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Unexpected	By : draconisdemented Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Ginny Views: 26235 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 24
- 25
- 26
Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Author's Note: Once again, I do not speak French. I am using a
dictionary/translator on my computer, so I'm aware it won't be perfect. If
do
do speak French, I would like to apologize now for any slaughtering of the
language I may have inadvertently caused. Otherwise, what do you care, right?

French translations: ((example))

��

Blaise stood motionless on the low branch of a tree, his senses
spread out in a giant net around the dark, imposing fortress that loomed before
them. It was built like an ancient castle, much like Hogwarts and many others,
but the foul energy surrounding it definitely set it apart. It felt dark, yes,
but ito feo felt vile in a way that their magick never did. There were guards
stationed all ad thd the perimeter, but he wasn't concerned with them. They
were easy prey if it came down to it. And he was going to make sure that it
did. His rage still churned violently, waiting just under the surface to
explode, and he did nothing to dampen it.

Everything was sharply in focus, and he could feel every living
thing with Nor Gorgun. Everything with blood flowing through its veins stood
out in his mind like a beacon, creating an unseen map inside his skull, behind
his eyes. It was like seeing two different things at once, but he was used to
it. Draco was on the other side of the fortress, his own mental net meeting
Blaise's in the center and melding with it, and they knew that it was almost
time. Looking back at the team behind him, he grinned ferally. Blood was going
to spill this night. Voldemort should never have taken Pansy. A rol dar dark
power flowed out of the fortress, and they froze, waiting.

They had discovered from a few of their spies that Voldemort was
leaving that night, going to the Americas to try and round up more new
followers. Assembling two different teams, they had wasted no time. Dumbledore
had told them not to go, that the Aurors would get them back, but what did that
old fuck know? The Aurors would die, slowly picked off one by one. They had no
idea what to expect, but the Slytherins did. And they weren't leaving Pansy and
Daphne's fate in the hands of white magic fools that were too 'noble' to kill. Because
there was no way, absolutely no way,
that anyone could break them both out of Nor Gorgun without quite a few people
dying.

Yes, he thought vehemently,
people will most surely die this night.
He shouldn't have fucked with us. The roll of the Dark Lord's essence
finally slid over them and away, not sensing them due to shields forged by
Cocidius, which were wrapped tightly over each group. After another ten
minutes, Blaise leapt out of the tree and to the ground, landing lightly and
motioning his team forward. His hair was pulled back in a single, tight braid
so that it didn't get in his eyes at some crucial point or another, falling
down his back between the crossed hilts of his swords, and his robes were tight
and split down the sides so that he could move around easily.

They all wore graphorn-hide vests underneath to ward off most
curses, not that they were too necessary. The amulets had beennfornforced when
they'd discovered that Pansy's had been ripped off by a tree root, and they'd
made them unbreakable. Anton leaned in and laid his head on Blaise's shoulder,
his cold, furious eyes sweeping over the enormous mass of black stone in front
of them, and Blaise slid an arm around his waist. They were waiting for Draco's
signal, and Blaise ran his gaze over the other members of his team. George was
standing behind him, his blue eyes bright in the dim light, and Vincent was
behind him, twirling a thick, metal club in one hand with anticipation.

Blaise smiled cruelly, as he knew how well Vincent wielded that
weapon, and he knew the strength in those bulging arms. Sebastian was off to
one side, his sandy blond hair swaying around his face as he braided Mira's,
who was busy buffing one of her daggers with her sleeve. Her eyes lifted and
met his, and they shared a knowing look. It was almost time. His gaze going
back to the fortress, his arm tightened around Anton when he saw the snow in
front of them start swirling ever so lightly. No one in the fortress would
think anything of it, but Blaise and the others knew what it signified. It was
time for the games to begin.

Lifting one arm, his Mark flashed brilliantly, though none of the
guards on the wall could see it. He felt an answering tug from the other side
of the castle, felt the shields going up. No one inside would be able to call
for Voldemort. No one inside would leave alive. And now�now it was time for the
fun to start. Sinking to the ground, he took several deep breaths before he let
the walls holding his magic back fall into nothing. Everything shifted suddenly,
and he was looking down at the castle from above. The wind whipped past him and
cradled him, and he called its power to him. Molding it and warping it, he fed
his energy into it, just as it fed it's own into him. <
<

A jolt shot through him before Draco's essence intertwined with
his for long moments that felt all too fleeting when the time came to separate.
Very nearly bursting with collected power, metaphysical lips met metaphysical
bef before they were ripped apart and made separate once more. Feeling and
hearing the first deafening 'BOOM', Blaise slammed back into his body and rose,
electricity crackling over his skin madly as the sky began screaming, seconds
before clouds the guards could have sworn weren't there moments ago opened up,
soaking everything instantly. The first fork of lightning flashed down and hit
the uppermost tower, the wind began howling eerily, and he could feel their
fear.

Expanding his senses once more, he could hear their mutterings and
frightful exclamations even over the roaring of the rain and the thunder. Good.
The storm was to scare them, spook them, f few few if they were particularly
unlucky. But the two teams that converged on the fortress were their deaths. Blaise
and Sebastian took care of the first guards on the wall, since Sebastian was
quite the expert with a blowgun and Blaise simply liked to throw the tiny,
poisoned darts. Four limp bodies tumbled over the low ledge and to the ground,
and Blaise let claws slidt oft of his fingertips before sinking them into the
tough stone.

It allowed her to place her spirit inside of them, joining her
power with theirs while she stayed safe within the wards of Slytherin. Padma
had undergone the spell as well, and she rode inside the twins while her body
rested next to Virginia's inside a circle of
protection. Experimentally calling in a handful of flames, Bl had had a moment
of fascination when they appeared immediately. He had linked himself with Draco
in such a way before, had called in ice and snow, but this was different. It
was hot and scorching like his own energy was, but strange in the way that it
flickered and coiled even as itindeinded him a bit of darkfire. And it
felt�feminine. It felt like Virginia.

His passiveness gone as quickly as it had come, he laughed as the
next Death Eater was incinerated in seconds. The one after that met just as
quick an end, and never even saw it coming as Anton snuck up behind him and
slit his throat. The majority of the Death Eaters didn't bother with their
masks while inside Nor Gorgun, as most of them thought themselves unreachable
there. Not so. Cocidius had gotten them through the wards easily, and Draco and
Blaise were almost positive that they could have done it themselves, but it
would have taken quite a bit longer. Motioning to his team again, they spilt
up, activating their tracking charms in the process.

Anton and George went to the right and down with Blaise, while
Vincent, Sebastian and Mira went up. None of them spoke, as words weren't
necessary, and they disappeared into the shadows. They had gone on missions
like these before, although not at the Dark Lord's fortress, and they knew that
they had the skill to wipe out the guards inside. Most were too lazy and
careless when inside Nor Gorgun to be any sort of challenge. They just needed
to be out before Voldemort returned, which wouldn't be for a good while yet.
They're spies had made their excuses that night, and none were in the building,
so they didn't have to worry about running into any of them.

They left quite a trail of bodies after them, not bothering to
hide them in the least. It was quite the opposite actually. It was a�statement.
If the Dark Lord wanted to play games, then they'd play fucking games. They
were quite good at them, after all. He idly wondered, as his teeth sank into a
Death Eater's flesh, how angry Voldemort would be when he found out that his
followers had been slaughtered by a group of sixth and seventh years. Arranging
the man's corpse dramatically over the stairway, they continued down, killing
everything that breathed except for the dark creatures that Blaise was able to
turn to their side.

Their purge included the muggles that were kept prisoner in a
thousand different places all over the fortress, and it was mercy killings more
than anything else. They actually felt a bit sorry for the twisted, abused
creatures that they saw nearly every time they turned around. Many were missing
limbs and eyes, fingers and tongues. All they did was mewl and cower, their
minds long broken. It was quite pathetic. A few of them could still string a
few words together, and they begged for death's release. He'd known that
muggles were weak, and those just confirmed ity puy pureblood would have been
able to let go and die, turning their magick against themselves, if their
situation had been as hopeless.

His body was already covered in a fine layer of blood, his hands
sticky with it, but that didn't impair his shooting at all, and his bow sung as
he let three arrows go in quick succession. Two more wizards and a witch
slumped to the ground that time, and he allowed himself another smile at their
brief looks of disbelief. Fools. They knew who their master held, didn't they?
Because if they did, they really should have expected something like this. Or
maybe not. Nor Gorgun was supposed to be as impenetrable as the Manor and
Tenebre Stella. Hah. Millennia of protection spells had been forged into the
very stones and earth of their House Seats by the most powerful witches and
wizards of the ages.

No one could duplicate that, he knew with a flash of pride, his
sword taking off a Death Eater's head, warm blood spraying his face. Especially
not a single Dark Lord. Or four, his
mind corrected, remembering the prophecy the Lady had let Virginia hear. He sincerely
hoped that he ran into one of them. A newly awoken fledgling Dark Lord would be
quite a bit of fun to toy with. And even if the three newbies had helped ward Nor Gorgun, the defenses
still couldn't match theirs. Both of their families had had plenty of Dark
Lords of their own, after all. They were almost to the ground floor when Anton
stiffened, his pupil's splitting into his Animagus form's and his breath
escaping him in a hiss.

"I can feel her."
He said quietly, his eyes distant. "She hurts, she's in so much pain�Oh
gods�" He turned green remarkably quickly and would have fallen to his
knees had Blaise not caught him and let them both sink to the floor gently. He
was obviously trying his damnedest not to be ill, his body shaking and his eyes
wild.

"Let the link go." Blaise whispered next to his ear.
"Let it go, Anton. I'll find her, I swear it, now let it go!" Pushing calming energy into his friend, he felt
the shaking stop after a moment, felt his breathing even out. They stayed that
way for over a minute, and George's hand lighted on Blaise's back, sending
Padma's soothing touch through him and into Anton. Finally, that dark head
lifted, and utterly enraged hazel eyes met his own.

"Take me to her."

Four simple words, but they rocked Blaise to the core. Anton had
sounded so ragged, so lost, and yet his utter faith that Blaise would never
fail him shone through it all. And he wouldn't. Looking at one of the few
people that he truly cared for, that he would die for, he promised himself then
and there that he would return Anton's love to him at all costs. Because that's
what she was. He could see the telltale glint deep in his friend's eyes, had
just observed their connection. Soulmates,
he thought distantly, recognizing them for what they were. He and Draco had
experienced it with each other and with Virginia, after all. And there
was no other way that Anton could have linked to Pansy like that, since he knew
that they hadn't taken their marriage vows yet.

"Always, mon ami." He replied, rising to his feet and
pulling Anton up with him. Laying a chaste kiss on his lips, Blaise continued.
"Let us go save your lady, hmm?" Anton managed a small, grateful
smile. ((my friend))

"Thank yo�" Anton started, before stopping abruptly as a
dagger flew past his head. It stuck in something with a wet 'thwap', and they
both turned to see a Death Eater fall about twenty yards down the hall before
they looked back at George and stared.

"What?" He asked innocently. "I have yet to hear a
Slytherin say 'thank you' for anything, and I saw no reason to start now."
He said cheekily, ignoring their glares as he summoned his knife.

They continued in silence for a while, Blaise letting his senses
spread out and envelop all again. It was easier to try and find Pansy and
Daphne now that they were inside, and after three or four minutes of scanning
the place from top to bottom, he pinpointed them to be somewhere below them, at
least six floors underground. There were more Death Eaters the lower they went,
as well as more of the hapless, deformed muggles, and all died silently. Except
for those in one room, a large group of ten or eleven. They screamed and cast
curse after curse, but every one of them fell to their fury. They hadn't stood
a chance since Blaise and Draco's teams had swarmed over the walls.

"This way." A voice suddenly intoned from behind them in
the doorway, and Blaise spun with an arrow already drawn and ready, since he'd
heard their stealthy approach. He stopped just as he was about to let it go,
and watched the woman in the doorway warily. He really didn't want to kill her,
but if she tried to raise the alarm�"Come, I will take you to her."
The witch continued, but Blaise didn't lower his bow.

"And why should we trust you,
Bella?"

��..

Lycelle paced back and forth in the Slytherin common room, her
arms crossed tightly over her chest and her eyes red and stinging from crying.
They had Pansy. They had Pansy. Voldemort
had her sister. Every once in a while, she'd glance over at the group of sixth
and seventh years that were getting ready to go after her, arming themselves
from head to foot and trading caustic jokes so that their younger Housemates,
who watched them with wide, nervous eyes, wouldn't be too frightened. Fat chance of that, she thought
morosely. Her eyes turned to Virginia and Padma, both of whom were preparing
circles of protection and warding.

Virginia had been so angry
when her request to go to Nor Gorgun had been denied that Lycelle had thought
she was going to bring the castle down around their heads. Cocidius's timely
intervention had been the only thing that had stopped her from completely
exploding, and Lycelle was quite thankful for it. Padma had decided to stay
behind as well, because they all knew that Virginia wouldn't have taken
it well if she'd been allowed to go. Ripping her eyes away, she glanced at
Draco and Blaise. They were hiding daggers and poisoned darts all over
themselves, and she lost count after the fifteenth blade disappeared into
Draco's robes.

Severus stood to the side of all of the busy movement in the
center of the room, a scowl on his face that could have melted glass. He was
not pleased with Draco and Blaise's decision, but he had agreed to shield their
actions from Dumbledore after they'd threatened to sneak out past his guard as well. Knowing that that was
all too possible from past experience, he'd reluctantly caved and promised to
watch over Virginia and Padma once they'd gone inside the circles and activated
the spell. So now, he was fulfilling his role as the disapproving godfather,
and he didn't look like he was planning on stopping anytime soon.

"Let's go." She heard Blaise say, and her attention went
back to him.

He and the others were dressed alike and all in black, their faces
set in determined masks. kne knew that if anyone could bring her sister back,
it would be the people right in front of her. But she couldn't help wondering
if something would go wrong. She couldn't help wondering if she would never see
any of them again. Virginia rose to her feet
slowly, as did Padma, and they walked over to where the others were preparing
to leave. Unshed tears shimmered in their eyend snd she knew that they feared
the same things that she did. Padma kissed both Draco and Blaise on the cheek
before turning to the twins, and Virginia looked at her lovers
with growing panic.

Her boyfriends seemed to know exactly hat she was thinking, and
they drew her into their arms at once, their fingers running through her curls
as they whispered reassuring words in the old tongue. They look like assassins, Lycelle thought absently, like death given form. They really do care
about my sister. But I wonder if they would be able to stay so calm if it were Virginia trapped by that fiend? She turned away just in time to see the
twins murmur something to Padma that had her blushing ever so lightly, her eyes
to widening fractionally with surprise and�delight? Shaking her head, Lycelle told
herself that she could figure that out later.

"Come back to me." Virginia said softly, pulling
back and looking them in the eyes. "Promise me that you'll come back. Promise me." She demanded, her
hands tightening around their robes, which she was hanging onto as if they were
a lifeline.

"We promise." They said in unison, gracing her with
small, indulging smiles. "Now, stop worrying so. You'll be with us the
entire time, remember?"

"Yes." She responded, and she kissed them each
voraciously before letting them go and turning her back so that she wouldn't
have to see them leave. "Je t'aime." ((I love you.))

"Je t'aime au&quo" They replied, running their fingers
through her hair one last time before they both turned on a heel and left,
heading for Severus's office to floo out of the castle. ((I love youo.))o.))

The others who were going followed them, and Severus ushered the
younger students into their dorm rooms while those that were left fell into
chairs and cushions, couches and divans. He didn't make Lycelle leave, it was
her sister they were going for after all, and he even handed her a goblet full
of wine to soothe her nerves. Downing half of it without even thinking, she
kept pacing, and would have continued to do so had Padma not pulled her down
next to her and Virginia. Feeling instantly better as soon as Padma touched
her, she drained the rest of her wine and let the goblet fall from her fingers
to thick, black rug underneath them.

"Would you like to help?" Padma asked, while Virginia stared blankly at the
wall, having fallen into a cross-legged position as soon her lovers had
disappeared out of the common room. Lycelle knew that Padma was asking her to
distract her, and she thanked the older girl silently.

"Alright. What do you want me to do?"

"Well�" Padma looked around thoughtfully. "You
asked Hermione to come down in a little bit, didn't you?" She asked, and
Lycelle looked over at her quickly. How did she know about that?

"Umm�Yes." She said after a moment, wondering if she was
about to be told off for it.

"Okay. Then why don't you help me get the rest of the stuff
for the spell ready? We'll be in the circles by the time she gets here, and
it'll keep you occupied until then." Padma said neutrally, as if it didn't
matter to her one way or the other.

Lycelle nodded, and they got to work without another word. The
circles had to be drawn in the blood of six willing virgins, and they had,
sadly enough, had to bribe and threaten some t ant and second year Hufflepuffs,
since no one in their House had qualified. In the end, they'd been willing
enough (depending on your idea of the word), and she and Padma dipped their
fingers into the ever-fresh jar that was brimming with the thick red fluid,
beginning the outer circle and conferrwithwith a book that's title was hidden and
that made Lycelle's spine crawl. They left a foot wide gap in the circle's
perimeter, and began on the next, and then the next.

The circles interwove with each other, and only long years of
practice made the lines so smooth and perfect. They'd been drawing circles for
their parents for practice long before they ever needed one of their own, and
it was natural to feel her fingers sweeping over marble (they'd moved the
rugs), natural to feel little bits of her magic flowing into it unconsciously. Once
all three circles were done, they moved on to the runes, and Lycelle jumped
when her arm bumped into someone else and she looked up to see Virginia. Her smoky eyes were
hard and intent, her fear for her lovers shoved back so that she could do what
was necessary.

"We can finish this, Virginia." Lycelle said
quietly. "Really. You don't have
to, I mean�"

"I need to,
alright?" She interrupted, those fathomless charcoal eyes boring into
hers. Lycelle nodded slowly.

"They will come
back, you know." She said, starting another rune and lowering her gaze to
the floor. She liked Virginia, but the girl was too�dark for her to meet her eyes for long.
It was like that with most of the older Slytherins, and with the twins and
Padma, too. It just showed how different she was from them. Nearly everything
did.

"They'd better." Was all that the older girl said, going
back to tracing runes on the floor.

They lapsed into silence again, and ten minutes later, they were
done. Lycelle moved backwards and out of the circles, while Virginia and Padma
moved to their center with the strange, unnerving book. Another ten minutes
passed before they grabbed their forearms and shut their eyes, mumbling words
in a language that Lycelle didn't recognize, which was rare. They began to glow
with a soft, faint, blue-black light, and Lycelle moved over to let Severus
close the outer circle with his wand. Three shields the color of the blood on
the ground sprung up along the circles' lines and cd ovd over the two older
girls' heads, wavering before evening out and becoming still.

"They'll be alright, won't they?" She asked no one in
particular, but Severus answered her as he moved to one of the couches.

"Virginia and Padma? Yes, they'll be fine. And probably weak
depending on how much energy they feed into the boys."

Boys, Lycelle swirled the
word around in her head. Somehow, it just didn't fit. The twins, Draco, and
Blaise were all past their majorities, so they definitely weren't boys. But calling them men seemed
strange as well when you pictured them, since 'men' in her mind looked much
older, and they were eternally youthful. But how could anyone look into their
eyes and still manage to call them 'boys'? Because Draco and Blaise's eyes
hadn't been young or childish in any way for longer than she could remember, if
they ever had been, and the twins had a new depth in their own as well. You
could get lost in those eyes; could go utterly mad from staring into them for
too long.

"Someone comes." Severus said suddenly, shaking her from
her thoughts. She stood quickly, moving for the wall where the entrance was.

"Where are the others? Do they know what they're doing?"

"I can't tell you."

"Is it dangerous? It doesn't have to do with Voldemort, does
it?"

"I can't tell you."

"Can you tell me anything

"Not really." She said as they sat on a divan that was
across the room from Severus but still close to Virginia and Padma.

"Oh lord; it has to do with Pansy, doesn't it?" Hermione
asked, and Lycelle had to give the girl points for her quickness. It had been
two days since her sister had gone missing, and the incident had been hushed so fso far, since Dumbledore didn't want the students to panic. She knew that he
wouldn't be able to stop her Housemates from telling the entire world, though,
if Pansy or Daphne died.

"I can't�"

"I know, I know." Hermione grumped, looking positively
bursting with curiosity. Well, Lycelle couldn't help her there. Nothing was
worth what would happen if her Housemates suspected she was leaking anyone information without their
consent. "I'm really sorry about your sister, you know."

"I know, Hermione." Lycelle agreed, wrinkling her nose
at the other girl and making her grin. "You've only told me about a
thousand times in the last forty-eight hours."

"Well, I am. I know Pansy and I don't get along so
well�"

"She hates you."

Hermione paused. "Right. But I still don't want anything to
happen to her."

"Why?" Lycelle asked, honestly curious. "Why should
you care what happens to someone who wouldn't care if you suddenly fell over
dead?" It was a hard concept for her to grasp. It was a hard concept for any Slytherin to grasp. She was one of
them enough to know that, at least.

"Because�because it's the right
thing to do." Hermione finally responded, chewing on the inside of her cheek.
"It's the humane thing to
do."

Lycelle bristled. "Well, I
don't think so. Does that make me inhuman?" Hermione looked startled.

"What? No, of course it doesn't. I mean, you were
raised�"

"Never mind." Lycelle cut her off, sighing. "Let's
just drop it, okay? If we want to stay friends, there are probably some
subjects that we just shouldn't discuss." Hermione gave her a weird look,
before grinning and nodding.

"Alright. Forget it then." They sat in companionable
silence for a long time after that, both lost in their own thoughts.

Lycelle couldn't help but compare herself and Hermione in her
head. They were so alike, but so very bloody different at the same time that it
was mind-boggling. Most would say that their friendship ha hop hope of lasting,
and Lycelle would probably agree with them. It was just�ludicrous to think that they would be able to stay the way they
were forever. They came from completely different, not to mention completely clashing, backgrounds, her sister hated
her, all of her other friends hated her, and her family would freak and
probably disown her (she was the second-born, after all, and weak when compared with her sister, as
her parents so loved to remind her).

And while it was true that they were both different from the rest
of their Housemates, they were each still loyal to their House. It wasn't that
hard for Virginia and Padma to cut all ties with their own, but neither of them
had ever really been meant for those Houses to begin with, had belonged even
less than they did. And Lycelle and Hermione had been meant for their separate, rival Houses. It was sure to
come between them eventually. She didn't know how long she sat there going over
all of the foreseeable possibilities, but she knew it had been a pretty long
time when she looked over to find Hermione asleep, curled up on the end of the
divan.

"Oops." She murmured to herself, stretching.

"She's a mudblooded Gryffindor." He said bluntly.
"She can never really be your friend." He was practically voicing her
own thoughts aloud, and she wished he would stop.

"But she is." She argued, and he did turn to look at her then.

"Lycelle, I know you never fit in here like the others."
He started, and she really, really
wished he would stop now. "But you're still a Slytherin. You may not be
the ideal Slytherin, but�"

A bright flash of light and an unearthly shriek cut him off, and
they whirled around to see the shields around the circles swirling and
twisting. Padma was holding Virginia, tears running down her face as she did
so, while the redheaded girl screamed and screamed, trying to break free. She
was too weak, though, and all she could do was wail, one heartbreaking keen
after another that had Lycelle running for her, tears streaming down her own
cheeks before she even knew what was wrong. Virginia looked like her soul
was being ripped out with jagged, rusty hooks, and Severus was desperately
trying to break the raging circles.

Padma didn't seem to be able to do more than rock back and forth
with Virginia in her arms, trying
to restrain her and keep her in the circles. She looked stunned and
shell-shocked, and a bit like she'd just been torn in half. Virginia,
though�Virginia was wilting right before her eyes, her hair lightening to a
dull auburn, the curls coming loose and hanging limply in sweaty strands around
her face. Her skin turned a pasty gray, her lips losing all of their color and
fullness, and dark, sick-looking circles appeared around her eyes. A loud crash
from the other side of the room had Lycelle turning, and when she saw what had
caused it, she nearly fainted.

The altar in the corner had erupted in a fountain of�blood? Yes, that was definitely blood. Nothing else smelt
like that. It was coating everything, and it had knocked all of the offerings
and candles off, which is what had made the noise. Then, as suddenly as it had
started, it stopped. Spinning back around to face Virginia and Padma, she
nearly fainted when she saw that they'd pulled their sleeves up. That in itself
wasn't what made her lungs feel tight with dread. No, what did that was the
fact that the Marks on their arms were dying, withering, their light going out.
But it still wasn't until she lifted her head and met Virginia's eyes that Lycelle felt
the world drop out from underneath her.

Because Virginia Weasley was going mad, and that could mean only
one thing. Draco and Blaise were dead and her god was gone.

��..

Draco moved swiftly through the empty corridors, winding farther
and farther into the heart of Nor Gorgun with every step. Fred and Melody
shadowed him, and Gregory, Millicent and Marcello were on their way to meet them
with Vincent, Sebastian and Mira. He was seeking Blaise out at the moment, as
the time had come for their teams to join before they went even deeper to get
Pansy and Daphne. His senses told him that the guards around where the two of
them were being held, and a few wandering others, were the only Death Eaters still
alive. They had been quite thorough in their purge. His team met with its other
half and with the other three from Blaise's, and they started down again. Hearing
voices up ahead of him, he slowed, as did the others.

"This way. Come, I will take you to her." He knew that
voice.

"And why should we trust you,
Bella?" And he would know that
voice even in death. Creeping forward, he closed his eyes and concentrated,
listening to them carefully and letting the sound waves that they produced with
every tiny movement create a picture of them and their surroundings in his
mind. Blaise stood with his bow ready, an arrow nocked and ready to fly, and
Draco knew that he would use it if he had to. Because Bella was tricky and sly,
even in her insanity, and only a fool would let his guard down around her.
Blaise was anything but a fool.

"You shouldn't." Bella replied, her raspy, sultry voice
reminding him of broken, fluttering butterfly wings. "But I'll still take
you to her."

"This isn't a time for bullshit, Bella." Blaise said
evenly, just the slightest hint of a threat in his voice. She'd known them for
to long not to recognize it. They'd visited her as often as they had Sirius.

"I'm aware of that, beloved of my nephew." She said in
her singsong voice.

"Then don't try anything stupid." Blaise responded
dryly. "And what happened? I thought you adored your mudblood
master."

"No one ever truly masters a Black." She said, and Draco
couldn't help a small smirk. "And he has angered me." Her voice
turned pouty and slightly putout.

"Did he now?" Blaise questioned, everything about him
utterly still but for his lips, his concentration never wavering. "And how
is that, dear Bella?"

"He took the girl." She said, as if it were the most
obvious thing in the world. Perhaps it was. "He took your little friend.
Your pure friend. She reminds me of
me, you know." Now that twittering voice had gone dreamy, changing with
her mood, which was as flighty as the wind. "And she's such a pretty
little thing. Or she was, anyway." She added, and Draco felt his insides
grow cold in a way that had nothing to do with his cherished ice.

"Was? She's not dead." Blaise said, his voice sure.

"No, not dead." Bella agreed. "Not dead yet, anyway. She wouldn't talk you see,
and his judgment leaves him when he gets angry. And he was so very angry
then�"

"Show me!" Blaise snapped. "Take us to her or get
out of our way!"

"Now, there's no reason to get snappy." Bella huffed. "I
said I'd take you, and I will. But I
want to see my nephew and�" Draco moved into the hallway before Blaise or
Anton came completely unglued.

"I'm here, Auntie." He said, and she spun, the smirk on
her face turning into a soft smile as she looked him up and down.

"How very Malfoy you've become. And how very Black, at the
same time." She said, holding her hands out to him. He went to her and
took them, kissing each of her cheeks and leaving bloody lip-prints as a
reminder. Blaise's bow was still steadily trained at her heart, and since she
and he both knew it, he didn't worry about her trying anything just yet, if she
planned to at all. She'd sounded genuinely upset. Well, as genuine as Bella
ever was.

"Take us to her, Auntie. Take us to the pure witch that
reminds you of yourself." Draco crooned, and Bella smiled again, her eyes
as black as her hair, as black as her name. She was night where his mother was
day, but their faces were almost identical. They were barely a year apart in
age, and had been the best of friends before Voldemort had snapped Bella's
mind. There were still vestiges of her old self that shone through, though, and
they usually appeared when she was around family.

"Yes. Come with me." She said, and started down the
hallway.

He shared a look with Blaise before continuing at her side, and
his lover followed with the others, his bow still raised and ready. He could
hold it like that forever if need be, Draco knew, and the arrow would kill
Bella before she could get him with a knife or her wand. She led them silently
down the hall, the only noises being the storm outside and her occasional
girlish giggles. Yeah, Bella had definitely lost it. They'd gone down two more
floors when she stopped in front of a door that he could sense a small group of
Death Eaters in, and tilted her head to the side. She leaned in close to his
ear, her crimson lips hovering just over the skin, and whispered.

"There's another one in there that he got the same night. You
interested?"

"Yes." Draco replied, moving away the slightest bit when
she flicked her tongue out. The subtle, yet potentially deadly, creaking of a
bowstring seemed to bring her back to reality, and she pulled away, grinning
like a lunatic once more. Sometimes she forgot that the bloodlines didn't
intermingle so closely. Sometimes she just forgot everything entirely.

"Open the door." Blaise said calmly.

He knew the way she worked as well as Draco. Bella had to be
handled with extreme caution, and not many people could tell her what to do.
But she would listen to them, and to her sister, and she usually listened to
Voldemort. So she did as he said and swung the door open, sauntering in and
waving at the other Death Eaters. They slunk back from her, all of their
attention on her, and it proved quite fatal. Draco went through the door after
her first, and relished the looks of dawning terror on their faces as they saw
his glowing eyes and mocking sneer. The first died in a blast of lethal ice,
the next in a wall of flames, and the third fell beneath his claws.

He moved to the side smoothly as the first arrows whizzed into the
room, two Death Eaters falling bonelessly to the floor a split second later,
arrow shafts sticking out of their throats almost comically. One tried to run,
but Melody was on him in a heartbeat, her short sword sliding between his ribs
like a child would impale an insect. Only two still stood, and Marcello and
Vincent moved toward them before they could even get their wits about them
enough to try and throw a curse. Vincent's club smashed into one's skull, while
Marcello swung the bladed staff in his hands expertly, taking out the last
one's legs before happily removing his head for him.

"Where is she?" Melody asked, looking around and not
seeing Daphne anywhere. "Where is
she!?" She repeated, her voice becoming frantic.

"In there." Draco said after a moment of searching,
nodding at a side door.

He shared another look with Blaise, before he moved for the door
and Blaise kept watch over Bella and the doorway that led to the hall. Melody
tried to follow him, but he motioned her back. She didn't listen, and he nodded
at Sebastian and Mira to grab her. He could feel the agony radiating from that
side room, and he didn't want Melody to see what was behind that door just yet.
Maybe not at all. He didn't even really want to see it, but that didn't stop him
from throwing open the door, one of his hatchets in his hand and ready to
throw. He stopped dead at what he saw. There was only one Death Eater in the
room, but he was doing more damage than any of the others.

Daphne was strapped to a rickety old bed, the restraints rubbing
her wrists and ankles raw and a gag stifling any screams that she might have
let loose. But she wasn't screaming then, just staring blankly at the ceiling
as the bastard on top of her shoved himself inside her roughly over and over
again, grunting and panting barbarically. He didn't even feel himself move
before he'd already ripped the half-nude wizard off of her and thrown him into
the far wall. He stalked up to him, every sense on overdrive, enjoying the raw
fear in the man's eyes when he lifted his head blearily and saw who came for
him. His hatchet came down for the first strike just as a scream spilt the air.

"NO! LET GO OF ME! LET
GO OF ME, GODDAMNIT!" Melody yelled as his blade cleanly cut off the
Death Eater's left hand.

The other hand followed it, then his feet, his arms, his legs�And
his screams were the sweetest symphony this side of the Summerland. Leaving him
a bleeding, dying torso, Draco turned, not really wanting to look at the girl
on the bed. But then again, he'd done a lot of things that he hadn't really
wanted to do, and he looked all the same, wiping his hatchet off on his robes
methodically. Daphne still lay catatonic on the bloody sheets, her thighs and
breasts and�well, just about everything
sticky with the dark red fluid. There were numerous welts and bruises and cuts
marring her once smooth skin, and Melody was on her knees beside her, sobbing
brokenly as she tried to cover her with the dripping sheet.

"Who is she?" Bella asked quietly, nudging Blaise with
one velvet-clad arm. He turned vicious indigo eyes on her, and didn't object
when she took his hand and gave it a motherly pat.

"Daphne Wilbrige." Blaise said after a moment, and
Bella's eyes widened in denial.

"No."

"Yes." He hissed, grabbing her by the shoulders and
shaking her, turning her to face Daphne. "Yes, Bella. See what your master has wrought? See what he is doing? That is no muggle before you;
that is no mudblood. That is a Wilbrige,
Bellatrix Black, kin of your kin througholpholphus. That is a strong, dark
pureblood that he's let this happen to, and another lies just around the
corner. Who was your best friend again besides Narcissa? C�lina Parkinson? Yet
where does her daughter lie, Bella? Hmm? Where
does her daughter lie?"

"I�" Bella seemed utterly transfixed by whatever she saw
in Blaise's eyes, and a war began behind her own. She sank to the floor, a thin
layer of sweat springing up over her skin as she began trembling violentlBlaiBlaise lowered himself next to her, letting her fall into his arms. Knowing
that it was now or never, Draco took the chance that he'd been waiting years
for. Seeing Daphne, finding out who she was, shocshocked Bella badly enough for
her to push the Bane's veiling fog back, and he didn't plan to waste the
opportunity it presented. Going to her side, he crouched in front of her and
made her look him in the eyes.

"You are a Black."
He stressed, staring deep into those mad, haunted eyes. "You come from an
ancient, noble House and every drop of blood in your veins couldn't be any
purer. Remember who you are,
Bellatrix Phae. Remember what you
are. You are strong, strong enough to push back the taint. Smash it, tante,
smash it like you've always smashed anything that challenged you and tried to
best you. We will help you heal, I swear it, but you must fight. You must fight or be his slave until you die." ((aunt))

A million things ran behind her blacker-than-black eyes, a million
emotions and feelings that she hadn't experienced in nearly two decades. He fed
strengthening energy into her, felt Blaise doing the same, and he saw lucidity
enter those gorgeous eyes for the first time in his life. Something that he'd
only seen bits and pieces of before flooded into them, something so undeniably Bella that he felt like crowing with joy,
even as his rage still ate at him brutally. Their time was running out, and he
didn't have any more to help her just yet. But he would, because she was family, and they'd always loved each other
in their own way.

"Come on, beautiful." He said quietly, and her eyes
filled with such instantaneous guilt and horror that he almost flinched back.
She scrabbled for her sleeve, ripping it off in her haste and screaming when
she saw the black,bby bby skull on her porcelain flesh. She clawed at it
violently until Blaise grabbed her wrists, rising to his feet and pulling her
writhing form up with him.

"I'll kill him!"
She shrieked, fighting to get free. But Blaise's grip stayed like iron, and all
she could do was rage verbally. "I'll fucking kill that half-blood bastard for Marking me! How dare he? How dare he!? Gods, I feel so dirty, so dirty�You have to get me clean,
neveu, you have to get me clean�" She said, her struggles finally ceasing
as she fell into a dazed stathe the shock becoming too much for her new,
fragile hold on some sort of sanity and clarity. ((nephew))

"Give her to Vincent." Draco intoned, looking at his
aunt as he slid his hatchet back it its sheathe. "We have to get Pansy and
get out of h&quo"

"I'll carry Daphne." Gregory offered, and Melody opened
her mouth to refuse before nodding slightly and standing, her whole body still
shaking with sobs. Mira was beside her, her arm around her waist, and Gregory
and Vincent each picked up their charges easily. Anton was standing
stock-still, staring at the bloody sheets on the bed, and Draco and Blaise went
is sis side.

"Come, mon ami." Draco said, taking his hand and leading
him out of the room.

Blaise stayed right behind them, his eyes and senses scanning
everything, and the others followed, Melody walking beside Gregory so that she
could hold Daphne's limp hand. Five more Death Eaters died before they reached
a short hallway that was filled with Pansy's scent. Only two doors were in the
small corridor, one a plain wooden one that they knew she was behind, and
another that was made out of intricately worked silver, runes of death and
plague, disease and extermination carved into it. Making as wide a circle
around that one as they could, they were in the room that held Pansy moments
later.

He and Anton were the first through the door, and no one moved for
a long moment as they took in the scene in front of them. Draco felt Virginia's rage blossom
throughout him, and he let it. Pansy's broken body was curlp onp on a small,
run-down bed much like the one Daphne had been on, and her eyes were glazed and
dull, staring ceaselessly at the far wall. Her arms had been shattered, her
legs had been shattered, her face was a pulpy mess, and lacerations and
abrasions covered her slight form. Her nails had been ripped out, and large
patches of skin were gone from various parts of her, as if she'd been carved on
with a dull knife. A piece of thick chain was wrapped around her throat like a
leash, bolted to the floor underneath the cot.

His fury turning absolutely freezing, he started to move forward
when Anton exploded. Quite literally. The dark-haired Slytherin fell to his
knees, his eyes locked on his fianc�, and the surprised Death Eaters just
stared for a momeA moA moment that killed them. Because Anton started glowing
darkly in a way that he'd never seen his friend do before, his hazel eyes
turning as black as Bella's before a blast of magick mushroomed out from around
him. It killed everything in the room instantly but for his lover and his
friends, whom Draco had thrown a shield over as soon as he'd realized what was
happening.

One by one, the Death Eaters fell, their bodies crumbling into ash
as the darkfire ate them from head to foot in seconds. Anton slumped to the
ground with them, utterly drained, and Draco caught him before he could hit the
filthy floor. His whole body was convulsing, his eyes still black and
sightless, and Draco could do nothing but croon and soothe him, Blaise joining
them on and mimicking his actions. The first time that they'd expended so much
wandless magick at once it had been much the same, after all. The body wasn't
used to it, and the power of unfiltered magick in your veins was quite
overwhelming, especially for one who'd never experienced it before.

"Sweet Merlin�" He heard Mira breathe out from behind
them, and he cocked his head enough to see her examining the room and the ash
piles with narrowed eyes. Everyone else but Bella and Daphne were doing much
the same, before their eyes were slowly but surely drawn to Anton. There was
something new in their gazes, just the tiniest hint of fear, and Draco almost
smiled. He could still vividly recall the first time that they had looked at
him and Blaise like that, but now was not the time for reminiscing.

'Blaise, stay with him, alright?' He asked
quietly through the Marks, and Blaise nodded, taking Anton fully into his
embrace.

He kissed both his lover and his best friend briefly on the lips
before moving towards Pansy's shaking form. He knelt beside the cot and moved
into her line of sight, if she could even see anything. But, apparently, she
could, considering that she scrambled backwards so fast that the ruined, flayed
skin on her back hit the wall hard, causing her to whimper. Her tormented eyes slowly turned to him, and
she stared at him for a minute that stretched on for what seemed like an eternity.
Then she sobbed once, opening her mouth to speak with a voice she no longer
had, and he was very nearly sick for the first time that he could ever
remember.

They'd cut out her tongue.

Sending an urgent plea down his link to Blaise, he told him to
keep Anton away at all costs while he
tried to leash Virginia's burning outrage anre are and his own nausea. He'd done worse things to people, and had seen much, much worse things done to people, but
watching a girl who was like his sister struggle with a grisly, macabre attempt
at speech, the black stub of what had once been a sharp, elegant tongue just
visible, was something that even he
had a hard time stomaching. Especially
with Virginia's own pain and
feelings of sickness swamping him. It had only been two seconds, maybe three,
since Pansy had first tried to talk, and she snapped her mouth shut just as
quickly.

It was not the Sky Court that had trapped him. They had no
knowledge of what had happened; they had not consented to such an action. They
were not so foolish, after all. No, it was only one of them that had done this;
only one of them that had betrayed them all. Only one had been siphoning the
other Light royals' energy; only one had been stealing it and feeding off of
them without their knowledge. Leech,
Cocidius screamed internally, you filthy
fucking leech! It was a grievous transgression, treachery of the worst kind,
and was punishable by eternal banishment and the removal of crown and station.
The words echoed and echoed through his head, and he couldn't stop them.

'I have them, Cocidius, I have
them and there is nothing thee can do to save them. No, it's much too late for
that. I hold all the power of the Light Court, and it will be thy downfall. I
will take the others soon, and nothing shall stand in my way. Their deaths
weaken thee, while I, who thee always thought weak, will rule all. Irony at its
best, if I do say so myself.'

Dagda would pay for this.

��..

Well. Please don't kill me. And please review!
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