Bellatrix followed Arcturus into his office. "Sit," Arcturus said sternly. Bellatrix sat across from the headmaster's desk. "Now, tell me, were you the one who sent Narcissa that warning?" Arcturus asked, not wasting a moment.
"Yes," Bellatrix admitted honestly. "How did you know?"
"You're not the only Slytherin here," Arcturus reminded her. "Who else would write a note to Narcissa, of all people, a note that indicates that whoever sent it had inside information that only a Death Eater would know?"
Bellatrix was frustrated. She hated it when someone else could figure her out. "And what would you have had me do? Tell Sirius or Regulus? Or Andromeda, the traitor who married a Mudblood? Not a chance!" she said coldly.
"Do NOT use that word in my presence!" Arcturus said sternly. "There will be no name-calling here. I am not saying that you should have told someone else. I was just telling you why I thought it was you who wrote that note. I have to admit, you did the right thing by telling Narcissa, and for telling her to inform me."
"I didn't do it to be nice," Bellatrix stated.
"Oh, I am sure you didn't," Arcturus replied. "But whatever the reason behind why you sent that note, thank you. Now, let's talk about what just happened in Hogsmeade. I know you tortured many people today, and I was about ready to report you to the Aurors, but then something happened that was quite interesting, and unexpected from someone like you."
"What is it?" Bellatrix snapped. She had a feeling she already knew what he wanted to talk about, but she needed to hear it just to be sure.
"You risked your life. You took a sacrifice, you defied Voldemort," Arcturus began, but was rudely interrupted.
"Don't say his name!" Bellatrix snarled.
"I can say his name if I wish to," Arcturus stated firmly. "Now, as I was saying, you risked your life when you jumped in front of Narcissa, taking the Cruciatus Curse for her."
"Yes, well, don't get used to it," Bellatrix said.
Arcturus knew that Bellatrix would never admit it, but she clearly did care for her sister. After a moment's pause, Arcturus finally spoke. "While it is a good thing that you warned us about the attack and that you protected Narcissa, you do realize that Voldemort will be quite angry with you, do you not? How do you plan to handle that?"
Bellatrix glared at him. "Yes, I am perfectly aware," she snapped. "Knowing the Dark Lord, he will torture or kill me. So what? It's not like anyone cares enough to keep me, Bellatrix, safe! So, you ask what I'll do? The answer is, I don't know. I will have to go face him eventually, and the longer you keep me here, the more angry he will be."
Arcturus took out his wand, waving it in Bellatrix's direction. A blue light surrounded her for a moment before fading.
"I just cast a protection charm on you, and while it will not keep every spell from hitting you, it will help," Arcturus explained. "Now, go. I believe our conversation is over. And thank you for what you did regarding your note to Narcissa and for protecting her from the Cruciatus Curse."
Bellatrix knew that Arcturus was protecting her, perhaps not going out of his way to do so, but just enough to keep her from being severely injured or killed, and that was more than she had expected from the patriarch who had disowned her from the Black family. She left Hogwarts quickly, knowing that she needed to get back to Voldemort immediately.
She stood in front of Voldemort nervously, though she didn't show it. "Bellatrix," Voldemort hissed angrily. "What were you thinking, you traitor? You told the Blacks of our plan, didn't you?"
"N-no, of course not, my Lord," Bellatrix stuttered.
"DO NOT LIE TO ME!" Voldemort roared. "Crucio!" Bellatrix found herself under the horrible curse that she knew all too well, but it didn't hurt as bad as usual. Sure, it still hurt a lot, but the pain was less, which had to be because of Arcturus' protection charm. But of course, she still had to act like it hurt as much as it usually did, so Voldemort didn't suspect anything off.
As time passed, Bellatrix had one thought: whether she liked her former family or not, Arcturus had still protected her, and she was very grateful for that.
"This is your one and only warning, Bellatrix," Voldemort said. "Defy me again, and you'll not even have a chance to say goodbye to your dear sister!"
Meanwhile, Orion sat in his home that Andromeda had helped him find. As they had discussed, he had cast the Fidelius Charm, and he was his own Secret Keeper. The only person he had given the secret to was Andromeda. He had not seen her since she had the baby, but today, she was going to come over.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. Orion answered it, and there stood Andromeda.
"Andromeda," Orion greeted.
"Uncle Orion, it is good to see you," Andromeda answered.
Once they were seated in the sitting room, Orion asked, "Where's your baby? I thought you would have brought it with you."
Andromeda smiled. "Her name is Nymphadora, though we call her Dora," she explained. "And to answer your question, Ted is looking after her right now, while I'm here."
"You're having a Mudblood watch the baby?" Orion asked, clearly not liking this one bit.
"Don't call Muggle-borns that name," Andromeda admonished. "Ted was nice enough to write to you when I couldn't come because I was having Dora."
"He's still a Muggle-born," Orion stated.
Andromeda sighed. Over the past several months, they had talked about many things, but they had not yet touched on the subject of Muggle-borns. Perhaps it was time to talk about this.
"Alright, we need to talk about this," she announced.
Orion scowled. He was not looking forward to this conversation. Before now, they had mostly talked about his years at Hogwarts, but he should have known that she would eventually want to get into more personal topics.