And another new chapter! Time for some fallout!
She dreamed that Harry was holding her again, whispering into her ear as she came back to consciousness. Only when she opened her eyes did she realize that she was in a much different pair of arms.
When his Death Eaters had brought the unconscious girl to him Voldemort had made a decision of his own. He was going to pretend that he really was still her brother. It seemed like the easiest way to get on her good side. But even before she woke up, he was getting tired of trying to appear concerned in front of the mediwitch he had on hand.
The witch had tended to Miranda's wound and left once she was certain that the girl had fought off all of the venom. That had been a shock to Voldemort. It seemed that for a brief time they'd had a snake in their room in the orphanage. Miranda had been the first one to have been bitten, before the snake's venom had become truly toxic, and over the months they'd had their pet, she had gained a resistance to it. Tom hadn't told him that. In fact, the boy was being annoyingly quiet, hardly reacting when Voldemort had told him that Miranda was now in his possession. He'd fought back for years, but since the diary had been destroyed, the mortal's rebellious efforts grew meeker. Now, they were almost non-existent. Perhaps, at last, the last tendrils that remained of Tom Riddle were finally letting go.
Miranda's eyes fluttered open, crystalline blue, and Voldemort was struck by an actual feeling of concern. "Tom?" She said, smiling at him.
"Yes… sister?" He said haltingly, the word feeling strange on his tongue.
She reached up and trailed thin fingers across the temple of his bald head, "Oh, Tom. What did you do to your beautiful hair?"
He forced a laugh figuring it to be the appropriate response, but the sound was too foreign and ended up more of a gargling growl, "An unfortunate side effect of my new body. I'm a bit more like Nagini than I am you."
She sighed, forcing herself to relax against him, "That's a shame, you used to have the most beautiful thick black hair." She cut those blue eyes sharply up at him, "Your face was better looking too."
Voldemort almost cursed her, astounded by her bluntness, but realized that her relationship with Tom must have been one of extreme openness. He had been her eyes for the first nine years of her life. "Of course, but I had to regain a solid form in order to complete my goals." She sighed, leaning against him. "Miranda." He said, his voice reminded her of how Hermione's sounded just before she began lecturing Ron.
"What?" She said grouchily, trying to get her body to start storing up energy again.
He almost smiled when she snapped at him, "You killed one of my men."
"So? He tried to kill me!" She snapped back in a manner that was every bit the entitled evil child he must think she was.
"I'm not upset, Miranda, but please refrain from killing them. They may not have much intelligence, but I need quantity, not quality." He said placidly.
Miranda rolled her eyes childishly, "Well, you've certainly got that."
"Why were you with the boy?" He asked suddenly.
It physically hurt Miranda to lie, her stomach clenched and she had to take a deep, calming breath before telling him her lie. "I wanted to see how much I could learn with them. He was fun to play with too, and not bad at snogging. All I had to do was flirt a little, and he was mine. It was almost too easy. He should have listened to his Mudblood friend." She deliberately left Ron out, not wanting to call him by name and endanger his family.
Voldemort was pleased by the girl, she was much less a child than she was a woman. Actually, she reminded him strongly of a young Bellatrix Lestrange, before the touch of insanity had become madness. "So, how much did you learn, Mira?"
Miranda held back a shiver. Tom had only ever called her Randa, never, ever Mira. Although she had known that the man she was speaking to wasn't her brother, it still hurt. It took almost a moment too long for her to respond.
"Not much, they're not too sure what they're supposed to be doing. It was rather sad actually." She said, drawing a copy of the locket Horcrux out of the front of her dress. She hoped with the part of Tom's soul that resided inside her so close he wouldn't notice that it was fake. "But I did save this for you. I left them with a copy." He reached for it, but she tucked it back into her dress, "No, Tom." Her tone belied chastisement, "The locket has always been mine. I'll keep it safe for you. You don't have any need to worry about it. Nagini and I will watch over it."
He forced himself to relax, "Alright then. Come, I want to introduce you to my Death Eaters. You can transfigure something of mine. I'll be right down the hall in the dining room. You'll come there...please."
She stood up slowly, trying not to laugh at his forced manners, "Fantastic." She whispered, opening his wardrobe as he left.
When the latch clicked closed, Miranda found herself sinking to her knees, her breaths coming in short bursts as she marveled at the sheer craziness of what she was doing. Why didn't she just tell the truth? Let him kill her? It was destined to happen anyway.
Harry.
If she had to remind herself a thousand times a day, it would be worth it. Alive, she could do her best to help him be the last of their dark trio standing. He'd want to kill her in the end anyway.
Pulling her wits back about her, Miranda transfigured a set of robes into a pair of leather pants and another into a black tunic with lacing in the front. It made her look like she had more meat on her bones than she did, and giving her modest cleavage to be as distracting as possible. Her Tom would have mentioned again how skinny she was and would have forced her to eat before either of them went anywhere. She transfigured a pair of his shoes into black heels similar to ones she had seen in muggle magazines, putting a few balancing charms on them to ensure that she could walk in them. She would have made Hermione proud. A quick spell to clean and smooth out her trauma mussed hair, and she walked out the door, sneezing twice before she walked down the ornate hall, "Bloody Hell I hate old places. Who wants to live in a place like this anyway!" She said to herself.
Walking into the room where she sensed the remaining shreds of her brother's soul, Miranda paused by the door, observing the scene before her. Easily two dozen cloaked figures milled about the room, while another dozen were seated in the center, each looking more insane than the last.
Voldemort sat upon the head chair of the imposing banquet table, looking out over his followers. He sensed her approach, and called the crowd of Death Eaters to order. "We have a new comrade come to help us in our endeavors." He paused ominously, "You will treat her as you treat me."
"Who is it Master? Anything she can do, I can do!" Bellatrix Lestrange asked, jumping from her seat. The Dark Lord spelled her back into her chair roughly.
"Silence, woman. Your constant drivel is wearing on my patience." He snapped, gesturing at Miranda over his shoulder.
Miranda moved with a slow deliberation as she approached his chair from behind, wrapping her arms around him even though the contact made her skin crawl, "Now, now, brother, you mustn't lose your temper. She didn't know any better."
"Brother?" Bellatrix whispered and the word echoed amongst the gathered Death Eaters, the noise in the room building fast.
"Silence!" He yelled, causing a hush to fall instantly. "May I introduce my… twin sister, Miranda. After all these years, we have been reunited." He smiled at her, touching her cheek in a show of emotions that looked entirely wrong on his new face.
Miranda smiled anyway, giving it a sinister edge as she looked over the group assembled, "Thank you, Brother, they needn't know anymore." If this creature knew of her damaged past, he didn't need to share it. "I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to help you in whatever way I can." A few of those gathered caught her eye, "May I look them over, Brother?"
He stroked her hand, "Of course, Sister."
She gave a few of the Death Eaters a predatory look before resting her intense gaze upon the dour man who could only be Severus Snape. She slunk towards him, moving like the snake she was trying to appear to be, and just knew her tenuous grip on the darkness inside of her was showing in her spelled eyes. "And just who are you?"
The frigid man looked straight ahead, "Severus Snape, Headmaster of Hogwarts."
Miranda hissed a command, calling Nagini to her side, allowing the snake to curl itself around her waist as it tasted the air around the old potions master, "Fancy title." Miranda said, putting a hand on his black hair, "What lovely hair. You'd almost be handsome if you didn't frown so. A smile never killed anyone."
"I prefer to keep my emotions to myself." Severus said stiffly, though his voice certainly was something else.
Bellatrix couldn't hold her tongue any longer, "My Lord, surely you can't really think this girl is your sister?"
"I grew up with your aunt." Miranda countered easily, cutting off whatever rebuttal Voldemort would have tried to come up with.
Bellatrix pulled a face of disgust, "Well she was a failure of a Black, I don't believe you."
Miranda turned on her so fast that most of the doubts of her lineage in the room were put to rest. She pressed her wand to the other woman's throat, "You dare claim yourself a Black? You are weak. I could crush you if I wished. You aren't half the woman Walburga Black was. You have no right to question me or my brother. Sit down, be silent, and I will think about leaving you unharmed."
She pushed Bellatrix away, causing the insane woman to hit the ground. When Miranda was walking back to her brother, she heard someone gasp. "How dare you speak to me like that! You're only a child!" Bellatrix shrieked, and Miranda deflected the curse that came her way easily, thanking Harry silently for his dueling lessons.
What she did next caused that hidden part of her to burst forward again, and for the first time since being captured, she wasn't putting on a show. Apparently, using the Cruciatus curse came easily to her. Bellatrix writhed on the floor at her feet and Miranda just looked at her stoically, "You'll learn to respect me, Bella, or you will lose your life. I am not the Lord Voldemort's sister without good reason. Did you think I would be a meek little girl who would run to my brother to fight my battles? No, I fight my own fights now. I might have had him do that when we were children, but I am a woman now. Next time you try to curse me, I won't hesitate to leave with your life."
She ended the curse, fearing she was seconds from succumbing and killing the woman. "Leave, I wish to meet the others uninterrupted, without the room being tainted by a failure of a Black." She bent down to whisper in Bellatrix's ear, "If you were a true Black, you would know that they have a long standing tradition of merely being contractors to those in power. The fact that you called my brother Master proves how much of a failure you are."
Bellatrix fled quickly, and Narcissa Malfoy spoke, "Please, my Lady, forgive my sister, she forgets her place."
Miranda smiled at Narcissa. "Not a problem, we younger siblings often have to apologize for the behavior of our siblings. I do not hold you at fault for your sister's loose tongue."
"Thank you, my Lady." Narcissa nodded gratefully, clutching her son's hand, drawing Miranda's attention to the blonde boy.
A sudden idea formed. A way she could keep herself from falling apart. She returned to her brother with Nagini draped over her shoulders, "Brother, I want a pet."
"A pet?" Voldemort asked, surprised by her request.
"You said I could have anything I want. I want a pet." Miranda pouted at her brother.
He looked incredulous, "M-miranda, what about Nagini? A dog or cat perhaps?"
Girl and snake looked at each other, "Brother, she's always liked you better. You know that. Regardless, she's no one's pet. I have no need for a dog or cat. Besides..." She let her gaze flit to the youngest Malfoy. "The kind of pet I want is not of the animal variety."
The Dark Lord caught on quickly, and seemed pleased, "You wish a human pet, Sister?"
Miranda sat on the arm of his chair, looking into his snake face unblinkingly, not showing her revulsion. "Exactly. You do know me too well, Brother."
"Who did you have in mind?" He asked.
"I get to pick?" She said, making herself sound like an excited child.
He gave a little twitch of a smile that was more a grimace, "Of course, Sister."
She kissed his cheek, "Fantastic." Moving around the room, she made a point to examine each of the men, even though she had already made her selection. "How about you, Severus? Would you like to be my pet? I promise I won't hurt you too badly. Only as badly as those boys hurt me."
"Miranda." Her brother hissed in warning, "I need him at Hogwarts. Pick another."
"Spoil sport." She said as she glared at him, but moved on regardless.
When she reached Draco Malfoy, she stopped, running a hand through his silky blond hair, feeling him tremble under her touch, and wishing she could somehow reassure him. "I think I want him." She gave her brother a sideways look, "Is that alright, or should I pick another?" The sentence was delivered with as much acidity as she could manage.
Voldemort looked thoughtful, "Draco was learning spells from Severus..."
She interrupted him, "Tom, really, I can teach him anything he should need to know." She looked into Draco's silver eyes, "Anything."
"Miranda, I need Draco to be well taught in order for him to possibly lead the next generation of Death Eaters." Voldemort said reasonably.
Miranda took a second to think of a solution, "May Draco and I attend Hogwarts?"
"No." Was the immediate response.
The new Miranda she was creating didn't like being told no anymore than the darkness inside of her did. She approached Voldemort like a child ready to throw a tantrum, "Brother, I always wanted to go to Hogwarts. You are in control of it. Is it not safe for Draco and me to attend?" She glanced back at Severus, "Can he not teach the lessons he was giving Draco at the school after hours?"
"You press my temper, Sister, but you may have Draco. I'll consider allowing the two of you go to Hogwarts." He said, teeth gritted.
Nagini came back to Miranda, bobbing her head in front of Draco's face, causing the Malfoy heir to jerk back. Miranda bent down and ran her hands down the side of his head, "Don't be scared of her, Draco. She won't bite unless my brother or I ask her to." She kissed the top of his head, whispering into his ear, "Don't worry, I'll protect you now, pretty boy."
Narcissa was near tears as the talking about the table returned to talk of rebels. She didn't turn her head as she spoke to Miranda, "Please don't hurt him."
Miranda smiled, and put a hand on top of where Narcissa's were clasped over Draco's under the table, "You have nothing to worry about, I am not cruel. I will not do anything to him he doesn't want." She whispered softly to the panicked mother.
Both mother and son relaxed slightly. "Miranda!" Voldemort snapped, causing Miranda to stand up straight and glare at him.
"What do you want?" She hissed.
"This meeting is going to run late. Unless you have anything you feel you should share with us, have the house elf Tipsy take you to your room. She will see to your needs." He commanded.
She just glared at him, "Yes, Father." She chirped sarcastically, taking one of Draco's shaking hands, "Draco and I are going to bed now." She smiled at the rest of the table, "You all have a good evening. Don't let my brother kill too many of you. His temper is dreadfully short..."
"Miranda!" Voldemort cut her off, "As happy as I am to be reunited with you, go to your room, and leave Draco."
"Why should I leave Draco?" She demanded.
"He is one of my Death Eaters, Miranda, he is a part of this meeting." He replied, scarcely controlling his anger.
Miranda smiled, walking towards her brother, "Tom, you just gave him to me. He is mine to do what I please with. He stays with me at all times."
He looked like he wanted to fight her, but recognized the look in her eyes. "Very well, but he is to meet with Severus every evening at eight sharp."
She kissed her brother's corpse on the cheek, dumping the snake back into his lap, earning a hiss from the creature. "Thank you, Brother. Have a pleasant evening." Miranda whispered to him.
"Happy dreams, Sister." He mumbled.
She grinned at Draco lavaciously, "I do believe they will be. Goodnight all!" She called cheerily as she led Draco out of the room.
Sleep came to Harry in the form of nightmares. He couldn't get that look out of his mind, that last look Miranda had given him. She had looked so hopeless. No way she could survive Nagini. No one else had. He had spent the entire day staring at the locket. He wanted to destroy it, but it was the only thing he had left that she had treasured. He wanted to keep it until the last possible moment, He fell asleep with it in his hand, tucked under his chin like she had once been every night.
But the locket wasn't just Miranda's, it still held that deadly part of Voldemort that wanted to destroy Harry before he could destroy it. It fed off Harry's grief and made a stage for the quickest way it could tell to break Harry's spirit.
"I'll give you what you seek." Said the locket as it worked it's way into Harry's dreams, bent on seducing him into a world he couldn't resist and then ripping it from him.
In Harry's dream, he could smell Miranda, "Harry? Love, you need to wake up." He heard Miranda's voice say.
He opened his eyes and found her standing across an oddly familiar bedroom over a man that looked just like him who was laying a bed, but they were both older. She was wearing a ruffled black dress, her hair in a loose tie on the side of her neck. "Miranda?" Older him said groggily.
She straightened up and turned her back to him, "Zip me up? We must get to the pub! Ginny, Ron and 'Mione will be there any minute! I can not believe you fell asleep!"
The older man shook his head to clear it and zipped up the back of her dress, running his hand intimately up the length of her spine as he did so, planting a kiss just above the top of the zipper on the back of her neck. She sighed and he smiled in satisfaction. He brushed his fingers just under the hem of the dress and Miranda scowled, moving away from him, "We're almost late already. No time for any funny business right now."
He sighed in disappointment, "Too bad." She pulled on black strappy high heels, and Older Harry laughed, "How you walk in those, I will never understand." He looked down at his shiny black loafers, "Why can't women wear sensible shoes and still look fashionable?"
She arched an eyebrow at him, "Harry, really? After all this time, you still ask fashion questions? Ask your daughter. If she'll speak to you, that is. She was rather angry with you earlier. I think we're lucky she hasn't got to Hogwarts yet."
The older version of him looked just as confused as he was, "Why's she angry at me?"
Miranda smiled her familiar sarcastic smile, "Harry, remember the days when you could tell her you spent all day fighting evil to save princesses? Well, they're coming to a swift close. She's noticing when you get hurt."
"So heroes can't get hurt?" He asked.
She rolled her eyes, and Harry noticed them for the first time. They were her stunning hazel, uninfluenced by magic. By all appearances, however, she could see. "No, they can't. You scared us to death when you came home today." She said, worry creasing her face, the corners of her eyes crinkling.
"Why?" Older Harry asked. She looked close to tears, but of the angry kind. She took a few deep breaths and took her hand off her wand, simply going up to him and pressing a hand hard into his left side. He doubled over, clutching the spot just below his ribs with a kneeing cry.
"That's why you great bafoon! We could tell you were hurt! You were favoring your left side, and when she hugged you we saw you flinch." She tugged up his dress shirt revealing a dark, widespread bruise, obviously a curse mark. She hissed at the wound, running her fingers over it gingerly, "I don't care what you say, but Ginny's going to look at this. You've probably broken a rib or two."
"'Randa, is that really necessary?"
"Yes." She said stubbornly, jaw set.
"It will heal up in a few days, and I'll be fine!" Older Harry protested.
She kissed him, "That well maybe true, but you need to be more careful. Can't very well expect me to get the kids through Hogwarts on my own, can you?"
He chuckled, straightening his shirt, "Alright, I'll let Gin look at it, and for the record I think you and the kids would do just fine without me."
She looked upset, "No, Harry, we wouldn't be fine. We'll always need you. We may not have a perfect life, but it would be a lot worse without you in it."
He grinned and kissed her soundly, "You bet, now where are those kids of ours?"
"I haven't the slightest idea. They get their sense of urgency from you, not me." Smiling, she went to the bedroom door, and Harry realized abruptly that they were in Grimmauld Place. "We're flooing in one minute! Hurry up, darlings!"
"Coming, Mum!" Said a high-pitched voice, followed shortly after by a crashing noise from the floor above.
Miranda grimaced, "That'd be the hall table." She giggled a little, calling out into the hall, "Is anyone hurt?"
A little girl flung herself through the door, and into Miranda's arms, "Mummy!"
Miranda stroked the girl's dark red hair, "Hush now, love, are you hurt?"
Harry gasped when the child lifted her head from her mother's shoulder. She had his eyes, bright green in a pale face flushed with exhalation, smiling toothily at him past wild red hair. "Dumbo blew up the table again."
"Don't call your brother that." Miranda snapped, looking stern as she started to the door, "Alright, that's enough! Get in here!" A dark haired boy skid into the bedroom, obviously a few years older than his sister. "Why did you blow up the table?" She asked him.
"I didn't do it! She did!" The boy said, holding up his hands, pointing at his sister.
"I did not!" The girl chirped.
"Did too!"
Miranda glared at Older Harry, amused despite the frustration, "They're all yours."
From there, the nightmare was always the same, they would end up in a nice pub with Ginny, Ron and Hermione. Miranda would take Older Harry's hand and make plans with Ron and Hermione to go to Diagon Alley in order to get books for their kids very first year at Hogwarts.
That was always the end of the happy part of his nightmares, after that, clouds would start to roll in, darkening the windows outside. No one but Harry would notice, and by the time the little girl with his eyes pointed it out, it was too late. Voldemort would appear with Nagini. Voldemort would snatch up the boy, holding his wand into the head of dark hair. "I told you I would end this, Harry Potter."
"Let him go!" Dream Miranda would run at her son, but Nagini would strike her down just as she had in real life.
The little girl would scream, lunging to her dying mother, "Mummy! Please! Mummy!"
Dream Harry would shove his daughter into Ginny's arms, "Take her! Now!" Ginny would apperate away, and it would be just Hermione and Ron standing behind him, their wands outstretched again.
Miranda's real death replayed again. Voldemort would kill Ron, then the little black haired boy. Hermione was always last before the older version of Harry himself was killed at Voldemort's hands.
Once the dream ended, Miranda once again became just a dead girl, and Harry would wake up in a dead sweat. He couldn't get the image of his friends' dead faces out of his mind, and that was what kept him from losing it.
He was going to make certain that Hermione lived through this war. He'd lost so much already, and losing her would be the last straw. Ron too. Although he had yet to return, Harry kept faith in the confidence Miranda had had in him. He had to believe in everything she had told him. In his mind, Miranda shared space with Dumbledore, Sirius, and his parents, and nothing could change that.
Let me know what you think!
-Jenn