Malfoy Manor

Wiltshire:

"Do you not find the dinner to your liking, Bella?" inquired Narcissa softly, raising a questioning eyebrow at her elder sister, who was making a disgusted face at the main course of salt and pepper prawns on a bed of jasmine rice with asparagus.  "If so, I can have my house elf serve something else.  No trouble."

Bellatrix toyed with her rice, scowling.  "I am not particularly hungry, Cissy.  Though it does look rather tempting."

The three were having a rather late supper, celebrating Lucius' recovery from his injury.  Draco had gone to stay with Goyle for a week and so the three adults were free to discuss Death Eater business, plots, and machinations.  For though their lord had been defeated, the three still had hopes that he might return someday, and Bellatrix especially had vowed to do all in her power to bring him back.  She worshipped Voldemort with the same kind of obsessive devotion a fanatic did, she had dedicated her being to pleasing him and now that he was gone she was adrift, without purpose, and very angry.

Then too, she could not recall what had happened to her two weeks ago, except that Narcissa had returned from shopping to find her under some kind of curse that forced her to relive all the dark magic she had ever practiced upon others, torturing her with the guilt of her crimes.  Whoever had cast the curse had left her bound to a chair and the room silenced as well.  Narcissa and Lucius working together had managed to remove the curse after a week, but Bellatrix still felt unaccustomed twinges of guilt and there were holes in her memory as well. 

Lucius suspected an Auror had been working solo and had found his way to the manor and tried to get some answers from Bellatrix about the role she had played with the Death Eaters or something, perhaps gain a confession about the spell she had cast upon her cousin Sirius.  For Sirius had been cleared of all charges and was now resting at his ancestral home, according to the latest article in The Daily Prophet.  Bellatrix had damn near thrown a hissy fit when she had read the article, cursing her cousin to hell and back and wondering how they had managed to reverse the curse to a spell she had invented.  Hence Lucius's suspicion of a secret Auror. 

"Bella, are you still tormenting yourself over your lost memories?" inquired her younger sister, she was dressed in a deep blue pantsuit with matching robes and her hair put up in a fashionable twist.  "You know it's not good to brood over things you can't change."

"If either of you were halfway competent at brewing Memory Restoratives, I'd not be missing my memories!" spat Bellatrix irately.  She was wearing a crimson dress with pointed sleeves and her nails were lacquered to match. 

"Unfair, Bella," Lucius reprimanded.  "You know Memory Restoratives sometimes don't work, especially if the one who cast the Memory Charm was an expert on mind magic.  The original purpose of a Memory Restorative was to fix memories lost due to an accident, like a concussion, or an illness, like dementia.  There's no real counter to a Memory Charm."

"Useless, the lot of you! If my lord were here now, he would be able to help me!" she cried passionately.  "He would not rest until the culprit was found and his heart roasting on a spit in the fireplace!"

Lucius bit back a groan and rubbed his temples.  Bellatrix's attitude was beginning to give him a migraine.  "Well, Bella, our master is not here and you must simply make do," he snapped.

"Headache, darling?" Narcissa asked, concerned. 

"I'm all right.  No need to worry, dear," said Lucius quickly, for any more of his wife's fussing and he would go mad.  His Healer had fixed him up with a special glass eye, a magical one carved from a cat's eye chrysoberyl that not only allowed him to see normally, but also in the dark like a cat would.  It could also enchant a person with a Mesmerize Charm.  The one drawback to his magical orb was that it could not be removed, unlike Mad-Eye Moody's eye, Lucius's was affixed permanently to his face.

"Worry about me, not him!  He's not the one with holes in his memory!" Bella trix whined petulantly. 

Lucius gritted his teeth and wished he could give Bella a more permanent hole in her head.  He had never cared for his sister-in-law, he found her far too demanding, opinionated, and annoying-a first class bitch if he ever saw one, and she had become even more impossible since the death of their master.  He reached for his glass of white wine and tossed it back.  Sometimes the only recourse to surviving an evening with Bellatrix was to drink heavily. 

"I'm worried about both of you," Narcissa said diplomatically.  She slowly sipped her chilled melon breezer and said, "If you wish to find out who cast the Guilt Charm upon you and Obliviated you, perhaps a Retrograde Charm might help?"

"What's that?"

"A spell that allows you to view past events up to three weeks before.  Historians use it to make sure of certain facts when they are writing their history scrolls." Narcissa answered.  "When I worked as a scribe for the British Wizarding National Library, I had to learn that spell.  I have never cast it, but I do know it works.  The historians and librarians used it all the time."

"Is it like a timeturner?" Lucius queried.

"No.  You do not actually go back in time, merely view events in the past.  Perhaps you would like me to cast that, Bella?"

"What sort of question is that, Cissy?" growled the volatile witch. She threw her hands up in the air.  "Honestly, how dense can you get? Why didn't it occur to you to cast that spell a week ago, instead of waiting a week and watching me struggle to recall anything?"

Narcissa's mouth tightened and temper shone in her china-blue eyes.  "Mind your attitude, Bella! I'm not one of your servants, to terrorize with your temper.  In case you hadn't noticed, I've been a tad bit busy with taking care of my husband, spending a little bit of time with my son, and trying to misdirect the Ministry officials who are suspicious of both me, Lucius, and you.  In case you've forgotten, elder sister dear, you are under suspicion of being a dark witch after that debacle at the Ministry.  Not to mention, I've also had to figure out the countercurse to that Guilt Charm or whatever it was.  I think you should be thanking me instead of harping at me!"

Bellatrix sneered.  "Always with the excuses, Cissy! You're pathetic! I would have figured out who had hexed you weeks ago instead of being so complacent.  But then again, I was always the one with the most backbone out of all of us."

Narcissa gasped in outrage.  "Listen, you razor-tongued cousin to a viper!  If all you're going to do is insult me, then you can figure out your own time viewing spell.  Otherwise , remember that you are a guest in my home and try and be a little polite.  Normally, we don't use that kind of charm upon people, only objects, to see where they have been and what they were used for.  I have no idea how well it will work upon a person.  I have never cast it."

"I'm willing to take the risk.  Just do it, Narcissa." Bellatrix said, then added through gritted teeth, "Please."

Narcissa sighed.  She disliked how her sister treated her, but when all was said and done, Bellatrix was family, and the only living sister that still talked with her since her other sister Andromeda had run off and married Muggle Ted Tonks.  She didn't like what had happened with Bellatrix and wanted to see her somewhat content, if only to keep peace within Malfoy Manor.  Bellatrix as she was now was like living with a harpy.

"Very well.  Why don't we retire to my workroom and I can begin a casting there, just to make sure the spell is one that I can make work properly?" Narcissa suggested.

"As you will. O Cautious One," Bellatrix grumbled, standing up and following Narcissa downstairs to the basement level where she had her experimental workroom where she tried out new spells.  The room was heavily warded in case a spell happened to go wrong with Repel Magic Charms outside of the room.  That way Narcissa didn't need to worry about destroying her home with a miscast spell.

The two witches entered the workroom, which was a round room of interlocking stone blocks and a bare stone floor with a pentacle etched into the center.  It was lit with several Lumos globes hanging suspended in midair and a single chair was leaning against the wall, but the room was otherwise devoid of trappings and accoutrements. 

Bellatrix sniffed and walked into the center of the pentacle, Narcissa closed the door behind her and sealed it with a word, then turned to her sister, her wand out.

* * * * * *

Ten minutes later, the sister emerged, and made their way back to the dining room, which was where Bellatrix had been when the curse had been cast.  Narcissa was confident she could recreate what had occurred that day in the room, and she had managed for once to impress Bella with her accurate spellcasting.

To their surprise, they found Lucius talking to  Fenrir Greyback in the drawing room, Narcissa having been told by Skippy where to find him so she could inform him she was about to cast the Past Viewing Enchantment.  Both women stiffened upon seeing the tall rangy werewolf. 

Greyback was a follower of Voldemort from the beginning, but his was a purely business relationship-he was Voldemort's man because the dark wizard provided him with plenty of children to infect with his bite and terror to create and feed off of, not because he believed in the unholy cause.  As a human, he was large and menacing, with pointed teeth and long yellowed nails and hairy hands.  He had matted and tangled gray hair and a beard and his eyes were just this side of a rabid animal's.  He was universally feared as the most dangerous werewolf in Britain and perhaps even in Europe as well. 

He was also, to Narcissa's disgust, a frequent visitor to Malfoy Manor.  His uncouth manners grated upon her and he gave off the stench of unwashed dog . . .or wolf . . .plus he scratched himself in unmentionable places in public without regard for common decency and delighted in killing anything even children.  Greyback was the epitome of why people hated werewolves. 

"Lucius, I wished to tell you that I am ready to view the events of that afternoon with Bella," Narcissa told her husband tightly. 

Lucius glanced up and smiled.  "Wonderful.  Tell me how it goes, I need to brief Greyback for an assignment."

"Good evening, lovely Lady Cissy," Greyback leered at her, sketching a mock bow.

Narcissa gave him a polite nod.  His black robe was tight across his shoulders and looked as if it might tear at any sudden movement.  No doubt he enjoys ripping apart his clothes, the savage beast!  I wish he were not allowed to come here. I feel as if Lucius has invited a monster into our home.

"Come along, Narcissa," Bellatrix ordered, and dragged her sister back to the dining room. "Disgusting beast! How Lucius can bear to be near him is the greatest mystery.  Why is he here?"

"I don't know.  Lucius probably wants him to teach some Auror or supporter of the Light a lesson."

"Or get rid of them," Bellatrix pointed out.  She went to sit in the same chair she had been in that fateful afternoon. 

"Okay, Bella.  Relax. Close your eyes." Narcissa ordered.  Then she pointed her wand at her sister and chanted, "Ostendo preteritus vices!"

Immediately, a white mist twined about Bellatrix.  An instant later it departed and now Narcissa could watch as Bellatrix had afternoon tea alone, for she had been shopping that day and Lucius confined to his bed.

 The witch ate until she was full, then pushed her plate aside and dabbed her lips with a napkin.  Then she straightened and sipped her tea.  She started violently, knocking over the cup and saucer. "Bloody hell, Snape!" she hissed! "Must you always prowl like a blasted ghost?"

"You're in a fine mood, Bella," he drawled, his wand slipping into his hand from inside his sleeve.

"Shut your gob, Snape! Our master is dead and all of you should be down on your knees praying to the Black God to restore him! Instead you all just . . .worry about your own bleeding skins, like my miserable brother-in-law here! He shoved me into his damn secret room and locked me in! I wanted to blast those pompous Ministry idiots, but no, I had to keep a low profile! Arse-licking miserable piece of shit!" She threw the teacup against the wall.

It shattered and Severus snorted.

"Temper, temper. I don't think Narcissa would be pleased if you destroyed her things."

Bellatrix spat. "That for Cissy and her wishes. I do as I please, I'm her elder, and the more loyal and faithful Death Eater. My lord knew that. He rewarded me for it!" Her eyes were glazed with a fierce obsessive love and a tinge of madness.

"In what way, Bella?"

"In ways that you can only imagine," she purred, running one long fingernail down her cheekbone. "Why are you here, Snape? Lucius call you to moan over his lost looks, like the whimpering tosser he is?"

"That was part of my reason for visiting," Snape allowed. "The other reason was because I wished to speak with you."

"What about?"

"I heard that you have been experimenting with . . .shall we say . . .new spells that affect the mind. That is a particular area of interest of mine. I am curious . . .what have you discovered? There are rumors that you supposedly hexed the mutt Black with a curse of madness."

Bellatrix threw back her head and laughed. "Ha! I should have known! You always come poking your crooked nose around when something new comes up. Can't bear to have someone else steal your brilliance, eh, Snape?" She clucked her tongue at him. "Well, it so happens that rumors are correct. I did hex my no-good cousin with something I invented-the Curse of the Maenads. You do know what that refers to, don't you, Snape?"

"The maenads were female followers of the Greek god Dionysus, known for their religious frenzy and insanity, they were best known for their uncontrolled emotional outbusts which led to drunkenness, ripping apart animals and people to shreds, and insatiable sexual urges." Severus recited.

Bellatrix gave him a disgusted look. "Humph! You sound like a bloody walking encyclopedia, Snape. Yes, that's why I called my little spell after them." She sighed dreamily. "I used to wish I could be one of them when I was a girl. Mother was always so prim and proper and so bloody boring." She waved a hand in dismissal. "Anyhow, I've been experimenting for awhile now with spells of that nature, mostly on animals . . .to see how far I could hurt them before the pain became too much and they snapped. . .It was so . . .invigorating . . ." She licked her lips.

"Then I had a glorious idea, a curse to destroy an Animagus without killing him, a slow death. I hate Animagi . . .they are lower than Mudbloods, tainted by the beast within. Thus, my spell." She grinned like a little girl who had just learned how to wave a wand and cast Lumos. "My sweet lord was very pleased with me, he said I was a brilliant inventor."

"How thrilling. I'm sure that memory warms you when you think of him." Severus said, sounding bored. "Is there a chance that Black could come out of the curse? Can it be dispelled?"

"No. Not unless you know the countercharm," Bella chuckled, her eyes glowing wickedly. "And any attempts to dispel the curse results in an increased level of madness over time. Isn't it perfectly . . .delicious? You know, I have heard rumors that Harry Potter is an Animagus. Is that true?"

"Yes."

"Mmm. . . what would it be like if I cast that on the Potter brat?" she mused. "How would it feel to see itty-bitty Potter, the little bastard who killed my Sweet Tom, writhing in agony, frothing at the mouth, trapped in his own mind, a prisoner of his own nightmares? Would that not be something to see, Snape? Can you imagine?"

"No. Because I, unlike you, am not a sick perverted bitch!" he spat, and then he gestured and froze her where she sat. She stared up at him, mute, and he growled, "I am tired of enduring your wicked rants and your sadistic musings, Bella. You think Animagi are beasts? You are the beast, one that should have put down years ago, for in your madness you slaughter and destroy without remorse." He loomed over her, pinning her with his frigid furious stare. "You will not harm Potter, not while I still breathe. And I will have the countercurse for your little spell. Now." He placed the tip of his wand against her head and hissed, "Legilimens!"

Her eyes went wide in revulsion and terror, but he slipped into her mind effortlessly. . . .

Narcissa gasped, but she did not break her focus, and continued watching as Snape ripped the knowledge of the countercurse from Bellatrix's mind. He also cast the Guilt Curse upon her sister and bound her to the chair and Silenced the room and last but not least . . .Obliviated her memories. 

Narcissa ended the spell when Snape left the room, visibly shaken with what she had learned. She put a hand to her head.  "I can't  believe it . . ."

"Can't believe what? Who did it?" Bellatrix demanded, her hands clenched.

"I never would have thought . . .he was our friend . . .but the spell can't lie . . ."

"Just tell me, dammit!"

"Severus . . .It was Severus . . ."

"SNAPE!!?? That lickspittle, cowardly piece of shit cursed me?" Bellatrix screamed, her eyes burning with rage. 

Narcissa nodded, dumbfounded by the betrayal of one of their oldest members. She would have sooner suspected her own son than Snape, who had been Lucius's man since he was a sixth year.  "I don't understand why he would do such a thing . . ."

"What does that matter?" raged her sister.  "The important thing is that he DID it! And for that he is DEAD! Do you hear me, Cissy? DEAD! I'm going to cut his heart out and roast it over a fire and make him eat it! I'm going to carve him into pieces and dance on his grave.  That ball-less bloody bastard!"

Bellatrix's ranting soon brought Lucius and Greyback to investigate.  Lucius looked as shocked as Narcissa when she told them who had been the culprit.   Then his mouth firmed and his countenance became stern and forbidding, calculating and cruel.  "I can think of only one reason, Narcissa, for Severus to betray us this way.  And that is because he was never really one of us."

"What do you mean? He took the Mark, he pledged himself as we all did!" Narcissa cried.

"And he lied.  How he did so to the Dark Master himself I don't know, but somehow he did.  He hurt Bellatrix because she threatened to kill the Potter brat.  He stole the countercurse to help that mutt Black, which suggests that he was not ever one of us.  He was a spy."

Greyback growled deep in his throat, and his amber eyes glinted red.  "Never trusted that long-shanked greasy bugger.  Knew he didn't smell right."

"But that means . . .he knows about the way our master preserved his life," Narcissa cried.  "You remember, Lucius, how we discussed the ways in which the Dark Lord survived the Killing Curse the first time, and you said it must have meant he had created Horcruxes.  And Snape agreed with you."

"Yes, I know." Lucius slammed his hand down on the table.  "We even discussed where the Master might have hidden them.  Now that information is in the hands of the enemy.  Now they know . . .how to destroy our master."

Bellatrix howled like a mad werewolf.  "No -o-o-o! I will find Snape and rip him into shreds!" She spun on Lucius.  "Quickly, we must make haste to resurrect our Lord! Before Snape makes him die the Final Death!"

"Easy, woman! You don't even know if Snape knows where the Master hid the pieces of his heart," Greyback growled. 

His heart? Lucius looked blank for a moment, then he recalled the old legends of some of the necromancers removing their hearts from their bodies and hiding them away somewhere to ensure that they could not be killed.  It was an old magic, a deep magic, but the Horcruxes were surer.  "He knows, or can guess, where one of them is," the Malfoy lord said grimly.

"Where is it? Tell me and I'll go and retrieve it," Bellatrix declared passionately.

"The house of his mother, Merope Gaunt," Lucius replied. "In Little Hangleton." He looked at Greyback.  "Care to go on a hunt, Fenrir?"

Greyback licked his lips and his eyes burned with bloodlust.  "I am always ready to hunt, Malfoy.  You know that.  I shall find Snape the traitor and drink his blood and crack his bones! Oh, how sweet he shall taste!"

Narcissa went pale and looked ill.  Lucius shook his head rapidly.  "No! He must not be killed.  You must bring him to me alive."

Greyback snorted.  "You do not command me, Malfoy.  When I hunt a quarry, I decide who lives and who dies.  Only one wizard ever ordered me to hold my claws and he is now dead." The werewolf bared his teeth in a vicious smile. "You are not alpha enough to command my obedience, Malfoy."

"I am senior to you, Greyback! I was the Dark Lord's right hand!"

"Was.  You are not now.  And therefore I may challenge your right to command." The werewolf drew himself up to his full height, he was a head taller than Lucius , and his whole body radiated a beastial need to rend and tear something . . .or someone. "I shall not show my throat to you, Malfoy."

"Won't you?" Lucius purred, and then he stared directly at the werewolf, making sure his magical eye met Greyback's own.  He concentrated and his eye began to twinkle and sparkle.

Greyback tried to look away, but the sparkles blinded and confused him, and without realizing it, he became mesmerized.

Lucius smiled tightly at the slack look in the werewolf's eyes before stating slowly and firmly, "You will obey me as you would the Dark Lord.  You will hunt Severus Snape and when you have found him, you will not kill him.  You will bring him and the Potter brat to me, unmolested, and I shall decide their fate. Is that understood?"

Greyback nodded jerkily.  "Yes, Master Lucius.  It shall be as you say." He bowed his head.

Bellatrix stood up then.  "I'm going with you."

Greyback sneered. "You will only slow us down."

"Us? More of your smelly wolves are going, but I can't? How dare you dictate to me? Ahhh!" she yelped as Greyback's hand shot out and fastened around her neck like a collar.  He lifted her off her feet and she gasped and wriggled, but could not free herself.

"Mind your tongue, bitch! And your place! You are not the alpha's mate and you do not counterman my orders.  I hunt with my pack and you will only slow us down."

"Greyback! Release her!" Lucius ordered.

Greyback dumped the struggling witch onto the floor.  She landed with a thud. 

"Bella,are you all right?" Narcissa rushed over and began to help her sister to her feet.

Bellatrixs brushed aside the hand she offered and climbed to her feet.  "Beast! You dare . . .!"

She squealed when Greyback swung at her, ducking just in time.

"Greyback! Stop! Leave Bella alone.  Call your pack and get started trying to find Snape. And remember, I want him and Potter alive! Unharmed and alive!"

Greyback nodded.  "It shall be done."

Then he whirled and launched himself across the room and down the hall in the blink of an eye. 

"I can't believe you let him walk away! He nearly killed me!" cried Bellatrix.

"Oh, quit being so melodramatic! You aren't dying yet. You need to stay in hiding, remember? When Greyback returns, I'll let you work over either Snape or Potter.  Then you can have your revenge."

Bellatrix sulked.  "Why didn't you tell him I had to go with you?"

"Because the mesmerizing charm only lasts a certain amount of time and once it wore off, you'd be at risk of being murdered  by him for your smart mouth." Lucius replied.  "This way is safer."

"Pah!" the wronged witch spat. Then she subsided.  "Fine.  I shall wait.  Let's have tea."

The other two Malfoys were only too happy to comply with his request, and they summoned Skippy.

* * * * * *

Minutes later they heard the bone-chilling, gut-quivering howl of a werewolf summoning his pack.  It was echoed by another howl a few moments later and then another.  They all looked at each other.  How had the werewolves managed to get there so swiftly?

Ten minutes went by and more werewolves howled in response to their leader's summons, until twelve stood upon the lawn of Malfoy Manor.  Greyback growled and stared down the few who dared to meet his eyes.  

Then he spoke.  "We go to hunt Severus Snape, coward and traitor. Arr-ooo!"

He gave three sharp sniffs of the ground, then blurred into his wolfman form and sprang away, moving at an unbelievable speed across the grounds towards the direction of Little Hangleton.  Silently, the rest of the pack followed, eager to hunt new quarry and taste the blood of a Potions Master.

* * * * * *

Early the next morning, Greyback returned to Lucius to report that while Snape and the Potter biy had definitely been at Little Hangleton in Gaunt House, they were not there now.  "The trail went cold. I cannot smell where they went.  Wizard tricks!" the werewolf spat.

"Did you notice anything out of place?" demanded Lucius, clutching his cloak tighter about him.  He had been woken by Skippy to see Greyback, his wife and sister-in-law were still asleep.  

Greyback shrugged.  "A board in the floor was missing.  Why?"

Lucius swore.  "Then I can assume Snape has found one of them.  Blast and damn!" he paced, damning his former ally to the depths of Tartarus.  "But if you move quickly, you may yet salvage things." He snapped his fingers and a silver key appeared in his hand.  "Take this. It's a Portkey to the Master's retreat in the Transylvanian Alps.  Use it to take yourself and your pack there. Nearby is the Forest of the Night.  I believe the Master hid a . . .piece of his heart within the wood.  Snape knows this.  Wait for him there."

"Yes, my lord." Greyback whined. He took the silver key, relieved that Lucius was not going to punish him for his failure.  The Dark one would have. "When the traitor comes, we shall be waiting."

"Good.  Oh, and Greyback? Do not fail me a second time. Or else," Lucius warned, his eyes colder than arctic midnight.

The great werewolf bowed his head in respect, then walked from Malfoy Manor to where his wolves waited. "Join hands, all of you," he ordered. "Then touch me, Grimfang," he told his second, a deep gray werewolf. He waited until they had obeyed, then he reached out and touched the Portkey.

There was a brilliant flare of silvery blue light and then the werewolves were whisked away across the sea to Voldemort's secret retreat near the Forest of the Night.