Hydrus sat in the Great Hall, not bothering with any manners as he covered his eyes with his hand and magically levitated food into his mouth. The Slytherin table was as quiet as he'd ever heard it, no one daring to break the silence he'd mutely demanded with a glare to Zabini for laughing too loudly. The other houses were up to their usual morning shenanigans, but at least they were far enough away to not be too bothersome.

He'd already drained three glasses of water and mowed through what felt like a pound of bacon and sausage. Then the contents of his stomach had begun to revolt, so he had to perform a tricky bit of self-paralysis on his esophagus. He'd followed that up with simply vanishing the contents away, thus starting his breakfast over again. Pomfrey would have a fit if she heard what he'd done, the risks to such delicate spells were monumental, and doing all that just because of a bad hangover was like playing Russian roulette over a stick of gum.

Still, he'd done worse for less.

"Er, Hydrus…" He pulled his fingers apart slightly to see Daphne was holding out a copy of the Daily Prophet. "Have you seen this?"

He grunted and magically grabbed the paper, bringing it closer so he wouldn't have to strain to see the article she'd been gesturing at. It was an advertisement from some private social club announcing a competition for creating magical items. The grand prize was apparently membership and a five-hundred galleon grant towards 'further advancements of the entrepreneurial minded individual's talents'. He lowered the paper to look at Daphne.

"My uncle is a member," she said, still keeping her voice low. "I remember what you did to the train, and everyone knows you're top of Runes class… So I figured…"

As she trailed off cringing, he grunted. "Michael."

"Y-, Yeah?"

"Go get Granger," he said. "And be polite."

"Right."

He re-covered his eyes and waited. The newspaper was kept floating beside him, making it a bit tricky to also continue to levitate food into his mouth, but he managed. He chewed on the bites of meat mechanically, more like a cow mashing cud than anything, and swallowing them down with the aid of more water. He'd heard from someone… Maybe Sirius? He couldn't remember, but someone had told him once that greasy foods were the best thing for a hangover. Someone smarter had said to just drink water, so he made sure to do both.

"Hydrus?" Hermione's voice was annoyingly loud. "What'd you need?"

He severed the advertisement from the paper, then 'handed' it to where her voice had come from. "How's your ring coming along?"

There was some silence at first as she read. "Uh, it's fine. It's now able to fit the wearer's finger no matter what. I've also set it up so that when you 'bond' with the ring, if it's lost or stolen it'll return to you within twenty-four hours. I made it so it can sign and seal things, just like you said the Black ring could.

"I tied that function into the bonding matrix too, so that way if someone who wasn't the original wearer tried putting it on, the 'signing' function would reverse itself and leave a permanent mark on the person's finger." Hermione hummed. "It took a while to figure out how to thin and stretch the ring a bit so that way I could fit in more runes, but once I managed that I was also able to fit in a reusable portkey function that's powered by the ring's ability to return to the wearer, that way it can take you to anywhere you set up at least once before needing to be re-enchanted."

Hydrus pulled his hand away from his eyes and saw that Hermione hadn't come alone; Harry, Ron, and Dianne were all with her too.

"We've really got to figure out how to get Babbling to bump you up a grade or two." Hermione grinned until he finished his 'compliment'. "I don't know what year they teach it in, but if you needed more space you should've just started with a set of expansion runes; I can't imagine how much time you wasted trying to scrape such tiny markings into that thing."

"Oh." Hermione's face fell. "You're right, I can't believe I didn't think of that."

He waved his hand. "It's fine. Now you know, and it'll be easier for you to make the rest of them. For now I only need two more, but you should make another for yourself so that way they'll all be the same shape. Make one more than that, so you can submit it to that contest."

"Do you think I should?" Hermione asked. "It's not really…"

"The upside to you having such limited space was that it forced you to overlap the schemes," Hydrus said. "The transportation function, the signing portion; you made them multipurpose facets of the overall matrix, which is great. Just make sure to enter as 'Hermione Granger, Scion of House Slytherin' when you fill out the form."

The girl bit her lip, clearly unsure of herself, but Hydrus was confident she'd do fine. She didn't even need to win, just the name she used would get people's attention, and that was what really mattered. If anyone tried confronting her over it, she'd come to him, and he'd get the opportunity to make an example of whomever it was.

"Okay," Hermione finally said. "I will."

"Good. If you need any financial support, just let me or Professor Black know." He turned back towards his food. "And well done, you're making me proud to call you family, adopted or not."

Hydrus waved her off without bothering to see if she actually left. Now that his eyes had adjusted he didn't bother to hide them again, and instead just redoubled his efforts to get some breakfast inside him that he wouldn't have to vanish away. All of his housemates were shooting him perturbed looks.

"Well that was certainly something," Zabini said quietly. "I didn't realise you and Granger were so… Close."

Hydrus was busy mulching a too-large bite of toast to respond, and Draco took the opportunity instead. "Said it at the beginning of the year, didn't he? He'll make use of anyone if they're skilled, no matter what house they're in."

"But Granger?" Zabini sneered at the blonde. "At least the Weasleys are purebloods, destitute wretches or not."

"Last I checked, she's still got you beat in classes," Draco said. "The only ones here who even take Runes besides Hydrus are Shnopps and Dour, you think either of them could've done all that to the ring?"

Blaise opened his mouth to respond, but was distracted by some of the plates and platters on the table shifting for seemingly no reason. Hydrus swallowed down another gulp of water as Apophis made his way towards the Zabini heir.

"What the hell is—"

The boy locked up as he finally felt the invisible snake begin to coil around him. His eyes bulged open and although the other Slytherins were confused at first, it became apparent that something was happening when the boy's throat became indented.

"Loosen just a bit," Hydrus whispered in Parseltongue. The ring around the boy's neck became less apparent. "Blaise… It's alright to disagree with me. It's alright to think my decisions are foolish. It's alright to challenge me."

He gave a slow, exaggerated show of draining the rest of his glass, making sure to swish it around in his mouth before swallowing it and smacking his lips as he finished.

"But if you insult those I've chosen to call my own, whether they carry my blood or not, there will be consequences."

Everyone at the table shrank away from the other teen when Apophis, still invisible, hissed, "Bad human, bad!"

Hydrus snorted at his familiar's scathing remark, then silently recalled him back. Blaise slumped down in his chair, sweat pouring from his brow, and began to tremble. Apophis wrapped himself back up around Hydrus's shoulders.

"I'm sorry." Blaise kept his head bowed. "Won't happen again."

"Good." Hydrus stood, and the rest of the group joined him. "Come on. I want to find the quietest part of the Charm's classroom to sit in."

Bellatrix gave a tight smile to the man who tried to stop and flirt with her under the guise of claiming to be a fan, then pushed past him without actually saying anything. She was making her way through the DoMGS and everyone stopped to stare at her as she went. This and her uncle's departments were the only two she ever visited, but it had been several months now since her pseudo-retirement from the duelling circuit.

Today she had an appointment with a boorish, boar-ish woman who would hopefully shed some light on Hydrus's third task. The Defence professor had taken the day off with Dumbledore's approval once she said it was, unspecifically, to help Hydrus. After that Bellatrix had an ambush planned, but she set those thoughts aside for now. If she let last night's ominous words affect her too early she'd make a mistake.

"Miss Black!" Bellatrix really pushed away those thoughts now. "What a pleasure it is to meet you!"

Dolores Umbridge had to be at least the third most hideous person Bellatrix had ever met, right behind the roach-monkey Hydrus had given her, and that Bones woman who'd been hugging him. The woman was some unimportant lackey with more supervisors than underlings, but apparently she was in the know. She was wearing a tacky, pink dress and the rest of her accessories ranged from a dark magenta to nearly white, all completely clashing with one another. When the woman held out her hand to shake Bellatrix's, the Black scion briefly contemplated skipping this whole mess and just taking care of her more pressing business.

"Yes, quite the pleasure," she eventually said. "I look forward to sharing my expertise today."

Officially this meeting was for Bellatrix to weigh in on some unimportant rule deliberations going on in the British duelling circuit.

"Oh I bet you are!" Umbridge wiggled back and forth like a worm as she gave the most unsubtle wink imaginable. "Come! My office is right over here!"

Bellatrix followed after her with a sneer once the other woman's back was turned, and when they reached the space it made her want to vomit. She could've predicted that the office would have the same colour scheme as her wardrobe, but even beyond that the decor practically screamed I'm going to die alone. There were decorative plates adorning the walls, pictures of tortured pets clothed in various dresses and robes, and the nose-wrinkling smell of a perfume so old that it made Bellatrix wonder if Umbridge had dug up her great-grandmother to find it. It took all of one look at the woman's chairs for the future Lady of House Black to draw her wand and transfigure one of the peach monstrosities into a proper, respectable seat.

"Oh my," Umbridge said, an obvious twitch in her eye at having her furniture changed. "Well, your skills certainly haven't gotten rusty."

It took all of Bellatrix's willpower not to roll her eyes as she sat down. These past few months had been spent listening to whispers and moving coins to try and find someone in the department who'd be willing to share the secrets of the Triwizard Tournament. Apparently some operation in the DMLE had failed this summer, and it had sent sweeping policy changes throughout the entire Ministry to lock up loose lips.

Luckily for her, and her little water snake, there was always someone who'd be willing to bend the rules for personal benefit.

"Shall we get down to business?" Bellatrix asked. "I want to know everything about the third trial."

"Yes, of course!" Umbridge said with a saccharine smile. "Well, I'll have you know we spared no expense in purchasing the tomb itself. We got into quite the bidding war with some Italian gentleman, but we managed to bring it home in the end." She puffed out her chest like a toad about to croak. "I put up no less than fifty galleons of my own money, and it inspired others in the department to do the same."

'You didn't inspire anyone, you stupid hag,' Bellatrix thought. 'You just embarrassed them into putting up more money so the country wouldn't be humiliated with such a pittance.'

Honestly, just the thought of contributing a mere fifty galleons to such a monumental purchase was ridiculous. Unless she was trying to insult someone, anyways. Then it might work to show how little she cared about whatever they were bidding over.

"Those wretched little monsters at Gringotts tried giving a bidding extension to the Italian, but we said nuh-uh." The woman wagged her sausage link of a finger back and forth. "Just for trying it, we made them give us a discount when we hired their curse-breakers to become curse-makers!"

'No, they decided since you were going to give them even more money, they'd sell to you.' Honestly, it was like she had to translate everything the woman said. 'You miserable…'

"And boy, did they really give it the works." Umbridge was rubbing her trotters together. "They've put confounding charms everywhere. At every corner, doorway, and stairwell there's a new one, of all sorts of different varieties. Some are baked into those rune thingies, others were directly cursed." She leaned in conspiratorially. "Some of the walls even have creatures living inside them; little whelks that cause anyone who gets too close to become stricken with vertigo."

"I see," Bellatrix said, finally acknowledging the woman's words to encourage her to stick to this sort of information. "What other sorts of creatures will be there?"

Umbridge put on a face that mimicked the one Bellatrix wanted to make just being here. "The worst. Everything from dementors to a dullahan, even a, um…" The woman glanced down at a stack of papers. "A… 'tan-aye-wuh'."

'Aha,' Bellatrix thought. "May I see those?"

"Oh, um, I couldn't possibly do that," Umbridge said, pushing the papers away slightly, a worried grin on her face. "They're confidential, I shouldn't even still have—"

"Uh-huh." Bellatrix drew her wand. "Stupefy."

She stood, reached over, and snatched up the dossier. Umbridge stared back impotently, eyes wide, as Bellatrix began to flip through it. Inside was everything from the specific charms and wards that were used, to the various beasts and monsters they'd imported in, to all of the vendors they'd gone through to acquire such things. She grinned victoriously.

"I'll be taking this." She tucked it into the inside of her robes. "Something tells me that you even having it, let alone allowing it to get leaked, would be far more damaging for your reputation than mine."

Without bothering to undo her binding, she left. A few people gave her knowing smirks as she left, no doubt thinking that she'd just lost her patience with the awful toad, and the Black scion made her way to the same floo she'd arrived from in the department head's office. The man was off in meetings twenty-four-seven these days, according to his assistant, but he wouldn't mind that the nation's finest duellist was making use of it in the meantime.

It was finally time to get to the bottom of things.

"Amelia Bones Residence." The floo flashed green, but didn't actually carry her anywhere. She gave an indignant scoff as she realised the woman must've updated her wards. "You bitch."

She stomped out of the office and made her way to the DMLE. The idiot who'd tried flirting with her before showed her the way there, then she found another idiot to point out Bones' office. After brushing that one off, she rapped her knuckles against the door.

A few seconds passed before a voice called, "Come in." Bellatrix pushed open the door and Bones immediately glared at her. "What do you want?"

"I need to see my cousin." She folded her arms in front of her chest. "Where is he?"

"I wish I knew." Bones had the audacity to wave her hand, as if she could just dismiss Bellatrix like that. "Didn't show up for work today for Morgana knows what reason."

The Black scion growled, she had wanted to avoid doing this. "Kreacher!" The house elf appeared with a whip-like crack. "Where is Sirius?"

"Kreacher will find out, Mistress Bella." It bowed and popped away. A second passed before he reappeared. "Blood Traitor is being with filthy wolf man."

"For fuck's sake," Bones said, shooting to her feet. "Of course he's with Lupin. Because why would he show up to work like an actual adult."

Maybe Bones wasn't as bad Bellatrix thought.

"Ugh, I'm gonna wring his neck." Bellatrix silently followed the woman into her office's floo, and although Bones shot her a dirty look, she didn't say anything before throwing down the powder. "Moony Manor."

"Move!"

Bellatrix launched herself to the right as Bones mirrored her dodge on the opposite side. For just half a second she managed to see some black-and-white ball of fur fly past her and into the fireplace. It let out an awful screech as it fell into the now-harmful flames and Bellatrix's head whipped back around to see her cousin drenched in sweat and blood.

Whatever this 'Moony Manor' was, something was definitely wrong. There were a few candles spreading light throughout the small den, and everywhere that wasn't too dark to see was purple. The walls, ceilings, floors, and even the furniture were all just one matte shade of the colour and it almost made her miss Umbridge's office. It seemed to be spreading too since her cousin was also purple from the bottoms of his boots up to his knees.

Sirius wiped the sweat from his face, showing off several thin rows of scratches that had probably come from the creature he'd just immolated. "Now's really not a good time you two, so much so that I'm not even going to ask why the fuck you're together."

"What the hell is going on?" Bellatrix demanded. Her 'ambush' wasn't going to plan at all. "What happened?"

"Hydrus happened," a new voice said.

Bellatrix and Bones both turned to see another man sitting on the ground, the purple had already covered him up to his shoulders and he looked defeated. He had one knee pulled up to his chest, his arms crossed around it, and he was staring up at the ceiling with his head resting against the purple wall. Bellatrix hadn't seen her cousin's half-blood friend Lupin in decades, but she assumed that's who this was.

"I promise, as soon as I finish killing these raccoons, I'll come to wor—" Sirius was interrupted by the blaring sound of music. Every note seemed to shake the entire home. "Why won't that stupid thing stay off!"

Her cousin stomped off, hands thrown up into the air, as Bellatrix cast a silencing spell around the room. "What do you mean when you say 'Hydrus happened'?"

The man sighed. "I mean he asked me for my help with a project. I told Sirius about it. He did all this as payback." He turned as another racoon came waddling down the stairs, and Bellatrix wondered how on earth her cousin had managed to be injured by such a fat little thing. "Don't touch it. They act nice till you try to get rid of them."

"Well, you shouldn't have betrayed Hydrus's trust then." She stuck out her chin. "You get what you deserve."

"Right, well, either way," Lupin said as Sirius wandered back in and froze at the sight of the raccoon. "It's his kid, so this is his problem."

"Oh for…" Bellatrix drew her wand and pointed it at the beast as Sirius tried to sneak up on it. "Diffindo!"

"No!" Lupin and Sirius shouted in sync.

The spell rebounded off the raccoon and punched a hole in the wall behind Bellatrix as she narrowly dodged out of the way. Next came the creature itself however, and it launched itself at Bellatrix like a bludger. Her eyes widened and she took a step back, another curse on her lips, when the snake Hydrus had given her decided to make a move.

It leapt off her wrist and met the racoon in midair. The reptile wrapped itself around the beast's throat like a collar, then constricted so tight that for just a brief second it was almost comedic. The furry ball of hate's momentum nearly carried it all the way into Bellatrix before it evaporated into mist. The snake kept going however, and landed right on her shoulder. She was paralysed in shock at how fast all that happened as the snake slithered back down her arm until it was settled on her wrist once more.

"Don't do that again," Sirius said, shoulders sagged in relief. "These things are insane."

Bellatrix sucked her teeth at the man's 'order'. "Clearly."

Her cousin turned to Bones, who'd just been watching everything with a slack jaw and dim look on her face. "I'm sorry, babe. As I was saying, as soon as I'm done clearing out these pests I'll come to work."

"Still haven't figured out how to get rid of the purple…" Lupin said with a sigh. "So much purple…"

"Why don't you just get Hydrus to clean this up?" Bones asked. "I'm sure he has an easier way than this."

"I can handle it!" Sirius argued, cheeks flushed. "I took down the entire Clock Turn gang, I can handle a bunch of rodents."

"Not rodents." The werewolf seemed to be talking more to himself than anyone. "Just an American mammal."

"I'll go get Hydrus," Bellatrix said. She didn't want to bother her little water snake, but she needed information more than that. "I don't have time for this."

She turned and flooed back to her office, then made her way towards Binns' classroom. The spot on her arm that told her when she was getting closer to Hydrus grew warmer as she approached, confirming that he hadn't skipped the pointless class, and everyone in the room stared at her when she entered.

"Hm?" Binns grunted, clearly perturbed at the interruption. "What's this then?"

Bellatrix ignored him. "Hydrus, I need to see you in my office."

Her love cocked an eyebrow at her, but still stood. "Draco, take care of my things."

He patted her nephew on the back and made his way down as Binns gave a huff. "Now see here—"

"Triwizard Tournament business," Bellatrix interrupted as Hydrus approached. "As champion, Hydrus has permission to do what he pleases."

"Ahhhh…" The ghost nodded at the explanation. "I see, I see… Yes, I remember when I was champion…"

Every head in the auditorium, hers and Hydrus's included, snapped towards the ancient spectre.

"What a time that was… I can still remember the nettles." The ghost actually shivered. "Well, I wish you the best of luck young man. Be wary of trap doors, hm?"

"Uh… Right." Hydrus bowed slightly. "I'll be sure to remember that."

The pair left, and her little water snake immediately turned to her. "Did you know he was a champion? How many centuries ago would that have been?"

"No, I didn't." Bellatrix suddenly wondered if perhaps 'Binns' was an old family that had died out long ago. "Hard to imagine."

Hydrus grunted an agreement. "What's this about?"

She hated lying to her love, but she knew he'd just lie to her if she tried pressing him for the truth directly. "Grandfather needs Sirius for something, wouldn't tell me what, but he's refusing to come because he's cleaning up the punishment you gave to the werewolf."

"Why can't he just leave him alone…" Hydrus muttered, face twisting into a gnarled frown for a moment. "Fine. Come on."

They made their way back to her office, and Bellatrix tried not to pout too much at the fact that she couldn't hold his hand thanks to the chance a student or teacher would see them. When they flooed back to Moony Manor, Bones was gone and Lupin was still just sitting by himself against the wall. Before she could demand to know where Sirius had gone, the man came tumbling down the stairs cursing and shouting as another one of the raccoons bit and clawed at him.

A magical sound filled the air then, and she turned to see Hydrus laughing. It wasn't some sardonic chuckle or madness-fueled giggle, it wasn't a polite laugh at some unfunny joke. Her love was doubled over in laughter that rocked through him, and he even fell against her side and threw his head back as he continued on.

Her heart melted.

"It's not funny!" Sirius roared. Hydrus's laughter only grew. "Get it off me!"

As her fiance wiped his eyes, still snorting and trying to hold back, he hissed something out. Apophis appeared, to her surprise given the company, and the snake began to slither forward. Hydrus hissed something else, and the snake turned back to apparently just roll his eyes at his 'father' before continuing forward. Lupin had leapt to his feet, wand palmed, and Sirius froze at the sight of the feathered serpent. Once her cousin had stopped fighting, so too did the raccoon, and it freed itself from his grasp before beginning to waddle away.

Apophis lunged at the mammal, destroying it as soon as his fangs plunged into the artificial being.

"There," Hydrus said, still grinning. "How many have you done so far?"

"That's a basilisk…" Lupin said, stiff as a board. "What in Merlin's name are you doing with a basilisk?"

"He's my familiar," Hydrus chirped back. "Go on, Apophis. Go say hi to your 'grandfather'."

The teen had a vicious smirk on his face as his father stepped back and away from the approaching creature. "That's not funny."

"Come on," Hydrus said. "He's friendly."

Sirius tensed up as his back hit the wall and Apophis began to slither up onto him. "Hydrus…"

"You'll need him to deal with the rest of them." Hydrus waved his hand dismissively. "Go on, he'll protect you from the big, bad raccoons."

A part of Bellatrix wanted to 'scold' Hydrus for goofing around, but she'd never in their entire time together heard him laugh like that. Even now he was smiling a gentle sort of smile that he rarely, if ever, wore around her. It fueled a pyre of jealousy within her, but she had to beat it down if she wanted to get to the bottom of things.

"And the purple?" Bellatrix asked as her cousin tenderly began to make his way upstairs. "It's gotten onto my shoes."

"That's easy." He turned to Lupin. "You sure about this? I think the colour really—"

"Just make it stop." The werewolf was pinching the brow of his nose. "Please."

"Suit yourself." Hydrus pointed his wand at the wall beside the other man, and began going through an odd series of gestures. "Fungmortus."

Immediately the awful colour began to flake away into a greyish powder, and Bellatrix pulled out a handkerchief to cover her mouth and nose as the stuff began to practically snow down around them. She only had to protect herself for another moment before Hydrus waved his wand again and vanished away the stuff.

"Wait, that was mould?" Lupin asked. "You infected my entire house with mould because of something you had to have known would happen?"

Hydrus shrugged. "Just be glad you weren't actually here when I did it. I nearly had Tonks in tears with how I—"

"Wait, Tonks?" Bellatrix interrupted, shocked. "Andromeda's husband?"

Hydrus rolled his eyes at her. "No, their daughter."

"What?" Bellatrix scoffed. "I didn't even know they had a daughter; how come she and the werewolf get to help but you won't let me?"

"You don't know runes," he said. "And you'd scare the other members away."

The werewolf snorted at that, but Bellatrix ground her teeth. "Hydrus…"

Before she could 'explain' just how ridiculous that notion was, Sirius came bursting down the stairs once more. "The snake leapt out the window!"

Lupin gasped, but Hydrus just frowned and furrowed his brows. "That doesn't sound like… Oh!" He snapped his fingers. "He probably heard the animals on the roof."

The werewolf whirled back to Hydrus. "The roof?"

"He'll be fine," her little water snake said. "It won't take him long to—"

He was interrupted by the window beside Lupin shattering. The werewolf wrenched his wand to the side and cast a cutting jinx that harmlessly slammed against Apophis's scales. Her and Hydrus's 'son' didn't so much as twitch at the attack as he just continued on his way back up onto Hydrus's shoulders. Her beloved hissed something at him, and the snake bumped their heads together.

"Why the hell did you pick a basilisk to be your familiar?" Sirius demanded.

Bellatrix turned to snap at him, but froze.

For just half a moment, Sirius actually frightened her. She'd always known how powerful her cousin was; it was what drove her to eventually surpass him. But for just a fraction of a second she'd looked at him and seen their grandfather, and the disappointment he constantly levied out to them.

"I didn't," Hydrus said with unabashed bemusement. "He picked me. Isn't that right?"

He'd finished in a cooing tone and Apophis responded by rubbing his head against his cheek even more.

"You're a creepy little shit sometimes," Sirius grumbled. "You know that?"

"Ha," Hydrus barked back. "If you're so 'creeped out', then you should just leave me alone."

"Not gonna happen." Sirius folded his arms in front of his chest. "Now go fix the damned record player."

"Not gonna happen," Hydrus parroted. "Go see what Arcturus wants and quit bothering Bella."

Without waiting for Sirius to make the obvious play of repeating the three words again, Hydrus apparated away, shattering the home's wards. Bellatrix shivered in pleasure as his power washed over her. His strength had become so much more pure as of late, ever since he found whatever his 'work around' was for his magic hurting him.

"Oh come on…" the werewolf groaned. "I just fixed those."

Sirius rubbed at his forehead. "The hell does the old man want?"

"That's Lord Arcturus to you, mongrel," Bellatrix said, snarling. "And he doesn't. I need to speak with you about Hydrus."

At first her cousin looked like he was going to snap at her, but he tensed the moment she'd mentioned her Hydrus. "What about him?"

"Not here." She shot a dirty look at the werewolf who was just staring at his broken window. "Come to the family castle."

Sirius looked her up and down and Bellatrix nearly shivered at how much it reminded her of Arcturus. It really was disturbing how much he resembled the man; maybe that was why their patriarch had such a strong favouritism towards him? Unlike the current Black lord, however, eventually Sirius gave her a nod of approval.

"Fine," he said. "Let's go."

She apparated away, figuring she should take advantage of the road Hydrus had paved for her, and appeared in the same hall they'd hosted the ball in. After a few more seconds, Sirius finally joined her.

"Make it quick," he demanded. "What do you want?"

Bellatrix took a deep breath. She needed to keep herself as stable as possible for this despite how much fun it would be to finally destroy her cousin.

"Has Hydrus ever said anything…" She licked her lips. "Strange, to you?"

Sirius furrowed his brows at her. "What?"

"Strange," she repeated, growling. "Something that doesn't make any sense, like it's…" Morgana, how did she explain this? "Like you're someone else?"

"What?" Sirius's eyes widened, but he quickly regained his composure. "You kidding me? I'm sure he's told you all about how he wants nothing do with me—"

"Don't lie to me!" Bellatrix screeched, nearly losing control for a moment. "He did, didn't he? I can see it all over your treacherous little face."

She'd chosen to confront Sirius because he was the one her Hydrus seemed to have the most respect for. Well, either him or the old codger. He put up a polite front for Arcturus, showed proper decorum towards his so-called 'betters' in social settings, but she knew with certainty that any one of them would die if he decided that was more advantageous. Sirius and Dumbledore were the only two he'd ever really defend if she insulted them, and of the two, Sirius was the one she was most confident she could push around.

"Lower your voice before I do it for you," Sirius growled back. "I don't answer to you, cunt."

She felt his magic begin to rise, and she sucked her teeth as she realised he was about to apparate away. "Wait!"

"Why should I?" His magic stopped. "Give me one good reason."

"I thought you cared about him." Bellatrix said, laying out the bait. "Don't you think if I'm concerned about this, you should be too?"

"Tch." He looked away. "I told you he's never said anything like that to me."

"And I called you a liar." Her nostrils flared. "You've never been able to hide any secrets from me."

Bellatrix had long ago picked up on the tells and ticks of her family, especially the annoying ones like Sirius or her awful sister.

"Even if I did, it's no business of yours." Sirius sneered at her. "I don't know how you got it in your head that I'd ever be willing to work with you, but you should pull your head out of your ass."

"Excuse me for thinking you'd be willing to help Hydrus," Bellatrix said, making sure her tone was as accusing as possible. "I guess he really was wrong about you."

She was sent stumbling backwards and onto the ground as Sirius's magic slammed against her. There wasn't even a second to try and react before he'd stomped on her chest, and her heart began to pound once she realised her magic was slowly draining away. Her cousin stared deep into her eyes, and for yet another first time today, she realised that maybe he did deserve to be called her cousin.

"I would do anything for my boy," he said, each word slow and deliberate. "And I'm getting real sick and tired of this family saying otherwise."

"Then help me," she said through gritted teeth. "Help me, help him."

Sirius's nose and eye twitched. "Whatever." He stepped off her, scraping his boot against her sternum and leaving a black mark on her skin as he went. Slowly his power began to fade. "I nearly got killed when a rune array exploded between us. He said he refused to see me die again."

Bellatrix's eyes widened.

"But I asked him about it, and he said he wasn't talking to me." Her cousin snorted bitterly. "Said there was some other guy who looked after him when he was a kid, who got himself killed trying to protect him. Said he didn't want to go through that again."

"He asked me not to make him kill me again." If her thoughts on what might be happening were true, she needed to be honest for once with the mongrel. "Named a bunch of people I supposedly killed."

"What?" Sirius was looking at her like she was mad, and it nearly made her so. "When? Why?"

"Last night. He came home drunk after meeting with Arcturus." Sirius's eye twitched again. "Said he killed me because I killed 'Nev's parents', 'the Patil twins', and 'Flitwick'."

"The Charms professor?" At least the man seemed to finally be realising how strange she'd meant earlier. "Did you?"

"No!" she snapped. "I've only ever duelled the man twice, and clearly he's still alive."

"Then why did he say that?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out." Bellatrix began to gnaw on her finger nails. "I'm not sure… But I think… I think somehow he might be telling the truth."

Sirius scoffed. "What?"

"I think it's something to do with that awful goddess of his." Sirius's eyes widened, and it made Bellatrix pull her hand away from her mouth. "You've seen her too, haven't you?"

"Just the once," he muttered. "Didn't much care for her."

At least on that front they agreed. The future Lady of House Black hadn't liked the trollop from the first second she laid eyes on her whorish, naked form. Her incomprehensible presence and power was the sole thing that had stayed Bellatrix's wand when she first appeared.

What a mistake that had been…

Sirius took a sharp breath. "Dumbledore knows."

"What?"

He wasn't even looking at her as he rubbed his jaw. "He told me himself that… That he has all the pieces to Hydrus's puzzle…"

'Damn it,' Bellatrix thought. 'I should've gone to him instead.'

"Come on." Sirius was striding towards the floo and Bellatrix was so caught off guard she stumbled before catching up. "I'm tired of these games."

Bellatrix only just barely got into the floo beside him when they flashed away. When they arrived at Dumbledore's office, she was nearly burned as she locked up at the sight of Hydrus already there, looking over a book on the headmaster's desk. Both of the powerful figures turned to them in shock, though Hydrus's expression took almost no time to turn to one of suspicion.

'Oh no.'

"Hydrus," Sirius said.

'No, no, no—'

"Are you able to turn back time?"

"Not without a time turner," he said with a snort. "What the hell's gotten into you?"

He… Hadn't lied. Not as far as Bellatrix could tell. Still, this was bad. She'd betrayed him again. What was he going to do to her?

"What about Magic?" Sirius demanded. "What would you have to sacrifice to pull something like that off?"

"That's Fate's domain, not hers." Hydrus stood and Bellatrix's eyes shot to his hand, waiting for his wand to descend. "I said—"

"Why'd you really say you refuse to see me die again?" Sirius pressed, not once breaking eye contact with the teen. "Why'd you say Bellatrix killed Flitwick? Why'd you say you killed her?"

Now Hydrus's fake confusion was replaced with genuinity. "What?"

"Sirius, Bella." Dumbledore stood. "Perhaps we should all—"

"Shut up." Hydrus said, staring down the most powerful man in the world without an ounce of trepidation. It would've left Bellatrix dripping had she not been so terrified. "I don't need you meddling in my affairs."

To her surprise, the headmaster just sighed and sat back down. 'Is he… pouting?'

"I don't know what insane ideas the two of you cooked up," Hydrus started. "But I already told you why I said that to you that day. As for you." When he looked at Bellatrix she nearly cried. It was like she could feel the anger and disappointment radiating off him. "To be quite frank, I don't know what sorts of inane dribble I spewed last night, but believe me when I say that it was just that. You of all people should know what Arcturus's personal stock is like."

She didn't.

She'd never been invited to share drinks with the man.

"I was just worried about you," Bellatrix offered, pathetically. "You were pleading with me not to make you kill me again."

Hydrus stiffened. "I do not plead."

"You did!" She shouted with a sniffle. "You said I was warm and that you made a curse that wasn't really better than the killing curse and—"

"Enough!" He shouted, flaring his magic, filling the room to the brim with the feeling of cold death. "Just—"

Fire.

Bellatrix felt like she was being burned alive. Like she hadn't really stepped out of the floo earlier and someone had just finished tossing oil on her. Like her skin was melting away and her bones were crumbling to dust. Like her blood was boiling while her very soul was being immolated.

"Careful, child," Dumbledore's voice seemed to echo around her. "Fawkes is quite fragile at the moment."

She gasped when the magic finally relented, and the only saving grace to her embarrassment was that Sirius did the same. The only one of the three Blacks who hadn't seemed bothered was Hydrus, who just rolled eyes.

"Fawkes has at least another week before he'd suffer from my magic's precense," he said. "And even then, he'd just go through an early revival."

The ancient warlock huffed at him. "That's no excuse to go bothering him."

"Yeah, yeah."

It really was incredible. The Black family's saving grace for the past few years had been Bellatrix's standing at the top of the duelling circuit, and to a much, much lesser degree her cousin being such an infamous auror. The two of them were world renowned figures who anyone would have to think twice about crossing. They, as any Black should, stood at the top of their dangerous professions and wouldn't need to hesitate in front of anyone.

Anyone besides the two other figures in this room, apparently.

"Please," Dumbledore said. "I know you're scared."

Her love's eye twitched. "I'm not scared. I just don't want to deal with any of their nonsense."

"It's not nonsense, Hydrus." The headmaster shook his head. "You've done this to yourself, don't you think you should take responsibility for it?"

"Or maybe I should just obliviate all three of you and be done with it." Hydrus paused for a moment, looking like something had bothered him for a moment, then shook his head. "I don't know what proof you two would need in order to know that I'm not a time traveller, but believe me when I say that neither Magic nor myself are capable of such a thing." He shook the stump of his left arm at them. "Don't you think I'd've done so to get my hand back?"

"Or maybe that was the price you paid," Sirius said. "I've never even heard of someone as talented as you with healing magic, and yet it's still missing."

"Because it was cursed off!" Hydrus snapped. "I can heal wounds, not make miracles."

"Magic can."

The father-son duo glared at each other and Bellatrix was as torn as she'd ever felt. A part of her wanted to kill Sirius for arguing with Hydrus, but another part was rooting for him. She needed to know why he was worried he'd kill her, what she needed to do to stop that.

"Fine." Hydrus's voice was cold. "Shall we call her up and slit your throat in sacrifice for that then? Wanna give up your life in exchange for a mere hand?"

"Well then just who did you kill to get a slice of other families' power then?" Sirius said. "Who'd you kill?"

"A friend I'd known for years." Hydrus slid his thumb across his throat. "Cut his throat and drew the symbol of my faith in his blood."

Sirius's nose wrinkled, but Dumbledore chimed in, "No, that was your first blessing, remember?"

"Yes I remember!" Hydrus snapped back. "I was just making a point!"

"Sorry," the headmaster said in an unapologetic tone. "I just thought you might've mixed them up."

"How many sacrifices have you made?" Sirius asked, his voice wavering. "What all have you done?"

"This is why I want you to leave me alone," Hydrus half-whispered. "The less you know about me, the less disappointed you'll be." Her love shook his head. "Just go, Sirius. I don't want you around, and believe me when I say you really don't want me as your son."

"Hydrus…"

"Everyone I've ever loved is dead. All of them because of me." He gave a forced smile. "Nearly two dozen of them died at my own hands in sacrifice for my blessings, including the last woman I loved." He finally looked away from his father, but it was only for a moment to catch Bellatrix's gaze. "So please. For both of your sake's, don't tempt me into killing the two of you for further gifts."

"I wouldn't care." Hydrus stiffened as Bellatrix approached. "I would give anything up for you to love me."

"Bella—"

"Cut my throat… Stab my heart… Crush my skull…" She knelt down in front of him, pressing her head into his lap and wrapping her arms so tightly around him she almost worried she'd crush him. "Anything, Hydrus."

"Bella, please, this is—"

"Anything!" She screamed. "Hydrus I would do anything to make you love me. I love you so much it hurts. I don't care what it costs, I just want—"

There was a sound like a drop of water plinking off glass, but so loud that it nearly deafened her. Hogwarts itself began to shake and now she was clinging to her love out of fear. The entire world seemed to be collapsing down into Hydrus like some unnatural twist of gravity. Bellatrix looked up at him and saw he was completely unbothered at the sudden wave of incomprehensible power around them.

'No…' she realised. 'He's… What is he doing?'

Hydrus was relaxed, with his mouth hanging open slightly. His eyes were half-open, like he'd been caught in the middle of blink, with an unnatural light pulsing behind them. Before Bellatrix could ask him what was wrong, he shook his head. The rumbling around them came to a stop.

"Damn." He closed his eyes and pulled his head back. "Damn, damn, damn."

"Was that what I think it was?" Dumbledore asked. "Did…"

"Yes." Hydrus reached down and began to stroke Bellatrix's hair. "I wasn't ready. I didn't want this."

"You won't regret it."

"Regret what?" Sirius asked. Bellatrix had honestly forgotten he was even there. "What the fuck was that?"

"Why couldn't you leave well enough alone, Bella?" Hydrus asked, completely ignoring his father. Her eyes widened with concern when she saw tears in his eyes. "I didn't want this, you damned idiot."

"Hydrus, what's wrong?" She shot to her feet and leaned in to wipe his eyes. "What—"

He interrupted her with a kiss. For once she didn't know how to respond to the affection, especially with how wet his cheeks were.

"I love you," he said when he pulled away. "You made me love you."

Her heart could've stopped then and there. His fingers hadn't twitched when he said it. He hadn't looked away. There wasn't a single hint of a lie behind his bitter words.

"I love you too."

He stood and wiped at his eyes. "I need to go."

"Go?" Sirius stepped towards them. "Go where?"

"The graves." He barked out a bitter laugh. "Sure as fuck ain't filled no more."

His laugh continued on, but Bellatrix quickly realised it wasn't laughter that was shaking him. "Hydrus—"

"Enough!" he snapped, voice cracking. She and Sirius both stepped back. "Everyone leave me the fuck alone. I… I'm not ready for this shit."

He stomped past them both and into the headmaster's floo. He called out for the Black Summer Home, but she knew he wouldn't stay there for more than a moment. She wanted to snatch up a scroll of parchment from the headmaster's desk in order to divine where he'd gone, but she was distracted by recent memories. The thought of his lips pressing against hers… She giggled and fell back into the seat Hydrus had been sitting in.

"He said he loves me."

"Yes, he did," Dumbledore agreed, and for once she couldn't care about how patronising his tone was. "Well done."

"Well done?!" Sirius threw his arms up into the air. "Will someone please explain what happened already?"

"He said he loves me."

"Hydrus has finally broken free from one of the yokes his goddess had wrapped around his throat," Dumbledore said. "It will be painful at first, but it was for the best. We have your cousin to thank for this, Sirius."

"Thank? She seduced a fourteen year old!"

She giggled again. "He loves me."

"And yet he has lived a harder life than those years would suggest." Dumbledore sighed. "At this point the cat's mostly out of the bag, might as well push it the rest of the way out. His second blessing was mastery of the Trace in exchange for his ability to feel romantic love."

"But now he loves me!"

Sirius growled at her but she didn't care. "What about all this other shit, time travel? Killing Bellatrix? How many cats are in that damn bag?"

"I'm afraid Hydrus hasn't told any lies in regards to that matter," Dumbeldore said. "That is all I shall say."

Bellatrix sniffled in joy and tapped her feet against the floor. "He loves me."

"Albus, I swear to Merlin if you're lying to me…"

"I'm not." The headmaster stood. "I've told you before I won't betray the boy's trust, but that doesn't mean I'll lie on his behalf. Just… Just be sure to think carefully on what you've learned today.

"And neither one of you should bother him." Bellatrix finally snapped out of her manic glee, and turned to glare at the headmaster. Why was he standing in her way now? "We've made a massive leap forward, but if you approach him it could come undone in an instant. Leave Hydrus to mourn in peace."

"Mourn?" she asked. "Mourn who?"

"Along with his ability to feel romantic love, went all the memories for those he'd loved before you, Bella." The old man sighed and looked away to what she could only assume was a painting covered in a canvas standing in the corner of the office. "And all those memories just came flooding back to him at once."

"Wait…" Sirius started. "Didn't he say he killed the last person he loved?"

"He did." The old man reached up and rubbed at one of his eyes. "And now he actually remembers doing so."

Bellatrix gave an annoyed huff. Who cared if he killed some ugly wretch? Hydrus had his Bella now, and that was all that mattered. He had her, and she had him. Because he loved her. With a giggle she touched her lips as once more the memory played out in her mind.

"Fucking psycho," Sirius said, glowering down at her. "What's the matter with you?"

"He loves me," Bellatrix said before sticking her tongue out at her cousin. "He loves me and doesn't love you. There's finally someone in this family who loves me more than you!"

She said it with a cackle as a joyous madness filled her, and her magic came blooming out of her like a thousand little butterflies. Her Hydrus loved her, and that was all that mattered. She didn't care whether he had travelled through time or killed her or loved someone before her. All that mattered was that he loved her.

That was all that mattered.

Hydrus loved her.

BBaRtS

33, what a good and magical number. Man, Bellatrix really took over this chapter. It was supposed to end in a failed confrontation with Hydrus where nothing was given away, but somehow she got what she wanted and completely lost the plot on her original goal. At least Sirius is on the right track now. Chapter was supposed to end with the second meeting of the fix-Hydrus's-magic club, but obviously that didn't go the way I thought it would. Still, we got hungover Hydrus doing political stuff, found out what Umbridge is up to in this timeline, discovered that maybe his pranks were a bit more vicious than he intended, and obviously a bargain has been broken. I had fun showing the full spectrum of Bellatrix's sanity, from 'proper' lady to insane, childish schoolgirl.

Next chapter we'll DEFINITELY get the second meeting of the group, as well as Hydrus doing some soul searching and a better exploration of his newly rediscovered feelings, and more.

I wonder how people will react to this chapter; I feel like it'll be one that gets a lot of mixed responses, especially with how all over the place its tone was. One moment it's raccoons bullying grown men, then its familial violence, then its 'angst', then it's Bellatrix blowing raspberries at her cousin. Oh well, we'll see. On to reviews!

"I really hope the "stolen love" is returned ... hoping it's addressed sooner rather than later" - Well, Bellatrix definitely took care of that. I thought about/was going to put it off a bit longer, and I still don't know that this was quite as 'dramatic' as I wanted it to be, but I feel like it was the more sensible way for it to go and we'll get to spend more time naturally progressing it; taking things a bit slowly as would probably be more realistic. Well, as slowly as she'll allow/Hydrus can get away with. He may love her now, but there's still a ways to go for them to be happy.

"The summary was very misleading. I thought it was an adult harry that would be sent there not a kid version pretending to be family to the person u have as his love interest which is stupid" - Lol first time someone's complained about the summary of the fic; truth be told I just came up with that on the spot when I first posted it whilst drunk on a Tuesday evening and feeling courageous. Maybe we'll change it someday, but unless a lot of other people agree with that sentiment I'm just not going to bother.

"I love that Hydrus' punishment for Remus is the mother of all pranks." - I wasn't really able to fit it in, but in my head the reason Remus is so calm about all that happening to his poor 'manor' is that he's just like "Welp, that's karma for you." lolol

"Weirdly sweet bonding moment between Hydrus and Arcturus." - I wanna really try and make Arcturus into that like, elderly relative that you want to love but at the same time you know he's an asshole and you feel guilty for even just listening to him ramble on about his views on politics.

"knowing Bella, it either made her more wary of Hydrus, or more madly in love with him." - Por que no los dos? lolol

And that's that! See you all next Saturday, thank you so much for the various reviews, lessthanthree!