumptions about my husband," Rhiannon replied tightly. "But I thank you for allowing me the freedom to join him safely. And I hope you will remember what you once told me— that Albus Dumbledore saw us all as chess pieces. Please consider that Severus still hasn't completed his game. Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe the queen's place is on the board next to her king. I do hope to see you as colleagues once again, when all this is said and done."
Rhiannon turned gracefully and folded her hands as she continued down the steps amid more glares, gasps, and wand-grasps from students scrambling toward the Great Hall. In the distance she could hear the determined march of the Hogwarts suits of armor making their way to the perimeter to do their duty to the school. All around her inanimate objects of the castle were springing to life to do the same. She could feel Minerva assessing her from behind, but she didn't turn around, keeping her eyes fixed on her path all the way across the moonlit ground.
It wasn't obvious where to go; the castle's defenses were assembling for the side of the Order, but there were no Death Eaters to be found. Her search for them was soon interrupted by a terrifying, ear-piercing shriek echoing through the night air:
"I know you are preparing to fight. Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood. Give me Harry Potter, and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded. You have until midnight."
The silence that followed was just as painful to Rhiannon's ears as her father's horribly magnified dark screeches. In the silence lay all of the potential outcomes of the night's events, all of the choices each student and fighter had to make, all of their fears brought forth. Once Rhiannon was beyond the stone walls, she knew Severus was still close by, as she could hear his direction in her mind almost immediately.
The ranks have been summoned to the Forbidden Forest. Your father has just left the forest with Lucius, presumably to hide. I am monitoring the grounds for Potter and will carry out Dumbledore's final command when the time is right. I will be with you as soon as I am able. Do what you need to do.
Rhiannon swallowed back tears and replied with her latest information on Harry's whereabouts. Severus accepted the information, then their connection dimmed. She focused on the black silhouette of thick trees ahead and the hidden black figures she knew were entwined with the trunks and branches in the darkness, lying in wait to attack the light. She hadn't donned her Death Eater robes for the occasion; in fact, she didn't even choose the long, v-neck black gown she used to wear to meetings prior to receiving her official garment. Instead she wore a dress of stark white and glittering gold, the colors of her Thunderbird. She was no Death Eater. She was a goddess, and it was time they all saw her that way.
"Goddess Rhiannon, so good of you to join us!" Bellatrix mocked as she approached the ranks, her long fingers seizing Rhiannon's arm one by one, each pointed nail digging in unmercifully. "And where's your slimy worm of a husband? Ran off with his tail between his legs like a dog?"
"I am sure he is making his way to the Dark Lord's side," Rhiannon replied coolly. "You'll remember he still has sworn duties to the school, even if the school has turned its back on him."
"He has sworn duties to the Dark Lord and the Dark Lord alone," Bellatrix retorted, spit landing on the ground from her bright red lips. "And tonight he will finally be forced to prove it, like the rest of us have for years."
Rhiannon carefully surveyed the crowd and noticed Yaxley's strong jaw twitching, his arms crossed, his legs looking like they were ready to pounce. With the location of the seaside house now compromised and Yaxley overseeing the quest to locate Sirius Black, Rhiannon obviously knew why. Yaxley gave her a sinister wink, silently daring her to guess the nature and timeline of his imminent reveal.
"Interesting choice of clothes, Goddess," Thorfinn Rowle snickered. "You going to a nightclub after this with all that glittering gold?"
"Where are your robes, Rhiannon?" Narcissa added quietly, her tone secretly admonishing the witch for her flagrant violation of such a simple mandate.
"Yeah, not a fan," Rhiannon replied brightly, wrenching her arm away from Bellatrix.
"We'll see how well her little fashion statement holds up once the battle begins," Yaxley growled.
Rhiannon ignored him and moved to Narcissa's side. "Where is Delphi?" she whispered.
"At the house, of course. Lucius found a maid down in Knockturn Alley to keep watch over her, since you've been so busy lately." The resentment in Narcissa's voice was evident.
It was true that Rhiannon had kept her distance a bit since the trio's escape from the manor. Severus had all but insisted on it after hearing Rhiannon's growing obsession with breaking the infant free. He didn't understand; he hadn't seen that wild, unbridled evil in Bellatrix's eyes as she gleefully inflicted torture on a young girl's body. Rhiannon had offered the memory up in the forefront of her mind for him, but Severus had chosen to willfully avoid it. Ignoring such things made his job more palatable. But Rhiannon would never understand how he could detach so easily.
"I want to continue to help you, Narcissa. And help Delphi." Rhiannon spoke in a voice that was barely perceptible on the night air. Luckily the ranks had started to eagerly swarm together as they crafted their battle plans, and Narcissa and Rhiannon remained on the outskirts.
"Then come back," Narcissa replied, clearly not grasping Rhiannon's meaning.
"I intend to, Narcissa, but I mean a more permanent solution. You have Draco— I know you don't desire to start over again as a mother, and we both know Delphi is a challenge, to say the least. And we both know your sister."
The Slytherin witch's eyes narrowed, her two-toned hair blowing gently across her regal chin in the breeze. "And just how do you plan to—"
Narcissa was cutoff by Walden Macnair, his giant imposing shadow moving toward Rhiannon with heavy steps. Rhiannon's stomach fluttered and she reached for her wand, only to feel it sail past her fingertips and fly into the open hand of Felix Middlesworth, who grinned and swayed in drunken triumph.
"Just going to tie you up for a bit, doll, since we can't trust you to follow simple rules," Dolohov explained, and Bellatrix's cackle danced out into the night.
"Maybe we'll wait until your 'brave, loyal' half-blood prince decides to show his face and come to your rescue!" she laughed. "Hope you had a nice supper, Goddess— it could be awhile."
Macnair pressed Rhiannon to the wide, gnarled bark of an old evergreen while ropes leapt from Dolohov's wand and bound her with one quick command. Rhiannon didn't struggle. There was actually no better position to be in. If she was bound, she didn't have to fight her friends. And none of the Death Eaters knew their pathetic bonds were nothing when pitted against the strength of her Animagus.
"In case ya' get any ideas about fleeing, we'll leave ol' Middlesworth here to keep watch," Rowle declared with a chuckle. "He'll be more useful here than in the battle anyway."
"Don't have to worry 'bout him spoiling ya' either, Dolohov joked. "Ol' whisky-dick couldn't get it up if he tried."
"Hey now, it's vodka!" Middlesworth snapped, taking a step forward into a large hole in the ground that nearly sent him sprawling. The band of Death Eaters in the immediate vicinity dissolved into cackles until Bellatrix's eyes grew wide.
"Midnight!" the dark witch announced jubilantly, jumping up and down like a child on a playground. "Let the games begin!" And a black robed mass lifted swirled silver masks into place and charged toward the castle, which was aglow with layer upon layer of protective enchantment. The ranks continued on for what seemed like miles and included Snatchers, creatures and monsters of all kinds, huge swarms of spiders of gargantuan proportions, and even massive towering giants, all trudging forward with the intent to destroy. Rhiannon was keenly aware of the tiny flutter within her belly and her hand longed to inch down and close over it in protection.
"Felix, isn't it?" Rhiannon addressed her captor charmingly. "You know, we could be here awhile. It would be a lot more comfortable of a conversation if I could move my hand. You do have my wand after all, and I'm tied at the waist."
"Hahaha, tramp," the middle-aged lout replied. "You think ya' can sweet talk me just 'cuz you're pretty? I may be drunk but I ain't no fool."
Rhiannon rolled her eyes. With her father's army now fully advanced to the castle grounds, she could easily transform, overpower the idiot Death Eater, and be on her way. But there was a reluctance inside her, mixed with her classic intuition— the same one that drove her to the Department of Mysteries that day to rescue Sirius. It was a clear feeling that such a moment would be wasted on the likes of Felix Middlesworth. Perhaps it was ego, or destiny, but the moment just didn't feel quite right.
"So I hear you're real friendly with my ex-cousin-in-law...that right?" Felix continued. "Now that's a picture, I tell ya'. The two of you. Whisky-dick my arse. I'd get it up right away for the likes o' you two. My cousin Robert always said she was pretty lousy in bed, but I bet you taught her a thing or two, huh, pretty girl?"
Rhiannon's eyes narrowed. She resisted the urge to fire back and instead adjusted her mouth back into a seductive smile. "How on earth did you figure out our little secret, Felix? You must be much smarter than they give you credit for!"
"Eh, not that hard," Middlesworth answered, his chest puffing a bit as he narrated his tale. "See, when we found out we was lookin' for Sirius Black, ya' know right off you're lookin' in two places...well, three...tattoo shops, bike shops, and pubs. Figure he got enough tattoos, so crossed that one off. Pubs are a specialty of mine...had all those covered no problem. Now bike shops...not too many of those. Started out in the big cities first. Wasn't too long I got to seein' lots of comin' and goin' of wizarding folk in and out of a place in Glasgow, then lo and behold my ex-cousin shows up after Christmas with none other than Sirius Black himself and they take off into the sunset on the back of this new shiny bike."
Middlesworth paused to take another swig.
"Started hittin' up a pub crawl in that general direction over the next few months and catch sight of Black and one of the blokes that kept checkin' in on the bike all those months. A couple times I even seen Severus Snape taggin' along with 'em. Followed 'em down one night to see 'em livin' the high life in this big ol' house on a hill. Now I'd been itchin' to know what business it was that Severus Snape had with Sirius Black. Didn't take long to figure out 'twas some very interesting business indeed, what listenin' to them goin' on in the pubs. Learned about some pretty ladies in on that interesting business too."
Middlesworth managed to stand and trudge over to the tree where Rhiannon was tied, his pungent breath drifting over her. "Tell me, angel, what's it like to have two wizard dicks stuffed in your pretty lil' holes? That is, if they stop dickin' around with each other long enough to share?"
Rhiannon held her breath so not to vomit all over the grass from the terrible smell of his. She'd been blessed with little nausea in her pregnancy so far, but the events of the evening along with this man's awful stench threatened to change that. She decided not to grant his lewd statements a response and keep addressing the facts.
"So Sirius and Severus never said the address of the house?" she inquired with fake admiration. "You just figured it all out on your own?"
"Sure did, m'lady!" Middlesworth beamed. "I told ya', when it comes to pubs, I'm the right fella for the job. Sirius Black's not the brightest wizard in the bunch, ya' know. He seems to like long walks in the moonlight instead of apparatin'...makes him damn easy to follow. And me mum traffics in Potions and makes a mean Polyjuice, so your husband never suspected a thing! I didn't follow much when he was around though..."
"You killed my birds, didn't you?" Rhiannon asked, her voice suddenly cold.
"Me? No, sweetness, that was Yax, once I let him in on your little secret. I'm more the brains of the operation, you see? Not really one for blood, ya' know? It all goes back to when I was a lad..."
Middlesworth prattled on, but Rhiannon stopped listening. So it was a failed Fidelius Charm, not an accidental slip of the tongue by Sirius. The house had been visible the whole time. But how? It was damn near impossible for Rhiannon to believe Severus could make a mistake, not when it mattered so much. Had she weakened him? Was he truly his best self only when happiness, lust, and emotion weren't around to cloud his judgment?
She was suddenly filled with a newfound nervousness regarding the rest of the night. As the next hour wore on, filled with jets of light, crumbling castle structures, and screams of anguish, Rhiannon shut her eyes and tried to concentrate on the energy of her husband's soul. She felt nothing but emptiness each time she tried. It was maddening and terrifying, and she began to consider breaking the ropes that bound her and flying away. She had to check on Severus...
"You have fought valiantly," the shrill voice began again. "Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. You have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste. Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity."
Her father continued on with a series of threats and a challenge for Harry to meet him in the Forbidden Forest within the hour. Felix Middlesworth straightened himself from his crumpled position against a tree stump and began stalking back and forth like a dutiful patrolman. Black cloaks could already be seen making their way downhill back toward their camp in the forest, but their ranks had taken a significant hit. From the right a lone figure approached, tall and proud, victorious in a march toward his followers. At his center he held a wand longer than any Rhiannon had ever seen, its sleek structure adorned with evenly spaced knots that grew gradually larger from tip to handle. He must have solved his little wand problem.
The complacent smirk left his face when he caught sight of her bound figure before him.
"Why is my Rhiannon tied to a tree?" Voldemort's cold, shrill voice inquired, his eyes blazing from one Death Eater to the next. "Unbind her at once!"
Yaxley stepped forth from the approaching crowd, staggering, swollen and bloodied, obviously having partaken in a violent duel.
"My Lord, I beg your permission to approach with news before you make such a decision," his gravelly voice pleaded.
"The decision has been made!" Voldemort snapped, his new wand slashing through the air to complete the task himself. Rhiannon slipped as her body found its sudden freedom and fell to the ground.
"My— my Lord," Rhiannon stuttered, the words of respect now disgustingly bitter on her tongue. "May I request the return of my wand?"
Voldemort surveyed his gathering crowd of followers once again. "And why would the sorry lot of you feel the need to relieve Rhiannon of her wand?"
"We cannot trust her, my Lord," Yaxley insisted.
Voldemort's sharp gaze fell on Rhiannon this time, and she felt her chin glide upwards in automatic defiance. "Rhiannon, have you been misbehaving, my child?"
"No, my Lord. Some of your followers simply don't understand the nuances required of those whom you've chosen to act as double agents on your behalf."
"Certainly true. I'm learning that intelligence and loyalty are both rare commodities among my followers." He gave a sneer in the direction of Lucius, who now stood at his wife's side, his face still inflicted with wounds from punishments sustained after Harry Potter's last escape.
"What a pity," Voldemort continued, "That I had to lose a follower tonight who always exhibited both. But I shall lament not, for in his place shall rise a goddess, sitting at my right hand as I ascend to power at last. Rhiannon, my child, the time has come for you to declare your unwavering loyalty. Of course I shall first return your wand."
Her father held up a pale, bony hand, and Rhiannon's golden oak wand flew from the pocket of Middlesworth's robes and into his grasp. Rhiannon barely registered the transfer as her mind frantically contemplated the meaning behind her father's words. The quickening in her belly rapidly become a burning fire of nausea and fear. Her thoughts clamored once again for Severus, but a ghostly silence was her only reply.
"My Lord," Yaxley tried to argue again, but it was no use. Voldemort silenced him with a stunning spell this time before tossing Rhiannon's wand to her in one seamless movement. She gripped it, her breath becoming ragged. Her gaze took in Bellatrix and Narcissa, the former licking her lips as she watched with rapt attention, the latter watching Rhiannon with sharp eyes, curious as to her next move, no doubt as it related to their earlier conversation regarding Delphi.
"Rhiannon, your left forearm, my dear," Voldemort commanded in a voice coated with both sugar and ice. "Hurry, child. As you clearly heard, I only have an hour to rest before claiming my victory."
Rhiannon assessed the ground between them. About ten feet, smooth, level. It was likely enough space for a swift transformation.
"I— I would like Severus to be here," she spoke up, her chin raising in the air again. "As a witness. Does anyone know where the battle has taken him?"
Voldemort made a small, breathy sound of pity with a slight shake of the head. He began to move forward, and Rhiannon met each step with a backward one of her own.
"It is with true regret I inform you that your husband has made the ultimate sacrifice for our cause. His loyalty, I assure you, is most appreciated. And his honor most assured, for his sacrifice has solidified my victory. I told him so before I regrettably demanded such a precious gift." Voldemort fingered the knobbed wand lovingly, his face almost dreamlike in its rapture.
Rhiannon's stomach lurched, and the threatening vomit finally landed onto the mossy ground. She couldn't breathe. Her chest was tight like someone had set a bag of rocks upon it. She was surrounded by echoes of laughter, Bellatrix's face drifting into focus, the evil witch licking her teeth as she grinned. Rhiannon couldn't stop the flood of anger that coursed through her veins.
"Everte Statum!" Rhiannon cried, and Bellatrix's thin body launched through the air and collided with the ground.
The witch's dark eyes flashed with surprise, but the smirk soon returned to her bright red mouth. "So the little girl does know how to fight— now that she can't hide behind hubby's robes anymore."
"Better get that mark on her arm so she fights for the right side," Yaxley muttered, having roused himself from the subsiding effects of the stunning spell that had briefly knocked him mute.
"Whatever do you mean, Yaxley?" Voldemort replied with amusement. "You seem unable to let this matter die? Fine— tell your master what troubles you so."
Bellatrix was back on her feet, listening intently. Rhiannon resisted the urge to cast her down again, to torture her, and then Yaxley, and then Delphi's horrid mother once again. Her father wouldn't care— he'd probably delight in it. But Rhiannon was no coward. She wasn't the least bit afraid of what would escape Yaxley's lips. Not now, not if Severus was gone. She would take pride in whatever truth he revealed, and she would accept any consequence, for what use was her life without Severus in it?
"Your 'goddess' and her husband have been cohabitating with Sirius Black, my Lord," Yaxley's voice graveled solemnly. "And Black's filthy Muggle wife. Sullying their place in our ranks by taking filth into their bed. Until recently the werewolf and his blood traitor wife had been living there too. The Snapes have betrayed us, My Lord."
Bellatrix let out a gasp, and the spectators murmured amongst themselves, but Voldemort's eyes blazed, not in Rhiannon's direction, but in Yaxley's.
"I am moments away from my victory, destroying Harry Potter, taking what is rightfully mine. And you, Yaxley, dare to waste my time on such ill-informed gossip and drivel! SIRIUS BLACK IS DEAD!"
"Killed by my own hand, my Lord," Bellatrix insisted, bowing reverently. She was clearly nervous at losing favor once again from the revelation of yet another mistake.
Rhiannon stared at her vacantly, torn between heartbreak and seething hatred. Her green eyes flashed to her father, and for the first time she understood him on the most fundamental level— understood the power that anger could provide.
"Sirius Black is very much alive," Rhiannon corrected her father, her voice calm and authoritative like Severus, but proud and cold just like the Dark Lord's. "Alive by my own hand," she sneered at Bellatrix. "And yes, I took Sirius Black to my bed. And his Muggle bride. Severus and I were proud to fuck them, proud to love them. How does it feel— Father — to know that your own flesh and blood is a whore for Muggles and blood-traitors? Much like her mother was a whore for you?"
Bellatrix let out a screech and lunged toward Rhiannon violently with her wand brandished, only to float in the air with a chokehold from Voldemort's very hand. His fury with his daughter was once again transferred to another, quite unable to unleash itself on an offspring in which it saw so very much of itself. While he held Bellatrix suspended above him, his furious eyes never tore away from Rhiannon, seeming frozen in shock and desperately grasping for understanding. Severus was right; the Dark Lord's mind couldn't even comprehend an emotion so basic as love for, or even recognition of, his child.
Rhiannon availed herself of her father's shock and pushed on. "And as for Severus? How does it feel to know you were played for so many years — tricked, fooled, mocked, by your loyal right hand?"
She paced back and forth along the forest floor, feeling its energy empower her with every retraced step. Their audience felt it too, for they backed away subtly with her every approach. Her hand gripped her wand within her skirt pocket, and she could already feel the lightning generating within her veins. Usually it required the power of her beating wings, but tonight, she and the Thunderbird were one.
"You may think, then, that Severus's loyalty was to Dumbledore, but no. Severus's loyalty was to what is right, and to love. Everything he did for the last seventeen years was for love, right up until you took his life. And he did it right under your nose. Well...obviously 'nose' isn't the best choice of words, but..."
Voldemort made a move with his new wand and let out a enraged grunt, but once again shock filled the air as Rhiannon felt herself rising, higher and higher, past the old evergreen tree to which she'd been bound. She wasn't a bird yet; no, she was growing, stretching, her skin turning a translucent blue like a streak through the sky. Her voice now pealed like a deep, resounding bell clamoring through the night.
"And do you know how Severus did it, Father? How he managed to fool one of the greatest wizards the world has ever known? He did it through that love, because it was something you could never understand enough to suspect. Sure, you knew Severus loved Lily Potter, but you assumed that his devotion was something small, trivial, and something he would cast aside in the quest for power. Just like you underestimated his love for me— thinking he married me to keep me under your thumb and to harness my power for your own. But you should never doubt the power of Severus Snape's love, for even in his death, it will destroy you."
Rhiannon was towering now, her voice vibrating the ground and sending some Death Eaters stumbling awkwardly into tree stumps and snake holes. Her giant, smoldering eyes met Narcissa's in the briefest moment of understanding, then from her wand Rhiannon set forth her Patronus, now larger than life just like she, no longer a placid twinkling blue-white but now an imposing black stallion charging against a corona of dancing red-orange flame. It reared up on its hind legs, and even in its silence one could implicitly hear its fiery rage. It tore in a circle around the Death Eater camp, concealing Rhiannon from her father with a wall of flame. She could hear his outraged cries from far below, but any wrath from his wand died within the fire encircling her mighty steed.
Under its protection, Rhiannon transformed from a goddess into the mighty Thunderbird of legend, soaring into the moonlit clouds, bound for Malfoy Manor. For there lay her sister, cherished and loved by her as the goddess's own babe had been centuries ago when it was stolen by evil.
Tonight, evil would know what it was like to lose.