By the time Bellatrix arrived home at six o’clock, her desire to kill – or at least maim – Lily had not abated.

“Lily Ann Evans!” she shouted as soon as she appeared in the foyer. “I have a bone to pick with you!” Unsurprisingly, Lily did not appear. “LILY!!”

A chuckle reached her ears from the doorway to the living room, where Severus was standing with a subdued Harrison perched securely on his hip. “Problem, Trix?” he asked, smirking at her.

“Where is she?” Bellatrix demanded, advancing on him. Harrison gazed up at her with wide eyes as she came to a halt and poked Severus in the chest with a forefinger. “I know she told you what happened, so where is she!”

“She had to go out shopping . . . for dinner,” he replied, unsuccessfully smothering another chuckle as Bellatrix whirled away with a short scream of frustration. “Relax, Trix, it’ll be fine.”

“No, it won’t!” Bellatrix reached up and tugged at her hair. “I have no idea what Lily was thinking. She must have gone insane, or caught a curse, or something . . .” The diatribe that had been gaining speed lost it all as Severus finally gave up trying to hide his mirth and burst out laughing. She huffed at him. “It’s not funny!” she pouted, coming perilously close to a whine.

“Oh, Trix,” Severus sighed, the remnants of his laughter still in his voice. “Of course it’s funny. It’s hilarious. And whenever Lily finds someone – or I do – you’ll find it equally as funny when we get into a flap over them.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. “That’s what siblings do. You should know that better than I do,” he teased, “or have you forgotten you have two actual sisters?”

“I . . . oh, no!” Bellatrix moaned, burying her face in Severus’ shoulder. “I’ll have to go through this all over again, won’t I?”

“Yep,” said Severus, cheerfully. He dropped a quick kiss on the top of her head, then pushed her away towards the stairs. “Better go get ready, Trix. You’ve got less than an hour.”

“Less than— Oh, Merlin! What will I wear?!” Bellatrix suddenly panicked. She dashed for the stairs, calling for Lissy as she went.

“Maybe one day you’ll have a sister you can tease like that,” Severus said to Harrison, who merely stuck his thumb in his mouth and put his head down onto Severus’ shoulder. “Failing that, you always have your cousin Nymphadora.” And, roaring with laughter again, he carried Harrison back into the living room.

By the time seven o’clock arrived, Bellatrix had – by judicious use of a calming draught – gone from outright panic to merely nervous. She was standing in the doorway to the living room, anxiously twisting her fingers together. Severus was sitting calmly on the settee, watching over Harrison, a smirk still playing around his mouth. Lily was helping Lissy to put the finishing touches to the dinner.

When the faint crack! sounded outside, Bellatrix almost shrieked. “He’s here!” she managed to get out, in barely a whisper.

“So go let him in then,” Lily suggested, biting her lip to hide a smile. She’d never seen Bellatrix go so much to pieces before, and definitely never over a man.

“Let him in,” Bellatrix repeated, sounding almost dazed. The knock on the door seemed to snap her back to her senses. “Oh, right!” Lily and Severus exchanged smirks as she hurried towards the front door. She opened it with perhaps a little more haste than was seemly, and then just stood there as a flash of heat went through her like a lightning bolt.

What was it about this man? she vaguely wondered.

Virtu raised his eyebrows, and Bellatrix realised that he was waiting for her to invite him inside. Flushing, she carefully didn’t look in Severus and Lily’s direction as she moved aside. “He-hello,” she said, all-too-breathlessly, and with an embarrassing stutter. She made herself take a deep breath, and then smiled properly at him. “Welcome to our home. Please, come in.”

“Thank you.” He carefully stepped inside, and swept his gaze around the entrance hall.

“Mr Virtu.” Lily stepped forward with a warm smile, hand extended. “I’m so glad you could make it.”

“Miss Evans.” Virtu took her hand, but instead of shaking it, he kissed it instead.

Lily’s eyes flicked to Bellatrix at the old-fashioned gesture, and her smile widened to a grin momentarily. Oh, Merlin, Bellatrix thought. I shall definitely be hearing about that!

“My brother, Severus Snape,” was all that Lily said, gesturing at Severus. Virtu’s eyebrows drew together very slightly, obviously confused over the surnames. “He’s my brother the same way that Trix is my sister,” Lily explained.

Now Virtu’s eyebrows rose, but he stepped forward politely enough to shake Severus’ hand.

At that moment, Lissy emerged from the kitchen, a toddling Harrison clutching tightly at her hand. They stopped beside Severus, and Harrison clutched firmly at the leg of Severus’ trousers. He looked up at Severus and beamed brightly. “Hi, Papa Sev!” he chirped. Severus smiled, and rested a hand on Harrison’s head, subtly helping to steady the boy, but before he could reply, Harrison had shifted his gaze to Virtu, and his grin got wider. “New Toy!” he squealed, delightedly.

“Harry!” said Lily, sharply, and Harrison cringed back behind Severus’ leg. “What did I tell you?”

“I so’y,” Harrison whispered, and peeked back up at Virtu. “Mi-Mis . . . uh, Miste’ . . . um—”

“It’s all right,” Virtu said, although Bellatrix couldn’t tell if he was speaking to Harrison or Lily. He knelt down in front of the toddler. “If it’s easier for you, you may call me Soreen.”

Harrison glanced quickly at his mother, obviously asking permission. Lily gave a small nod, and Harrison turned back to smile at Virtu. “So’een,” he agreed.

“I believe Lissy was coming to tell us that dinner is ready,” Lily interjected. She glanced apologetically at Virtu. “I’m afraid we didn’t bother putting in a formal dining area. We don’t tend to host many proper gathers.”

“That is all right,” Virtu repeated. He smiled wryly. “I don’t tend to get invited to many, as you say, ‘proper’ gatherings, either.”

As they all settled around the kitchen table, the talk steadily flowed, about Virtu’s job with the Ministry and his life in India, Lily’s teaching career and her upcoming school year in France, Severus’ potions and his experiment of the week, and gossip that Bellatrix had picked up around the Ministry. For once, Harrison behaved himself, and didn’t play with or throw a single bit of his dinner.

Bellatrix idly wondered just what Lily had threatened him with if he misbehaved.

Two weeks later

“You called, my Lord?” Lucius Malfoy put his head round the door to the study at Riddle Manor. He hoped this wouldn’t take too long – he’d promised Narcissa that he’d accompany her to little Nymphadora’s birthday party.

Voldemort looked up from the map he was studying and beckoned his second-in-command further into the room. “Lucius,” was the only greeting he made. “Come and take a look.”

Curious now, Lucius moved quickly to the desk and looked down at the map. It was of Great Britain. Four large red dots were placed on it; two in the south, and two much further north in Scotland. He cast a quizzical glance at Voldemort. “My Lord?” he queried.

“Those dots, Lucius,” the leader of the Dark explained, “are the current largest wizarding establishments in the country.” A long, slender finger came to rest on the southern most pair of dots. “Diagon and Knockturn Allies, and the Ministry of Magic itself, both in London.” The finger moved to the other dots. “And Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, both in Scotland.” Voldemort then tapped a finger on the vast expanse of dot-free land in between. “And then there is nothing.”

“Surely there must be something, my Lord?” Lucius ventured, his brows drawing together.

“Nothing that is centralised as those four areas are,” Voldemort informed him. “Most families such as yourself live in isolated spots, or have even left the country by now.”

“You have a plan, my Lord?” Lucius looked up, although he couldn’t meet Voldemort’s gaze. The hints of red that were appearing ever more frequently in the older wizard’s eyes unnerved him.

“Yes, I do.” Voldemort sat back in his chair, his fingertips pressed together over his chest. “At the moment, Dumbledore spends most of his time at either Hogwarts or in the Ministry. However, with them being at opposite ends of the country, he spends a great deal of time bouncing back and forth, and any force he can mobilise takes time – precisely because usually they are miles away from where they’re desperately needed.

“However,” Voldemort sat forward and tapped a finger on the middle of the map again. “If we can set up headquarters here, in this region, then we will be able to do much more than we currently can. Quite a few plans have had to be scrapped because we have the same problem as the old fool does.”

“If our reach was large enough, we could also cut him off from one of his bases,” Lucius said, slowly. His fingers tapped idly against his thigh as he thought. “If we wanted access to Hogwarts, for instance, all we’d have to do is feint at the Ministry, the old fool would go running, and our forces could spread out to block his route back, thereby leaving the school accessible to us.”

“Or vice versa,” agreed Voldemort, smiling approvingly at his lieutenant. “But to get our people in place, we need a distraction.” He waved a hand over the map, and several sections separated themselves and enlarged. Voldemort rested the fingers of one hand over the red dots that signified Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. “Dumbledore is currently at the school, preparing for the new term to start in two weeks. It’s best if he stays there, so two teams should feint at both the school and the village. That will keep his attention centred where we want it.”

The Dark Lord shuffled that particular map section to the side and indicated one that had come from further south. “The most  . . . enthusiastic member of the old fool’s Order is that braggart Potter,” he continued. “Currently, he and his friend, the oldest Black son, are living in Godric’s Hollow. Two teams should stage various attacks around that village. Draw Potter and Black out, engage where necessary, but mainly keep them chasing their tails.”

“What if they call for the old fool, or he calls for their aid?” Lucius asked, studying the map.

“Potter wouldn’t call for help if he was on fire and surrounded by thirty of our Death Eaters,” said Voldemort, snorting contemptuously. “He has a far too inflated sense of his own worth.”

“He may, but Black isn’t quite as bad,” Lucius pointed out. “Or,” he amended, “he wasn’t the last time I saw him.” It hadn’t escaped his notice that his cousin-in-law had been keeping well away from the Malfoy family.

“No, but Potter will automatically assume command, and he won’t think it worth bothering Dumbledore until the ‘battle’ is over,” Voldemort assured him. “As for the old fool contacting him . . . well, easy enough to block communications around Godric’s Hollow for the duration.”

Lucius nodded, and resisted the urge to cast a quick Tempus. Narcissa would have his hide if he were late. He didn’t really want to attend the party, but Narcissa could be very . . . persuasive, when she set her mind to things.

“I know some of our people are being watched by the Order,” Voldemort carried on, apparently oblivious to his lieutenant’s rising unease, “but that just means we can draw their attention elsewhere, too.” He looked up, his gaze meeting Lucius’. He looked vaguely amused. “Am I keeping you from something, Lucius?”

“Ah . . .” Lucius sighed. “No, my Lord.”

Looked like Narcissa was going to be disappointed after all.

The noise level was beyond belief. If Severus hadn’t been looking at the half dozen children playing in the garden in front of him, he would have sincerely believed that two dozen or more had been invited to Nymphadora’s party.

“Hard to believe that so much noise can come out of such little people, isn’t it?” a voice said behind him.

Severus turned and grinned at Ted Tonks. “And it’s mostly Nympha and her friends, too,” he said. “Whatever happened to quiet, ladylike decorum?”

Ted threw back his head and roared with laughter. “It went the way of the dodo,” he replied once he’d mostly calmed down.

“Well, perhaps it’ll turn into a diricrawl and come back,” Severus teased, and Ted laughed again. Both growing up with muggles – Ted as a muggleborn, and Severus as a half-blood and through his connection to Lily’s family – both had been amused to discover during their Care of Magical Creatures class that the infamous Dodo bird didn’t actually exist, but was actually a magical bird that had the same ability to teleport that phoenixes had, with the added benefit of being able to become invisible.

Loud shrieks of delight came from the other end of the garden, and both men winced. “Perhaps it’s just because there’s so many of them?” Severus suggested. Nymphadora and four of her friends, who were all tutored together, were playing some game of their own devising. They had been playing hide and seek with Harrison and Draco, but apparently the bunch of four-year-olds had gotten tired of playing with “the babies”.

“No, Nympha can make just as much noise, if not more, on her own,” Ted disagreed, shaking his head. Severus looked at him doubtfully. “I kid you not,” Ted assured him.

“Well, I’m a Potions Master,” Severus said, thoughtfully. “I’m sure I can come up with something that would guarantee only boys during pregnancy.”

At Ted’s roar of laughter, all the women gathered at the other end of the garden looked over, smiling in puzzled amusement.

“I wonder what Sev said,” Andromeda wondered out loud.

“Probably better not to know,” Bellatrix informed her older sister. She exchanged glances with Lily, and they both laughed.

“Speaking of better not to know,” one of the other ladies said, “where’s your husband, Narcissa?”

“Yeah, I thought you were going to convince him to come with you,” Bellatrix added.

Narcissa scowled down into the glass of sparkling apple juice she was holding. “I did. He must have been held up by . . . at work,” she complained. The other women made commiserating noises.

“Perhaps you should do what Mum did once, and go drag him here by his ear,” Andromeda said, smiling wickedly.

“What?” “No way!” “When was this?” “What happened?” the ladies chorused at her.

Bellatrix laughed. “It was Dromeda’s eleventh birthday, and Mum had this big party planned, to coincide with the arrival of her Hogwarts letter. Except Dad got delayed at the Ministry. After an hour, Mum got really cross and went to fetch him herself. They Floo’ed back together, with his ear in her death-grip.”

“He always claimed that it was misshapen after that,” Andromeda said, with a wistful sigh. Cygnus Black had been killed in a carriage accident, along with his cousin Orion – Sirius and Regulus’ father – the year after the trio had left Hogwarts, just two months after Harrison’s birth. It had been a devastating blow for all of them, and they still missed him.

Girlish whoops distracted them, and they looked up just in time to see the girls descending on Ted and Severus. Both men put up an argument about whatever the girls were demanding they do, but in the end, gave in, and it wasn’t long before the girls were taking turns being swung around by the hands.

“Think the girls will get bored before they get dizzy?” one of the ladies asked, wickedly.

The group looked at each other for a moment, then, “Nah!” they all chorused, and collapsed into giggles.

The party was over by the time Lucius finally arrived. Nymphadora’s friends and their mothers had all departed, leaving the family to unwind in the finally peaceful garden. Lucius gave a slight bow to Andromeda and Ted, and a warm hug and kiss to the birthday girl – after all, even with having a Mudblood for a father, the very fact that she was a metamorphmagus proved that she was very magical. There were only something like 100 metamorphamaguses in the world.

“Busy day?” Narcissa asked, icily.

“Yes,” Lucius replied, frankly, conjuring a chair beside hers. “We received news that the current Minister of Magic is going to retire at the end of this month. He can’t cope with all the attacks, especially now the Dementors have . . . strayed from Azkaban.” The corner of his mouth quirked up. Of course, the Dementors had more than strayed – which made them sound like lost crup puppies – but even so, it was better not to state such things out loud. Never knew when there’d be an annoying Gryffindor around to overhear.

“The Minister’s retiring?” Andromeda repeated, surprised.

Bellatrix frowned at her brother-in-law. “I haven’t heard anything like that around the Ministry,” she said. “Are you sure?”

“It was apparently just decided today,” Lucius confirmed, nodding. “The Wizengamot is calling a special election to be held at the end of October.”

“Hmm.” Bellatrix’s eyes glazed over briefly, before she shook her head. “The timing will be atrocious, barely two months into the new school year, but Dumbledore will see his chance and run anyway.”

“Dumbledore?!” Lucius and Narcissa chorused, horrified. Narcissa tightened her grip on her son, who was currently dozing in her lap.

“He won’t win,” said Bellatrix, comfortingly. “Not this time.”

“You mean he might win another time?” asked Lily.

Bellatrix shrugged. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “There are too many things in flux around that, and I can’t See.”

“As long as the new Minister isn’t Potter, either, then I think we’re safe for a while,” Severus interjected, dryly. The thought of James Potter as Minister of Magic was just too horrifying to contemplate, and the entire group shuddered.

“Anyway,” Andromeda said, brightly, deliberately changing the topic. “Now that the whole family’s here, Ted and I have an announcement to make. Nympha!” she called, then spotted the beam on Bellatrix’s face. “No spoiling!” she said, sharply.

“Spoilsport,” Bellatrix murmured, but she subsided, ignoring the elbow in her side from Lily and the grin from Severus.

“Mama?” Nymphadora was hugging her mother’s leg.

“I have one more thing for you, sweetie,” Andromeda told her. “In about six months, just after the New Year, you’re going to be getting two new siblings.”

The garden was filled with the sound of squeals of amazement – even from Bellatrix and Lily who’d already known – and delighted congratulations.

“Siblings?” Nymphadora’s hair flushed a mottled pink and blue, showing her confusion. “Does that mean I’m getting brothers?” Her hair flushed to a light blue. “Or sisters?” This time it flashed pale pink.

“We don’t know yet, darling,” her father answered.

“We want to be surprised,” Andromeda emphasised, her gaze directly on Bellatrix. The other adults laughed as she squirmed.

“But . . . I . . . oh . . . ugh!” she finally got out, and slumped back in her seat, folding her arms sulkily. “Fine!” she agreed.

“Maybe we should cast the Fidelius charm over it, with one of us as the Secret Keeper,” Lily hissed in an aside to Severus. “Because you know Trix will never keep it!”

Severus chortled, as Bellatrix glanced over at them suspiciously. “We can always obliviate her if necessary,” he joked. “Or a Silencio will do just as well.”

“You’re plotting something,” Bellatrix said, leaning forward to glare at them both. “What are you two up to?”

“Nothing!” they chorused, and only laughed when she aimed her best glare at them.

By the time the trio arrived home an hour later, Harrison was almost asleep in Lily’s arms, although he woke up briefly when she declared he needed a bath before bed.

“Did you have fun at Nympha’s party, baby?” Lily asked, once he was in the tub. For once, the toddler wasn’t trying to create tidal waves, but was content to gently pat the water every once in a while.

“Uh-huh.” Harrison nodded, then yawned, widely. Lily had to pause whilst washing his hair to swallow a yawn of her own. “Mama? Nympha get sibling?” he asked.

“Yes, sweetheart,” she replied, absently. “In the New Year.”

“Oh.” Harrison fell silent for a moment, and Lily thought he’d gone back to his almost-sleep. But then he peered up at her through his eyelashes. “Me get sibling?” he asked.

Lily froze. Oh, Merlin! Now what was she supposed to say? “Uh . . . maybe one day in the future, baby,” she finally got out.

“Me get sibling tomo’ow?” Harrison perked up.

“Definitely not!” said Lily, emphatically. She reached for a nearby towel. “Come on, Harry, bedtime,” she declared. Hopefully his sudden fascination for siblings would have disappeared by the morning.

Entering the living room after putting Harrison in bed, she saw that Bellatrix was giggling quietly into the glass of wine she was pretending to drink, and Severus was smirking. “You heard?” she asked, smiling in resigned amusement.

“Yup. Harry wants a sibling . . . tomorrow!” Bellatrix got out, before descending into another fit of giggles.

Lily snorted and appropriated the wine glass for herself. “You’ve got more chance of achieving that than I have,” she pointed out, poking Bellatrix in the side. “When will you be seeing Mr Virtu again?”

“Not for a long while, if ever,” Bellatrix said, sobering quickly. “His delegation went back to India a few days ago.”

“Well, Harry’s ‘new toy’ hasn’t disappeared, so no doubt he’ll be back, Trix,” Severus said, comfortingly.

“And are you ever going to tell him why Harry keeps slipping up and calling him New Toy?” Lily asked. Both she and Severus laughed at the look of mortification that swept over Bellatrix’s face.

“Not in this lifetime,” she said hurriedly, and snatched her wine glass back from Lily. Suddenly she stiffened, and her eyes glazed over. She was silent for almost a minute, as Severus and Lily watched, then she began twitching, as though trying to run. “No . . . no!” she gasped out. “They’re just children.”

And then, startling the other two, she screamed, a high-pitched wail of agony that rose until it was almost soundless. Alarmed, the hair on the backs of their necks rising, Lily and Severus lurched forward towards their blood sister.

“No!” Bellatrix wailed. “No, Mum! Mum, don’t! No! Mama!”