Narcissa was less than helpful when he told her about his encounter with his father. She wasn't surprised. She was only confused as to why he had been so caught off guard.

"What did you expect, Sirius? Of course he's going to try to stop you before you supplant him completely. This is better than your dodging more assassins. In fact, this is easy to deal with."

Sirius looked down at the floor, fighting another flash of mixed hysteria and fury. Thank Merlin they were alone at the moment to have this conversation... "Kill him?"

She actually laughed. "Oh, Siri, you've spent way too much time around Bella and the others. I mean, you'd create more problems taking him out, particularly if you did it suddenly and as an obvious murder. And killing him slowly with an inoculation of dragon pox or something wouldn't solve the immediate dilemma. No. Not what I had in mind. This threat though... it really only holds power if you let it. He's only playing this card because he knows you can win this if you keep to our plan. He has one chance to regain control. After you expose Selwyn, your father's power is broken and he has to back you or lose. He might still seek retribution against you and otherwise try to influence you after the fact, but it won't be bad enough to damage our prospects. All you have to do is protect the people you can't bear for him to target."

"Yeah? You and Lyra and Reggie are still living under his thumb!"

She raised an elegant eyebrow and patted her baby's back. "And did you honestly expect me to still be living there when the time for Selwyn's trial comes along? I've been working on arrangements for a secure room for Lucius and a renovated nursery in our summer cottage ever since you agreed to my proposal. Dobby's work is almost done, and I've Gringotts warders scheduled to update the security on Friday."

He paused his restless pacing. It was irritating how she could make him feel so foolish, so easily. On the other hand, "And do you have similar plans for Reggie and Bella, oh clever one?"

"Uncle Alphard does, for Regulus. He read the writing on the wall just as soon as your father came home so enraged the day of your verdict. He's planning to move Regulus to his house during Selwyn's trial. Kreacher's in on it. I only know about it because he approached me too, offering to take me in as well until I told him I had other plans. And if your father modifies the wards before then so Regulus can't get out, he said he'd move into Regulus' room to fend off your parents if need be."

"And Bella?"

She sighed. "Sirius, you're the one who couldn't make a decision and told Uncle Orion not to turn her over to the Ministry when he asked you what you wanted to do with her. What would you have me do now? I suppose I could go kill her and vanish the body. It's not my preference, since she is my sister, but it might be kinder than letting Uncle use her to get to you."

Sirius closed his eyes. "Can't we just... move her?"

"Where? Here? I'm sure your hosts will approve. And no, the wards on her room only let one person in or out at a time. And they don't allow cursed objects to pass either, so your petrification trick wouldn't work. We'd have to break the wards - good luck with that - or leave someone else in her place so long as she's still alive."

Sirius flung himself into a chair. "I hate this."

"Deal with it, Siri," she said unsympathetically. Then she smiled. "On the plus side, you don't have to do anything today. The Committee decided Richard's trial would be next, not Selwyn's, after receiving assurances Richard would be willing to give additional testimony against other suspects if he could be guaranteed no prison sentence. I won't do anything about Bella yet. Not without discussing it further with you. Now... Lucius is waiting for me. I do need to keep up appearances so your father doesn't start to suspect I'm visiting anyone else during the long hours away from Grimmauld. I'll see you later, cousin. Don't do anything stupid."

So Sirius did nothing, yet. He went to Richard's trial when summoned, testifying for the defense this time, eyes constantly drifting over to Orion, who smiled at him encouragingly.

Richard's trial went well. Sirius was clear that to his knowledge, Richard had never killed anyone, had never engaged in any sort of criminal activity unprompted, and had even sought Sirius' help to avoid hurting muggles when he was ordered to. Richard, meanwhile, described in detail the overtures he had received from his cousin Evan Rosier and other Death Eaters while he was still a Hogwarts student, starting when he was just thirteen. He explained that he had not exactly been given a choice when it came to joining Voldemort, mostly because all his brain-damaged father could comprehend about Voldemort was that the man was one and the same with the brilliant student Winston remembered from his Hogwarts years. A friend to whom Winston had issued an open invitation to visit the house, which was something of a problem since he was, technically, still Head of House Avery and therefore master of the wards despite his mental difficulties. There was no way for Elaine to keep her children away from Voldemort without abandoning the husband who totally depended on her... Not that she had tried, Sirius knew, but the official record didn't need to know that.

Richard described the utter terror he had felt upon graduating Hogwarts, knowing he had no choice but to join the Death Eaters or abandon his family entirely and go into hiding, not knowing how that choice might affect his parents and younger sister. He remembered shaking in his boots the first muggle-baiting day with Sirius and Lucius. He claimed he figured out Sirius was up to something weird early on with the way he deliberately avoided killing muggles where he could. He said he decided to keep quiet about it because Sirius was his main protector in the organization. He tearfully expressed utter gratitude to Sirius for helping him survive without turning into a complete monster and for bringing down Lord Voldemort at last. It was a little embarrassing for Sirius to listen to, actually. He didn't feel like he deserved such effusive praise.

When the questions were through, Augusta told Elaine point-blank that she should have abandoned Winston to protect her children as Yolande Mulciber professed to have abandoned her husband and son to save her daughters. Nevertheless Richard was found guilty only of violating the Statute of Secrecy and muggle-baiting, not voluntary membership in a terrorist organization or voluntary manslaughter. He was issued a fine and released.

The actual trial was still closed to the public because Richard had worked so closely with Sirius, but Rita Skeeter and several other reporters were waiting just outside the room. Skeeter got Richard alone and made him rehash his whole emotional defense again, to the point of tears (at least according to the newspaper). Her account of the verdict proved to be a watershed moment. Here was the first proof that the Blacks could deliver on their promises to protect their allies, so Sirius received over seventy letters the next morning, rather than the usual dozen. Here was also the first instance of a Death Eater other than Sirius walking free from his trial. And here was the first public portrayal of one of Voldemort's actual soldiers as worthy of sympathy. There were a few outraged letters to the editor and a few howlers sent to Richard's house, but the initial response was generally quite supportive from all quarters of the wizarding community.

Most impressively, Euphemia emerged from her self-imposed sequestration the day after Richard's interview was published in the Prophet. Even living in the same house, Sirius hadn't seen either Potter in ages except at the wedding. Euphemia kissed the top of Sirius' head as if the whole Fleamont thing had never happened, then swept an unsuspecting Richard under her wing, pulled the political correspondence out of his hands, poured him tea, and started asking how he was really doing after his truly awful experience and did he feel safe at home? It was funny, watching them, Sirius thought. Richard didn't know how to handle such guileless concern for his well-being, particularly when Euphemia wouldn't take polite "no, thank you"s for an answer.

The image of Richard in trial abruptly intruded into Sirius' thoughts, this time not before the special committee where Elaine and Narcissa held influence but a general court, sentenced to Azkaban for homicidal conspiracy, abuse of a corpse, and sale of class A non-tradeable material. Although really, the scenario might be more easily applied to Euphemia, wife of a well-known potioneer...

Exhibit A: Bellatrix' head. He shuddered slightly at his own imagining of his cousin's dull, sightless eyes. His feelings about Bella were conflicted to say the least, but even though she was mad, she was always so... vivacious. He did like that about her, despite everything else that had passed between them. On one level, he knew Narcissa was right, and Orion had come up with such a grisly threat just to rattle him, to get him to concede before Sirius did anything too contrary. He may or may not have any intention of following through if Sirius called the bluff. On the other hand, Sirius himself had done equally horrible things this past year, mutilating Marlene and the Order members he'd murdered.

Sirius set down his own tea and focused on an Occlumency exercise. The Committee would be burning through a dozen lower-stakes trials for the next two weeks to clear out the Ministry holding cells, but Narcissa had warned him Crouch and Augusta were pushing for Selwyn's arraignment on Tuesday. He couldn't keep dragging his feet.

He didn't want to wait Orion out, he decided suddenly. There was no doubt in his mind that his father was capable of butchering Bella like an animal while she lay helpless; the question was only whether he would really think it advantageous to do so when push came to shove. He wasn't willing to risk it. He also didn't want to ask Narcissa to murder her own sister, though.

Which is why Monday night found him not asleep in bed snuggling a puffskein but rather smoking three cigarettes before crossing the lawn in a set of long black robes he'd transfigured and enchanted with much the same protections as he'd used as a Death Eater. His wand was drawn, the cherry wood tapping an anxious rhythm against his thigh. He was almost to the apparition perimeter when he heard galloping hooves behind him. He turned, wand raised instinctively, and watched James skid to a halt and transform from stag to man bare feet from him.

"Where are you going?" James panted.

Sirius glanced up to James' window, seeing Lily's silhouette against the lamplight, watching. "When did you get back from your honeymoon?" Sirius asked instead of answering.

"About an hour ago. We were still unpacking when I noticed you down here. So. Where are you going?"

He lowered his wand. "Out."

James frowned. "Alone? It's not safe."

"Maybe not, but it's necessary."

"At two o'clock in the morning? Where?"

"It's better if you don't know."

James' eyes narrowed. "Political shenanigans? Lily told me you're conspiring with your cousin."

"Something like that." He started to turn, but James grabbed his shoulder to stop him.

"...Is it legal, what you're doing?"

Sirius couldn't keep from snorting. "Does that really matter?" he drawled.

"So, no."

Sirius rolled his eyes and shrugged away from his grip. "Go back to your wife. If anyone asks, you didn't see me tonight and assume I was sleeping the whole time since you got home."

James' teeth worried at his lip. He glanced back up towards Lily, then sighed. "No."

"Go, James."

"No. Padfoot... I haven't been there for you the last few weeks," he began.

"You didn't have to be," Sirius interrupted. "And I don't blame you at all for avoiding me after what I've taken from you. You owe me nothing."

"Merlin, Sirius, I'm not talking about some imaginary obligation. I'm saying you're my best friend, my brother, and despite the shit that's happened to you and - and to Dad... I love you, and I want to be there for you. I want to be in this with you, whatever it is." He took a deep breath. The next sentence he spoke very quickly. "And Lily says she's still not sure you're entirely sane right now, so I want to keep you from doing something monumentally stupid and reckless, if that's what you're on your way to do." He visibly braced himself as if for a blow, hand twitching in his pocket, no doubt preparing to brandish his own wand if Sirius took offense.

Sirius stared at him a moment, then barked a laugh. Perhaps this bull-headed form of loyalty was what had cemented his friendship with James in the first place. He couldn't remember why exactly they had been so close as students, closer than Remus and Peter in their group.

James relaxed slightly and smiled wanly. "So... where are you going?"

"To Grimmauld Place."

"What the... why?" James sputtered.

"For reasons you and everyone else would no doubt consider monumentally stupid and reckless."

"Right, so I shouldn't have put it that way," James muttered.

"It was a little tactless," Sirius agreed. "Not to mention reckless and stupid yourself if you actually think I'm insane and dangerous to you. You should see my Death Eater rap sheet."

James flinched slightly. "It's just... what possible reason could you have to go back there? Not to mention in secret, at night..." he paled. "Did your parents do something to your brother?"

Not a bad guess. James really did know a lot about the Black family dynamic. "Close enough. I need to go now."

"I'm coming with you."

"You really shouldn't."

"Yeah? What are you planning on doing there?"

"You don't want to know."

James' chin jutted out stubbornly. "I'm coming. Everyone you - everything you've done that you regret... you've done because you were in a position where you didn't have better options. I know that, and I'm never going to let you face that kind of decision again. Not alone."

Sirius wanted to refuse him, but on the other hand, he was right. Sirius was full of regrets, and he hated making the hard decisions. It probably wasn't fair to let James into his world, but... "Come on, then. Here's the plan."

"I still hate this plan," James muttered fifteen minutes later.

"Then you shouldn't have changed my mind."

"Your plan was way worse."

"Then go home," Sirius shot back impatiently as he sifted through the wards hiding the house. He grinned suddenly. He was right; Orion had only warded him in, not out. Of course his father was hoping to trap him in the house again if given the chance. And there would have been zero reason for the Black patriarch to ward against deer of all things. "Or shut up and transform. We're in." Without waiting for James to respond, he dismissed all the alarm spells he could, strode forwards, and opened the door. Kreacher would probably still receive an alert of some kind, but there was a good chance the old elf would sleep through it this late at night.

Indeed, there was no aggrieved muttering over the return of the blood traitor or lamenting the invasion of the house by a dirty animal with hooves scuffing the carpet. James regained his softer-footed human shape once across the threshold and joined Sirius in creeping down the darkened hall. The house remained quiet as they ascended the stairs all the way to the top. James put up a half-dozen silencing and monitoring charms on the stairs behind them while Sirius studied the wards on the attic door. Narcissa was right; they were awfully strong. Strong enough he wasn't entirely confident in his ability to break them single-handedly. He glanced back at James, wondering how much help he'd be. They didn't have a lot of time.

"James... these spells are really complicated."

James came up next to him. He shook his head almost immediately. "No kidding."

"We might have to fall back on Plan A."

"No. I am not going to stand by and watch you murder your father. If we can't get her out, then we go back downstairs, you climb in the briefcase, I transform and carry you out, we go home."

"And then we sit back and wait for dear old Dad to do something way worse than what I was going to do to him."

"Still no. Do you want to go wake up Narcissa? Maybe the two of you together could get through?"

"No. She's not very good at wards either." Not to mention she'd probably tell him he was being foolish and bundle him out of the house even faster than James. On the other hand... he reached for the briefcase containing the portable potions lab James had brought along as their escape route. It wasn't as big as Aberforth's smuggling case, but big enough to stuff one person into at a time once they'd emptied out the cauldrons and most of the spare ingredients. "Let me see if there's any gaps on the inside."

"It's a prison. That makes no sense," James objected.

"Never know. Maybe everything's on the door and I could transfigure a hole in the roof or something, shove her out in the case." Without waiting for reply, he released the locking spells on the door, opened it, and stepped through. He felt a charm tag him and an additional barrier fly up behind him, preventing James from following. He could still cross back, but the threshold was barred to anyone else. He glanced around briefly and determined that no, trying to break through the ceiling would be a terrible idea. Not that he had meant that as a credible option. He crossed the short distance between the door and a palette bed against the left hand wall. Bella lay there, dead to the world. She looked genuinely dead, truth be told, pale and barely breathing under the influence of the Draught of Living Death. The bite marks on her throat still stood out as livid red scars. Apparently no one had thought it important to heal them properly. She'd probably keep them forever, same as the letters ringing her scalp underneath her two inch cap of curly hair.

He knelt down next to her bed. He didn't hesitate to think about what he was doing, just took out the rack of completed potions they'd left in the case and sorted through it until he identified the tiny phial of Wiggenweld potion. It was a pretty standard healing draught, useful for minor wounds, most potions burns (which is why Sirius knew it would be in the kit somewhere), curse damage, and, incidentally, reversing overdoses of sleeping potions. He tipped a few drops past Bella's lips and waited. He didn't have to wait long. Her breathing picked up. She twitched. She opened her eyes and looked around blearily, taking a moment to focus on him.

"Siri..." Her voice was faint and hoarse.

"Hey, Bella."

She twitched again, and she half-grimaced in pain. It appeared her neck was not strong enough to lift her head. "Ow..." she rasped. Her brow furrowed. She licked her lips, and then her eyes flew back to him, anger kindling.

"It's over," he said softly.

"It... No. He's immortal." She remembered, then.

"Horcruxes can be destroyed. He's gone."

"I don't believe it."

He caught her gaze, inviting her into his thoughts. She hesitated a moment, but she was too weak to do anything but take the memory he offered. Her curiosity won out: they together watched Sirius and his dementor consuming the final three horcruxes and then the shade of Voldemort himself.

At the end of it, she laughed. It was an awful, broken sound from her mangled throat that ended in a strangled cough. Sirius concealed a wince. Bella grinned at him once she caught her breath. "So... what now? You won, Siri! Fooled everybody! Fooled me, the Dark Lord, Dolphy..."

"Sorry about him."

"No, you don't get to be sorry about him. He was my husband. You don't get to be sorry about Daddy either. I'm sure that was your fault too."

"Alright."

She pouted at him. "You're terrible at winning. Why aren't you gloating? Where's the attitude? Don't tell me your whole personality was a lie too. That I couldn't forgive."

"I'm not here to gloat. I'm here to rescue you...on certain conditions." He quickly explained what had been going on since she'd been unconscious and what Orion had threatened to do with her.

"And you believe him?" she said.

He shrugged. "I don't know. But I don't want to risk it."

"So your plan is... sneak in here and smuggle me out?" She rolled her eyes. "All that means is if he does decide to follow through, he just kills someone else. Maybe a muggle, maybe a mudblood. You're bad at being a good guy, Siri."

"To be fair, my original plan was much more straightforward murder."

"Who? Me?"

"No, Dad."

She laughed again. "Oh, Siri, never change."

"Time's wasting, Bella. I need to work on the door if we're ever getting out of here, and I might need your help with it, once you can move anyway. But before I start, I need to ask you... what do you want?"

"Hmm?"

"I didn't want Dad to use you against me, and I didn't agree with his first idea of crippling your mind and marrying you off again for political advantage... but I can't have you fighting me, either. The war's over, and I'm changing things. So. What do you want?"

She looked at him blankly. "I don't understand."

"There's not going to be any more killing of muggles and muggleborns and blood traitors. Hell, I'm planning on bringing Andromeda back into the family. Can you work with me or not?" She raised her eyebrows and started giggling. He sighed. "I'm not joking, Bella. And I'm not a complete idiot. You'll need to make an Unbreakable Vow if you want to go free."

She rolled her eyes. "Some freedom you're offering then. I'll pass. What are my other options?"

He hesitated. Yes, she was insane, but he hadn't expected her to refuse him so quickly. He'd expected something more... Slytherin. Some pretending at cooperation while she was weak, then bargaining and wheedling. Apparently not. "I could turn you over to the authorities." She scowled at him and stuck out her tongue. "Or I can kill you here and now, destroy your body so Dad can't use it, and be done with it."

She studied him a moment, then smiled faintly. "Well. I guess that's alright, then."

"Er, what?"

"I like your resolve, Siri. You'll kill me too rather than lose now. If the Dark Lord had to lose to someone, I'm glad it was you and not Dumbles at least. That would have been boring."

He cocked his head to the side. "So, your answer is...?"

"Kill me. Obviously. I want you to do it, not some icky dementor. Ooh! And can you make me an Inferius?" Her eyes shone with excitement.

He stared at her. "Why would I do that?"

"Because, then you can take my magic and use it against your enemies! And have my body attack people, of course. It'll be great."

"And also wake up everyone in the house, rather than sneak out stealthily."

She giggled again. "Like I said. If your father still wants to confront you after you've sneaked into his home and murdered his leverage over you, then he deserves to be killed anyway. For disrespect."

"Right. No. You get an Avada. I promise I'll make you into a very nice paperweight, though." He raised his wand.

"Fine, fine. But hear me out. You're still forgetting the problem of him using someone else's body to get to you. What if instead of killing him, you use the power boost to overpower him and take over as Head of House Black? Then he can't threaten you again, and I still get to be an Inferius."

"Without killing him?" Sirius asked, taken aback more by that than her strange desire to become an Inferius. "What are you on about?"

"You know. You get control of the property wards, the Gringotts accounts, the house elves, any magical contracts, debts, and oaths owed to the House rather than an individual..."

Sirius' eyes widened as she enthusiastically detailed an obscure blood ritual for magical theft from memory. Or rather, not obscure, new. One of Voldemort's inventions that most of his close associates were too threatened by to risk their knowing about it. Not Bella; she was mad enough to think the Dark Lord would never use such a weapon against his own followers.

When she was done, he picked up her hand and squeezed it fondly. "I'm going to miss you, Bella."

She squeezed back, weakly. "You too, Siri. Kiss Cissy's baby for me, will you?"

"I will."

She looked up at him, face bright with excitement, exactly as it was when she had first ushered him into the Death Eaters. Exactly as it was before every mission he had ever gone on with her. Exactly as if what she was asking of him was another adventure, not a very unnatural death. She must have seen some hesitation in his eyes, for she said, "It's okay, Siri. I know you have to. No regrets now. You're going to do great things, and I'm going to help you just like Cissy does, because you're my favorite cousin, and I love you. Now do it. Make me proud."

He nodded wordlessly and waved his wand to gently turn her on her side. Another wand flick exposed her shoulders. And then he was making the now well-practiced motions for several Etruscan runes, three in her back, one in his palm. "Sanguis noster miscet. Sanguis tuus meus est. Me capiat..."

Author's note: I've known for awhile I wanted Bella to make Sirius kill her in the end, just took time to figure out exactly how. The thing is, she doesn't want to live in the new world Sirius and Narcissa are trying to make where she'd eventually have to behave, but she very much likes the idea of iconoclasm and of messing with Sirius. From her perspective, even if she's dead, she's won an important game by making Sirius as much like her as possible. Poor James has no inkling of what he's getting himself into following Sirius into the pit, lol. And Orion seriously underestimated his son...

No update next week, will aim for the week after again. Thanks for the reviews!