Duuude, kksambo will you please stop spoiling my already planned character development? Yeah, she's a crybaby, yeah, they're stupid. Someone needs to slap some sense into all three. I wonder who will do that?... I got this, babe, trust me.

I love your reviews though. I love everyone's reviews. Keep doing that.

It was dark in her room, but it wasn't cold and she wasn't alone. Sometime after she had crawled into bed Draco had shown up and just fallen asleep next to her. For some people the fact that the fifteen year old cousins still shared a bed at times might seem strange, but for them it was normal. When one of them was upset they needed company. Not conversation, they didn't want to discuss their innermost feelings, they just wanted someone to be there, to feel that they weren't alone and could count on someone when the time came, and that's what they did.

So now she sat with her back against the headboard of her bed, blankets wrapped around her as she read Necromancy; a flawed magic under the light of her wand with a snoozing blond boy next to her. Necromancy sucked, in her opinion. It was an interesting theory in itself but completely and utterly... well, for lack of a better term, flawed. The original point was to bring people back to life. Sure, necromancers manage to give corpses not only the ability to move but also a certain type of spacial awareness, but they weren't 'brought back to life' because the corse just wasn't who they were before death. That is just wielding a dead body, not bringing it to life. In her opinion, the book ranted on and on about a mismanagement of magic provision while that wasn't the actual problem. It could be fixed with a lot of mucking around and experimenting, as morally questionable it might be to experiment with dead bodies in today's climate. Fuck whoever wrote the book, but then again it was a book on 'Dark Magic' which was and still is forbidden so technically the writer was already fucked.

There was a gentle rapping on the door and her eyes snapped up to it.

With a small frown on her face she got to her feet and walked to the door, leaving the book face down on a table by her couch and keeping her wand lit. After a slight hesitation she opened the door just a bit letting light stream over whoever was on the other side.

It was her father. He scrunched his eyes uncomfortably in the sudden brightness and turned his face away a bit. He had changed into sleeping clothes and a dark robe and -according to the dark circles under his eyes- he really needed some rest. He shouldn't have been here.

"Father." She greeted quietly, dimming the light slightly. She hadn't seen him since she upset him at dinner. "What can I do for you?"

"Annie, I-" He moved his lips in an attempted smile. "I thought we should talk. I tried to save it for the morning but I couldn't sleep. If I woke you-"

"No, no that's fine." She cut him off. "I was awake. Come in."

Anna stepped to the side and let him pass, which he did. They moved silently to the couch by one side of the room and she motioned for him to sit down. The man looked around with curious eyes as he sat, raising an eyebrow at Draco's sleeping figure before reaching for the book on the table. Rodolphus read the title and looked back at her. He seemed amused.

"You're a smart one, alright. Fifteen and delving into necromancy?" He muttered.

Anna shrugged. "Magic is magic. I am not interested in bringing anyone back to life, I am interested in the theory of it."

"You should be an Unspeakable." He told her, leaning back against the couch, seemingly more comfortable without his wife around.

"So I've been told." She shrugged. "But I don't exactly have time to figure things out right now. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it."

A silence followed in which she waited for him to say something but when he didn't she decided to just-

"I'm sorry for what I said during dinner." She said, looking down at her lap. "It wasn't your-"

"Yes, it was." He cut her off. "What you said was true, all of it, if not slightly hurtful. What we did was... desperate. We disregarded caution and as a result we weren't there to find you, to be your parents as we should have been. And now we're here and your don't know how to deal with us. Now we're here and we're barging into your life and we- we have no right. It's true. So, if you'll allow me -and Rabastan, he just didn't want to make you feeel ambushed so he stayed behind- to get to know you, to become part of your life, we would be thankful."

For a second she processed the words. That was- "You seem to be in a far better state of mind than I expected, father."

He chuckled. It was dark and bitter and raspy. "No, no I'm not. Barty has helped the reasoning along and I suppose I couldn't loose my head completely. The absence of dementors helps the recovery and... you get your brains from me."

She looked at him curiously. "Aunt Narcissa always said mother was brilliant."

"Oh, she is. Very smart, but not in the same way. Your mother learns magic quickly, she's good at fighting, at strategizing, but not at logically working out issues, particularly if they have to do with people, political or not. That's my job in this marriage." He shrugged. "Your mother's a brilliant witch, but she's not a brilliant person if you understand me."

Anna swallowed. "I think so." She nodded. "Then... if you want to get to know me, what do you want to know?"

He shook his head. "No, not now. It's late you should sl-"

"I miss out on sleep often." She started telling him. "Most times it's because there's some problem or another which I have to fix and I won't sleep for days on end, but other times I just can't. I get interested in magic quickly, I miss out on sleep to read or I read to miss out on sleep. It used to be that the Dark Lord's magic in me gave me nightmares so I started avoiding it. It doesn't anymore, but the habit stays."

"Is that why your cousin sleeps with you?" He asked.

She shrugged. "I guess. We do it when we're upset. Not to talk, just to know someone's there. Mostly for me, there was a long time when there just wasn't anyone."

"The orphanage."

Nodding she turned to him. "Mother asked me about almost everything, but not about that. The years in there are the ones that formed me most of all, it's like she wasn't interested in me."

"She wasn't." Rodolphus told her. "Bella still sees you as her baby, in a way she's refusing to acknowledge that that's not who you are anymore. That she doesn't know you."

"Why?"

"Because that would make her guilty of losing you, of letting you get taken away. She's trying to deny it." He put a hand on her shoulder. "Give her time. Now tell me, what happened in the orphanage?"

"Nothing much." She lied, deciding to water it all down, if not for his sake then for her own. "It was all fine until I started doing accidental magic. There was this girl, Linda, who was my friend. We got along fine, she arrived after I did and I sort of taught her the ropes on how to live in a place that wasn't your home. The orphanage could never be a home, it was too distant... but when I started doing accidental magic Linda just snapped. People don't like what's different, what they don't understand. She hurt me and made other kids hurt me and I couldn't figure out why at the time, to me it was strange and frightening and unfair. I was special, what was so wrong with that? But magic hurt me, it hurt to use, it gave me nightmares, it gave me hallucinations but that only made me want to use it more. There was a price, that meant it was valuable. So I retaliated, hurt her, made her and the others understand that they were inferior. Which... I don't think they are, not really. They were dumb, they were children, that's that."

"And yet, you get a look of disgust on your face when you think of them." Rodolphus pushed. "It made you ruthless to those who hurt you. That's... not what I would have wanted for my child."

"Ruthlessness?" She scoffed. "Yes, you did. Maybe not the way in which I became as I am, but other than that..."

He was uncomfortable, she could see it. "I suppose."

Then there was another silence, but his time he was the one that broke it.

"About your... boyfriend..." He started.

The mention made her hackles start rising visibly so he hurried to placate her.

"I mean, Rabastan and I are looking forward to meeting him... but maybe in a while. Once we have gotten used to the idea of not only you having a boyfriend but him being-"

"The son of Elbert Nott?" She questioned. "Theodore is nothing like his father. Lord Nott is... a coward, his arrogance is backed up with nothing and he was not and never will be loyal. Theo is."

She did not say to whom.

Rodolphus nodded. "Alright, if you say so. Let's leave this conversation here for now. I am tired and I suppose I should be able to sleep now."

Anna nodded and escorted him out. When she could no longer hear his soft footsteps she crawled back into bed, dimming her wand and putting it on the night stand.

"Well?" Draco whispered. Of course he's been awake since the first knock.

"Well, what?" She countered.

"Well, what do you think of him? But I'm just asking to be polite because you and I both know that no matter what you think of him, we're still going to betray him and what he stands for." Draco drawled, a bit more coldly than he would have a few days ago. "Remember?"

"Yes, I remember." She hissed.

"Then tell me why we're doing it."

"It's the right thing to do."

He snickered. "Sure, I suppose, but that's not why. Go on, drop the whole noble act. I dare you."

"Because- because fuck him. Because it's our life and it's my body and wether we think he's right or not he doesn't just get to take control of us. No fucking way. Because if we wanted to do this, if we agreed with him, we would take over the magical world our way, but we don't so we won't. He doesn't just get to use us for whatever he wants." She grew angrier as she spoke. "And sure, safety of the world, justice, this is bigger than us, but fuck that. We're going to get rid of him because he doesn't get to walk all over us. Who the fuck does he think he is?"

"Good, and remember that." Draco told her. "They may be your parents, but they went to Azkaban for looking for him instead of looking for you." He dug further, forcing her to face it. "Their loyalty is to him first. You can try to change it, you can take the chance of changing their minds, but don't risk what we have for it."

Anna turned to him but she couldn't see him in the darkness.

"We've been patient Anna, we care about you, but don't fuck things up for us. Because we'll follow you to the death, don't betray us. Because we won't turn away even if we die." He urged.

"Of course not." She muttered.

"Nobody's going to save us because until now, the light side doesn't think we're worth saving. They don't know us, they don't know what we're doing. We'll save ourselves and everyone else just to spite them."

So get to know them she did, and what she learned was that they weren't alright. Not at all.

Rabastan was hard pressed to be out of her sight for too long, preferring to sit in the same room as her while she read or to just follow her around silently. He was artistic, though, whenever he did speak to her he had something to say about the paintings on the walls or the architecture or the sculptures. It was interesting, really, never having actually paid much attention to any of that. Eventually she figured out how to keep him occupied and help him regain his bearings somewhat.

Art, of course. She sent Draco to Diagon Alley to get some art supplies -and to discuss things with their friends as they couldn't very well discuss it while she was being followed by her uncle- and she got Rabastan to start drawing and painting.

He never used black and most of his paintings were of her. Barty said it was because to Rabastan she was precious and new and untainted ever since she was born and still was. Anna didn't know what to think of that. She certainly wasn't untainted but if it made him feel better then... well, there was no harm. He wasn't alright so if it helped...

Father and mother weren't like uncle Rabastan, who was daunting at first but ended up being hesitant and gentle (not that he was harmless in general, but to her it seemed that he was). Rodolphus discussed things with her, while she sat still in order to let her uncle draw her. Her father's speech wasn't like that first night, raspy and harsh but flowing, no. It changed often, sometimes he spoke haltingly, trailing off and looking around as if confused, sometimes he spoke rapidly as if he couldn't get the words out fast enough, sometimes it was normal and sometimes he didn't speak at all. But that was fine, as long as he was around. The man was brilliant, he remembered most of what he'd ever known and could explain things to her which she hadn't approached other people with. After all, her father had studied to be an Unspeakable once, he'd just never worked as one. Didn't want to give up his name, he said, those were the rules at the time. Unspeakables are secrets, they don't exist, not really.

He was her favourite, but in a way he was just like mother; neither could speak about what they felt. It was only to be expected, she supposed. Nobody talked about their feeling in their family, not them, not her, not Rabastan or Narcissa, not even Lucius or Draco. Nobody did that unless there was no way to avoid it, like she had been forced to do on several occasions. Her parents sought another way to bond because, well feelings were a touchy subject. She felt abandoned, they felt guilty, they felt proud and she felt ashamed, it wasn't something they were ready to discuss. Maybe they never would be.

Mother took to training her. Sure, uncle Lucius was a fantastic dueller, but he couldn't compare to her. She had made duelling into an art. Sure, she was vicious, sure it was violent, but it was a dance. They way she fought was dangerous, too fast and too wild, overwhelming and overpowering, and she wanted to teach Anna. So Anna learned.

Her mother wasn't good at talking, she wasn't good at explaining, but she was good at showing. She was good at extending a hand to her when she was on the floor, she was good at correcting her stance, she was good at showing her spells and the way to cast them. During that time Bellatrix wasn't sentimental, she wasn't cuddly or warm, but she didn't bring up anything that might cause a falling out again and while she gave a lot of constructive criticism it seemed that aunt Narcissa had told her never to finish a session without giving her praise. They dueled, they had lunch or tea, they rested and then Anna went to her father and uncle and Bella either followed and was quiet or she went to her sister or her Lord.

To Anna it seemed like Bella knew what to do as a mother as much as she knew what to do as a daughter, so barely anything, but that was fine. If the woman had backed off, wether because she understood Anna's point or because she was just reluctant to argue again so soon, that was fine. Father said it was because Bella had still been trying to figure out how to be a mother when Anna had been taken away that she didn't know how to act now; they both needed time to get adjusted to it. It wasn't like her and her father, he had been the one taking care of her before she was gone, he had had a stronger bond with her. He said it was because of their magic, he calmed her with his magic when she was a baby so their behaviour now was instinctual. And with Rabastan they were both open to something new, there was no pressure. Not like with Bella.

That was alright though, she could work with that.

He didn't get to see Anna at all the first week. She was constantly surrounded by her parents and family and the only way he'd been able to contact her at all was through letters -which had to be kept short because most of the things discussed in there were private and shouldn't be treated carelessly. So to help things along Draco had taken to going to Pansy's house when he wasn't with his cousin, which was also almost constantly since his mother wanted him to meet his family. Which, according to him, was ridiculous since they should be concentrating on their daughter. Anyhow, he took instructions with him for the preparations she was making. Somehow they would have to start hiding muggleborns as soon as possible. Once they took over the Ministry the hunt for them would start so they had to find a place and a way to hide people before that happened, which was much easier said than done. A place large enough that wouldn't be visited by anyone that might rat them out was hard to find.

But now, it was Christmas. Which meant the Yule party at the Malfoys'. Which meant Theodore would meet Anna's parents. He didn't know what to think of that. In all honesty he wasn't nervous. If there was anything he should be worried about Anna would have told him, but she hadn't so there wasn't.

Theo ignored his father as they made their way up the steps to the Malfoys' front door, carefully straightening his dress robes and making sure her present was safe in his pocket. Nothing as sentimental as last year -that had been a special occasion, alright?- but over the years he'd known her he'd noticed that as much as she liked to deny it, Anna liked shiny things. She'd taken a liking to shiny and pretty things and, probably largely influenced by Daphne, she'd developed an attitude of I-look-amazing-shut-up which he frankly found to be... mostly amusing.

The doors swung open and they stepped inside the lavishly decorated entrance hall, handing off their winter robes to a few bowing house elves and turning to Draco who was hurrying their way with a polite smile.

"Lord Nott, Theo, how wonderful to see you could make it." He greeted, shaking their hands. It was his duty as the heir to do all the welcoming, which he dutifully and begrudgingly did each year. Theo could quite easily see that Draco didn't like doing it but his father, who took to being welcomed with as much decorum as possible like a duck to water, greeted the boy with a lordly air which visibly got on the blond's nerves.

"If Lord Nott would follow me, I shall escort you to the Ball Room. Theodore, you are to escort Annabelle. She's in the greenhouse."

Theo nodded and, without a glance back, strode off to the back of the Manor. He had to pass into the private part, the family area, but he knew his way around and soon enough he'd made it to the door. For a second he hesitated. The Dark Lord and herparents would be there. He had met him before, he wasn't nervous about them, but all together? He sighed, a bit of caution would be wise he supposed.

He knocked lightly and waited to be called inside. When that happened he pushed the door open and stepped in, eyes roaming between the plants until he caught sight of them. Amongst the large flowers and blossoms that Lady Malfoy liked to collect was a pair of couches on which five people were seated. He could see Anna and the Dark Lord seated on the couch with their backs towards him and on the other sat... well, her parents. They were looking at him warily, sunken eyes guarded and postures tense. Bellatrix more so than the other two, but still.

Theo didn't pause and walked inside, footsteps unfaltering and chin held high. Draco had told him what had happened that first night. While he didn't want to drive them away from each other, if push came to shove they all knew who had the upper hand when it came down to her.

"Theo!" Anna had turned around, gazing at him brightly with her grey eyes and smiling.

She stood and walked to him, holding out her hands to grab him. Theo smiled back and extended one hand, catching her wrist and drawing her in closely until she was pressed up against his chest. He saw Anna blink at the forwardness but then she smirked knowingly. So what if he was being all in their face about it? He'd missed her, he was smug, whatever.

The girl held on to his shoulders and kissed him.

"Good evening, darling. You look wonderful." He told her once they'd parted. And she did, though he didn't remember when she'd started wearing red again, even if it was maroon.

She studied him curiously. "You've let your hair grow. I like it." She ran a hand through the slightly longer locks that tickled his neck. He'd used to have it much shorter but then he'd decided that whatever, he looked good anyway in his modest opinion.

"I got tired of having it cut so often." He shrugged. Then he motioned to the side with his eyes, urging her to introduce them which he knew she was delaying on purpose.

She pursed her lips almost imperceptibly but turned around to face her family, which had been watching patiently if not slightly annoyed at the the public -not su public- display of affection.

Before she could say anything he turned to the Dark Lord and bowed, knowing his place when in his presence. The fact that he wasn't actually loyal to the man didn't mean that he was stupid or disrespectful.

"My Lord." He greeted. "An honour as always."

The man's red eyes were fixed on him for a second, making shivers crawl up his spine, but he kept his head up. He'd be damned if he let himself get cowed by just a look. Maybe he was being stupid, but the Dark Lord knew his father was a worm, he should also know that Theo wasn't.

"Theodore, good to see you are well." The Dark Lord waved him away turning back to stroking Nagini on his lap. His voice had always been dismissive so Theo didn't really care.

Then the boy turned to the other three adults.

"Mother, father, uncle Rabastan, this is Theodore Nott. He's my boyfriend." She introduced him promptly. Theo was proud to note that her voice was hard, it didn't allow deviation from what she considered proper. And in this case that was being completely and utterly polite towards him. He almost smirked.

The larger of the two men, Rodolphus he supposed, stood and walked towards him. Theo might have grown but he wasn't fully grown. He was still a head and a half shorter that the admittedly very tall man.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lord Rodolphus." Theo said, extending a hand.

Rodolphus looked down at the hand for a second before taking it and shaking it, albeit a bit more tightly than was necessary but he could deal with that.

"Likewise." Came the rough reply, but he supposed that was enough because Anna beamed.

Then he turned to the other two, smiling politely. "It is also a pleasure to meet you as well, Lady Bellatrix, Lord Rabastan."

Rabastan's eyes seemed to warm up a bit because he nodded and an attempt at a smile grazed his features but then he looked back down at a paper in front of him. On the other hand, Bellatrix pursed her lips and cocked her head slightly, studying him carefully. She seemed unsure of what to make of him.

"How's your father, boy?" She asked in a mockingly sweet tone of voice that still sounded rude.

"Mother." Anna warned, but Theo stopped her with a fake smile.

"No, it's fine." He turned back to the woman, fake smile turning only just slightly cocky. "As well as he could be without a spine, I suppose, my Lady." Then he turned back to his girlfriend. "Shall we go? I don't suppose Narcissa and Lucius will want you to miss the opening dance."

"No, I guess not." She let go of his arm and pecked her father on the cheek, then she did the same to her uncle but hesitated to do so with her mother. The woman just nodded at her, placed a hand on Anna's necklace -flowers made of silver- before waving her off. The girl turned to her godfather, curtsied, and took Theo's offered arm again.

They left the room in a calm manner, putting up a air which made them seem completely at ease, but as soon as they closed the door behind them he felt her let out a relieved sigh.

"Well, that went better than expected." She told him. "I think uncle almost liked you."

Theo snorted.

Anna laughed as she pulled Theo behind her towards the attic. It wasn't just an old dusty attic like the ones in normal houses. It was clean and spacious and it had beautifully ornamented wooden panels on the walls. No paintings, no statues, no furniture, completely empty and private. So what if it was a bit cold? She was fine and he was fine and they were slightly drunk.

So sue them.

They had left the party shortly after midnight, having had Draco and their other friends cover for them and feign ignorance of their whereabouts. First they'd gone to the private sections of the Manor, but the paintings were always giving their damned opinions on everything and her parents had been about. Then they'd found her uncle's liquor cabinet, open and unguarded, and they'd decided that it was Christmas and they'd be lucky to survive long enough to make it to the legal drinking age anyway.

She ran to stand in the middle of the room, bottle of firewhisky in her hand, and turned to him, taking a sip. The drink made her body go warm after every sip and the shivering stopped, only to start back up again shortly afterwards so she was forced to drink more.

He was smiling as he got closer, pressing his forehead against hers. Then he took the bottle from her hand and swallowed a mouthful, looking back down at her. Theo put the bottle on the floor and then crowded in closer, one hand gliding over her waist, letting the silky fabric slip through his fingers. His other hand was trailing the neckline of her dress. The lace stopped right under her clavicle, but his fingers moved further upwards to unhook the chain around her neck, letting it fall unceremoniously to the floor and baring a stretch of pale skin. Through all of this she was only looking up at him, drinking in the way he watched her.

Theo kissed her, delving his tongue deep into her mouth as if trying to explore every surface in it, tasting of alcohol and fire and ashes like the drink. She kissed back, let herself be pushed backwards to the window and gasped into his mouth at the touch of the cold glass on her bare neck and shoulders. His lips curled and pulled away, leaving a trail of kisses down her jawline to her neck.

One of her hands sneaked up to his hair and tangled itself in his locks, tightly, and she heard him gasp. Then he bit her in retaliation and it was her turn to let out a shaky laugh. She pulled his head closer with one hand and his waist with the other.

His hands were constantly moving, one ended up on her butt, the other pulled her leg up and kept a hold of her knee. It was sliding under her dress, over her stockings to her thigh... She stopped him, cupping his face and pulling it back to her. She placed kiss after kiss on his lips, urgent and loving, pleading and giving.

They hadn't said I love you yet. They were afraid of the vulnerability, but what was more vulnerable than this? Still, she didn't say it and neither did he.

But then he opened his eyes, harsh breath calming down slightly, and looked at her gently.

"When- when Draco told me what you'd fought about with them- I was worried-"

"That you'd ruined my relationship with them?" She finished in a whisper. "You didn't, but even if you did I'd rather have you."

"Would you now?" He smirked.

"I would." She put her leg down and pushed him off of her, only to push him back against the window like he'd done with her. One hand trailed down the buttons of his shirt before reaching up and pulling him into a kiss. "I-" I love you. "I need you with me."

"Good." He smiled. "Because you're not getting rid of me anyway." He slid down the wall until he was sitting and pulled her down with him. "I need you too, you know? There's a... an understanding with you. Some would say that knowing the other person too well makes things boring, makes things too safe. But isn't it the opposite?"

"What do you mean?" She muttered.

"I know you, the real you. And you know me." He kissed the top of his head. "We got to know each other so well that if we wanted to we could ruin the other with nothing but words. A single sentence even. But I would never do that to you and you would never do that to me. Isn't it so much more exiting and lo- comfortable to know that we hold each other so dear that we let each other have the power to destroy us?"

She hummed. "Yeah, I understand. I think so too."

They had it all planned out. Once they get back to Hogwarts they would start following her, seeing when she was alone and once they found a spot... corner her. They were older, she shouldn't pose a threat; all she had ever done had been with backing up from adults. Once they got her alone all they would have to do was pressure her, find out what she was planning, make sure she left Harry alone and that she admitted everything she'd done. Make sure she was punished for it, all of it.

It shouldn't be too hard.