Chapter 3: Black Widow

Iliana Zabini sat rocking her son Blaise and singing him a lullaby. The Italian words flowed from her lips like water trickling over a stream bed. She smiled down at the sleeping 1 year old and caressed his hair.

"I love you, my spiderling," she said to him in her slightly husky voice. "You're going to grow up to do great things."

The floo chimed and Iliana tucked Blaise up on the couch before she knelt in front of it. Staring back at her was the face of her sister, a sister she hadn't seen in more than ten years. They had been born identical twins, but had slightly different powers.

"Iliana," Hannette cooed, "May I come through? I would love to meet my nephew and have a talk with you."

"You are not welcome here," Iliana hissed, her face taking on the characteristics of a spider. "Ever since you fell in with that banshee I've wanted nothing to do with you. If you ever come near my son I will not hesitate to kill you."

There was a sigh and the head withdrew from the flames. Iliana willed her fangs to slide back into her gums, then stared at her reflection hard in the mantle mirror until the fuzz was gone from her face. The flames flared up again and a giant black widow spider leaped down from the hearth.

"Damn you Hannette," Iliana spat. "You can't just leave well enough alone."

The spider stretched upwards and grew. Not five seconds later Hannette stood fully clothed in Iliana's sitting room. She scooped up Blaise before Iliana could stop her and expertly began to rock the child. Iliana paused in her tracks, completely transformed. Unlike her sister, Iliana could only change parts of herself. Also unlike Hannette, Iliana was able to weave better webs because of this.

"What do you want Hannette?" Iliana asked through a mouthful of fang.

"I wanted to let you know that Blaise is welcome at our house any time he wants," Hannette said, cradling Blaise to her chest. "Of course, you are welcome as well… If you can stand being in the presence of a banshee, a vela, and Harry Potter."

"What did you say?" Iliana asked, shocked. "You have the boy who lived?"

"Of course Iliana," Hannette replied. "It was prophesied long ago by a seer named Kassandra Lovegood."

"Pandora's mother?" asked Iliana.

Hannette nodded, reciting, "On the night a Lily draws her last breath, a banshee receives her heart's desire. A bumblebee will meddle even beyond his death, yet good prevails in the heart of fire."

"That sounds a lot better than Sibel's prophecy," Iliana mused. "At least this one rhymes. So let me see…. The bumblebee must refer to Dumbledore, the vela to fire and the banshee… Well that's self-explanatory. What do you need me for then?"

"Harry needs a playmate," said Hannette simply. "I thought you and Blaise would want to be in on the action."

"I'll think about it," Iliana said grudgingly. "I'll send you an owl in a few days."

Hannette smiled gratefully as she passed Blaise over to his mother. She tried to hug Iliana, but she sidestepped. Hannette went back through the floo and Iliana sat back down again.

"Well Blaise," she said, "This is going to be one hell of an adventure. It's definitely not going to go well for Dumbledore since it clearly states he dies." She chuckled softly to herself.

"So, how did it go?" Alice asked Hannette as she brushed soot off her robes.

"It went better than expected," she answered, wrapping her arms around Alice and kissing her deeply. "It's too bad you couldn't come with me."

"I think I might have set the house on fire if I did," Alice replied as Harry gurgled in the background.

"No Harry, the buss can't drive upside down," said Miralene, giggling. "See? The driver looks very upset."

Hannette and Alice laughed as they walked toward the noise. Moony jumped out at them, but Alice just nudged the toy away gently. It scampered back to Harry, who had the toy night bus back on its wheels. It drove off and Harry chased it happily around the room.

A/N Hello beautiful souls. I was feeling extra creative today. I hope you like this chapter and leave me a review letting me know where you'd like the story to go. Thank you for all the faves and follows. Rosebloom