392Cissy was distant as spring turned to summer, coming less frequently to Grimmauld Place. Sirius kept his distance as well which bothered Bellatrix more than she cared to admit. Andy's correspondence with Hermione had come to a halt. Andy assured Bellatrix that the only reason was the OWL exams, looming ever closer, meaning Hermione's workload had increased.
"Why are you so interested?" Andy asked shrewdly.
Bellatrix waved a dismissive hand. "I know you were quite friendly with the girl. Am I not allowed to show an interest in my sister's life?"
Andy hummed noncommittally, eyebrows raised, but did not push.
Though neither Narcissa nor Kreacher had mentioned anything about the Dark Lord's plan, Bellatrix sensed that the time was drawing nearer. Kreacher disappeared more often - "Hiding in the attic again," Sirius would grumble - and turn back up again hours later with a mixture of new and familiar scents clinging to him. It instilled a restlessness in her she did not know what to do with, driving her to spend more time as a wolf, hoping she could play it off as the same housebound restlessness driving Sirius's moods.
It seemed Bellatrix was not the only one feeling things were coming to a head. She caught a glimpse of Potter's head in the kitchen fire one night speaking with Sirius and Remus. Not long after that Fred and George turned up one evening, broomsticks slung over their shoulders, declaring they felt Hogwarts had nothing left to offer them and that in a few days their joke shop in Diagon Alley would open. Molly Weasley spent a good few hours alternating between fury, confusion and worry before eventually landing on a tentative sort of pride at the realization of what her sons had managed to set up for themselves already.
Early June arrived, and the tension inside Bellatrix was driving her nearly mad. It was the last day of exams at Hogwarts which meant Sirius had been moody all day, and Bellatrix suspected it meant Potter would not be coming straight to Grimmauld Place from King's Cross. Sirius had disappeared about an hour ago when they heard a distressed shriek from Buckbeak. He had briefly reappeared in the kitchen, gathering supplies and muttering about Buckbeak getting his leg tangled in his chains and injuring himself, then dashed off again. Knowing an injured Hippogriff to be a tempermental thing, Bellatrix decided it best to let Sirius handle the matter by himself. She did not want to risk stressing Buckbeak more.
She sat alone at the kitchen table, picking at the simple dinner Kreacher had prepared for her. He was not up for much more than making soup and sandwiches, but that was fine with her. Andy was at home, visiting with Ted, and there were no other members of the Order present, not even Remus. There was no reason to prod Kreacher into attempting a more intensive meal.
As Bellatrix chewed at a bite of her sandwich, watching the fireplace, Kreacher shuffled into the room, muttering to himself. He stopped next to the fireplace and went quiet, staring intently at the flames.
Bellatrix's brow furrowed. "Kreacher, what are you doing?"
"Waiting, Miss Bella," he said gleefully.
Before Bellatrix could enquire further, the fire roared, turned green, and Harry Potter's head appeared in the flames. Bellatrix's eyebrows rose.
Potter glanced around the room, panic shining in his eyes. "Sirius? Sirius, are you there?"
His shout echoed in the kitchen, and Bellatrix shook her head, ears ringing. "Shut up, Potter, there's no need to shout. He won't hear you from here anyway."
Potter's gaze snapped to her, his expression twisting with anger. "What have you done to him?"
"Nothing. He's upstairs."
"You're lying," Potter spat.
Bellatrix shrugged. A suspicion was forming in her mind, and she glanced at Kreacher, who watched with triumph.
"Is Hermione there? Only it would be nice to have an intelligent conversation for a change."
Potter snarled. As if he had been waiting for a cue, Kreacher shuffled into Potter's line of sight. Potter's full attention turned on Kreacher.
"Where's Sirius, Kreacher?"
Kreacher wheezed out a laugh. "Master has gone out, Harry Potter."
"Where's he gone?"
Kreacher laughed.
"I'm warning you!" Potter snapped, and Bellatrix chuckled at his empty threat. His eyes flashed, darting toward her before jerking back to Kreacher. "What about Lupin or Mad Eye or Tonks?"
"No one here but Kreacher and Miss Bella!"
Potter grit his teeth and tossed a glare at Bellatrix. He seemed to wrestle with something for a moment before asking, "Has he gone to the Department of Mysteries?"
Bellatrix sat up straighter, intrigued. Was that where whatever the Order had been guarding all year was hidden? What did her Master desire from the Department of Mysteries?
"Master does not tell poor Kreacher - "
"But you know!" Potter burst out, furious. "You know where he is!"
Bellatrix's gaze flicked toward the kitchen door. She needed to wrap up Potter's posturing. As entertaining as it was, every moment Potter spent being belligerent was another moment Sirius could appear.
"This has been lovely, Potter," Bellatrix drawled, unable to resist winding the boy up further, "but I'm getting tired of listening to you harass my servant so - "
"You did this!" Potter shouted. "I knew we couldn't trust you! What did you do to Sirius?"
Kreacher cackled. "Master will not come back from the Department of Mysteries!"
Potter, seemingly taking Kreacher's comment as confirmation of Bellatrix's guilt, glared at her with such murderous venom Bellatrix was almost impressed. "` You - !"
A hand appeared in the fireplace, and Bellatrix sat up straighter. Short stubby fingers seized Potter by his hair, and yanked him backward. The fire calmed and turned orange again. Potter had been caught, it seemed.
Bellatrix turned to Kreacher. "Explain. Quickly." Sirius could catch them at any moment.
"The Dark Lord's plan, Miss Cissy's plan! Kreacher injured the Hippogryph to keep Master busy. Potter thinks Master is in danger and will go to rescue him, just as the Dark Lord desires!"
Excitement thrummed through Bellatrix, even as doubts plagued her mind. Potter had clearly been caught by an authority figure. With Dumbledore no longer at Hogwarts, how would Potter escape the school? But the Dark Lord would not leave such a thing to chance. He had to be confident that Potter would find a way.
"Do you know why the Dark Lord wants Potter at the Department of Mysteries?"
Kreacher shook his head. "Miss Cissy was very careful around Kreacher in case Master discovered us."
Though she had known it was unlikely Kreacher had been told the full plan, she couldn't help the disappointment. But it did not last long. She grinned.
The Dark Lord had a plan in motion.
Bellatrix curled up on the couch in front of the library fireplace, staring unseeingly at a random book she had taken off a library shelf - a prop grabbed to maintain an appearance of normalcy when Dora, Moody, Lupin and Shacklebolt had arrived shortly after Potter's Floo call. Anticipation made it difficult for her to sit still, blood racing, ears straining for any hint from the Order as to what had happened. Beyond that, restlessness and anxiety scratched at the back of her mind, the source of which Bellatrix could not place.
After what felt like an eternity, noise broke out down below, Sirius's voice the loudest of all. Muffled as it was by the floors between them, she could not make out what he was saying. But even so, there was only one possible cause for the disruption that night.
"BELLATRIX!" Sirius roared.
Her heart raced with excitement, but she forced herself to remain outwardly calm and aloof as Sirius thundered up the steps and down the hall towards the library.
"No need to shout," she drawled as he stormed into the room.
"Shut up," he snarled. "I know Harry tried to contact me. What did he tell you? What did you say to him?"
Bellatrix met his gaze evenly. For a moment, she thought about lying, about denying that she had ever spoken to Potter at all. But no, she decided, it was better to tell the truth - some of it, of course, and she would still have her fun.
"Nothing he believed," she said, dropping her gaze back to her book and flipping the page.
Sirius seized the book from her hand and flung it across the room. It hit the wall with a thud, one of the corners denting the surface. He planted one hand on the arm rest Bellatrix and the other on the back of the couch and leaned in close, trapping her in place. "Don't fuck with me."
"I'm telling the truth. If you're as stubborn and unintelligent as Potter, that is none of my concern."
Sirius slapped his hand against the arm rest. "Tell me what you said to him!"
Footsteps drew closer: Sirius's shouting had drawn the attention of the rest of the Order members present. Dora entered the library first, followed closely by Lupin and Shacklebolt with Mad-Eye Moody not far behind.
"Sirius," Dora said, "calm down. She can't be involved, she can't even leave Headquarters."
Mad-Eye pinned Bellatrix with a glare from his magical eye. "But Malfoy has been allowed to come and go as she pleases."
Dora glared at him. "Dumbledore - "
"Can make mistakes and is far too trusting," Mad-Eye said.
Sirius, who had been momentarily distracted by the arrival of his fellow Order members, turned his attention back on Bellatrix. "What did you tell him?" he demanded again.
Bellatrix let out a long suffering sigh, hiding her amusement at the twitch of Sirius's jaw, closed her book and reached around Sirius's arm to place it on the small table beside the couch. "I told him you were here, and he accused me of lying. Then he was caught."
Sirius tightened his grip on the couch, knuckles going white. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"He was caught. What was he going to do?" Bellatrix said with raised eyebrows. "It wasn't important."
Sirius looked like he wanted to hit her. Dora stepped forward, and Bellatrix felt a twinge of guilt at the disappointment on Dora's face as their eyes met. Dora's intervention was unneeded: Sirius shoved himself back from her chair and paced in front of the couch, running a hand through his hair, teeth clenched.
"How did you know Potter tried to reach you?" Bellatrix asked.
"Snape," Sirius said, the words clipped. "He's looking for Harry and Hermione in the Forbidden Forest - "
Bellatrix sat up straighter, unease settling in her chest. "What are they doing in the Forbidden Forest?"
"That's enough, Sirius," Mad-Eye said before Sirius could answer. "Wait for Dumbledore to arrive before you tell her anything else."
"I've told you I'm not waiting here for Dumbledore while Harry is in danger!"
"Someone has to be here - " Dora started.
"KREACHER!" Sirius roared.
Kreacher appeared with a loud *crack*. "Master calls?"
"Tell Dumbledore what's happening when he gets here. Tell him we've gone to the Department of Mysteries - "
"Sirius," Mad-Eye growled warningly, his magical eye still trained on Bellatrix.
"Wait," Bellatrix said suddenly, standing up, "you can't go to the Ministry - "
"Why not?"
"Because you're a wanted criminal , Sirius - "
"I don't care! He's my godson!"
Bellatrix turned to Dora. "Then you should stay, tell Dumbledore - "
"I'm an Auror, I've trained for this, I have to go - "
Bellatrix grabbed Dora's arm, panic lodging in her throat. "Andy would kill me if anything happened to you."
"This is my choice. This is what I joined the Order to do, my mum understands - besides, it's not like you're involved in any of this - "
Guilt choked Bellatrix. Dora spoke with such casual confidence in both the Order's protections and in Bellatrix herself.
"Kreacher will inform Dumbledore what's happened," Sirius said fiercely. "We're wasting time now, let's go."
"Agreed," Mad-Eye said.
"Dora - " Bellatrix tried, but Dora gently removed Bellatrix's hand from her arm.
"I'll be careful. Sirius and I will look after each other. We'll be back before you know it." She patted Bellatrix's arm and hurried out of the room with Sirius, Lupin, and Mad-Eye. Shacklebolt hung back a moment to give her a steady look. Bellatrix straightened under his stare, smoothing out her expression. Without a word, he turned and followed the others. Bellatrix heard the muffled sound of the front door closing.
"Fuck," she hissed, fisting her hands in her hair.
If the Dark Lord did not kill Potter first, Bellatrix would. Whether she would kill him before or after she murdered Snape, she had not decided. She knew Snape had taken his place back at the Dark Lord's side, taking on duties as a spy, though whether he truly worked for the Dark Lord or Dumbledore she had not been able to discern given she had been permitted no contact with him while he was at Headquarters. But alerting the Order to Potter's disappearance, to where Potter would be headed... That was an obvious betrayal of her Lord.
Focus. She had to focus. Dora was running headlong into the hands of Death Eaters, and while Moody was a fearsome duelist, he was past his prime due to his numerous injuries. She suspected Kingsley was an excellent duelist in his own right, but she could not account for Lupin's skills - nor Sirius's after so long in Azkaban. Given the lengths the Dark Lord had gone to he was unlikely to leave this plan to chance. He would be sending his most trusted and skilled Death Eaters and as many of them as could reasonably be sent without raising an alarm.
And if the Dark Lord himself decided to become involved...
Bellatrix forced herself to take a deep breath. Beyond her fear for Dora, a cold practical part of her - the soldier in her - stirred, a slow realization unfurling... If she tread carefully, the situation could present an opportunity, one that might not come again...
Movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention. Bellatrix turned, her eyes landing on Andy's raven perched atop a shelf, watching her with its head cocked to one side curiously. Bellatrix lowered her hands slowly, an idea forming. She held out her arm.
"I have a job for you."
The raven tilted its head to the other side. A moment later, it glided down to land on her arm. Bellatrix grunted, her arm almost buckling under the weight and with the pain of talons digging into her skin. She strode out of the library to the drawing room, used her free hand to unlock a window, and threw it open.
"Fetch Andy. Do whatever you have to do."
The raven cawed and took off. Bellatrix watched it disappear, a shadow in the night.
Andromeda appeared on the front steps of Grimmauld Place with a soft pop . The raven shifted on her shoulder, its talons digging into her skin through her robes. She grimaced. The pain only worsened her foul mood. She had not appreciated being forced out of her bed and her husband's arms by Bellatrix's raven attacking her windows and making enough racket to raise the dead.
Throwing the door open, she marched inside. Bellatrix startled, raising her chin from where she had rested it on her fist, staring at Andromeda with wide eyes. She sat hunched on the bottom steps of the stairs. As the door slammed shut behind Andromeda, Bellatrix jumped to her feet. The raven hopped off of Andy's shoulder to perch on the lip of the troll leg umbrella stand.
"You had better have a good fucking explanation, Bellatrix. One night with my husband, in my own home, is all I asked - "
"It's Dora."
Andy froze, feeling like she had been submerged in ice water. Her fingers felt numb. "What's happened?"
Bellatrix clasped her hands behind her back. "Potter. He's gone to the Ministry. It's a trap - "
"Dora and Sirius went after him?" Andy asked, knowing Sirius would be raising hell if he were still in the house.
"Yes." Short. Clipped. A soldier's answer.
"Where in the Ministry?"
"The Department of Mysteries."
Andromeda cursed under her breath. Why would Potter run into a trap as obvious as breaking into the Ministry after hours? But there was no time to ponder or ask. He had done it, and Sirius and Dora were in danger. "Where is Dumbledore?"
"On his way, but we can't waste time. You need to let me out of here - "
"Absolutely not," Andy snapped, heart pounding painfully.
Bellatrix's gaze sharpened, her jaw clenching. "We don't have time for this. Let me out so I can help them."
"No. Stay here," Andromeda ordered, turning around and reaching for the doorknob. "Tell Dumbledore I've gone after them too."
"No!" Bellatrix lunged forward, seized her wrist, and spun Andromeda around to face her. Her eyes were wild, panicked. "You are staying here. I'll protect them, just let me out of this damn house!"
"I am not letting you run straight back to the Death Eaters, and I am not staying here while my daughter is in danger!"
A growl escaped Bellatrix's throat, her fingers flexing around Andy's wrist. Andromeda stood straighter, meeting Bellatrix's glare with her own, despite the pounding of her heart, the adrenaline pumping through her veins.
Bellatrix grit her teeth. "Then take me with you."
"No."
"You don't trust me to protect Dora? I nearly died for her already, and you think I won't do everything in my power to keep her safe?"
"That's the fucking problem! " Andy shouted, yanking her arm free of Bellatrix' gasp. "I don't trust you to even know how to fucking do that!"
Bellatrix went completely still. Andromeda looked away, unable to meet her gaze, not wanting to see the pain in her eyes.
The grandfather clock's faint ticking could be heard from the drawing room above. The raven shifted on its perch atop the heavy troll leg umbrella stand and ruffled its feathers.
Gently, Bellatrix cupped Andy's chin in her fingers, and Andromeda allowed her sister to gently tilt her head up. Bella's eyes were soft. Bella had not looked at her this way since their first years at Hogwarts, when they were still inseparable.
"I'm sorry, Andy," Bellatrix murmured. Andy swallowed hard. "I know my decisions hurt you. But I've always done what I thought was best."
Andy sighed. "That's the problem. It always has been. You've always had the wrong ideas about what that meant."
Bellatrix ducked her head, but Andy caught the twitch in her jaw. "Regardless... My primary concern is making sure our family makes it through the night intact. If I cannot convince you to stay, let me help you. Let me keep you safe. Please."
Whispers of warning lurked in the back of her mind, but Andromeda's chest felt brittle and soft, filled with a painful yearning to believe Bellatrix finally understood, to believe that her sister would not make her regret a show of trust. She searched Bellatrix's eyes, trying to find any hint of deception.
"If you make me regret this..." Andy shook her head, ran a hand through her hair and let out a long breath. I can't believe I'm doing this... She conjured a black hooded shawl cloak with a thin wide scarf and a pair of shoes and shoved them into Bellatrix's arms. "Fine. Put these on, make sure no one can see your face. Stay hidden and guide the children out when we find them. I'll cover you. Be careful, you don't have a wand, Bella, and even you aren't that - "
Bellatrix cleared her throat. "About that..." Looking uncomfortable, perhaps a little guilty, she reached into the pocket of her sweatpants and pulled out a long curved wand - her own wand.
Andy gaped at her a moment, during which Bellatrix tensed as if anticipating a blow of some kind. How - She clenched her jaw. "Narcissa."
Bellatrix said nothing, which was as good as a confession.
"How long?"
"Since just after Christmas."
Andromeda gritted her teeth so hard her teeth ached. "We will be - discussing - this just as soon as Dora and Sirius are safe, you hear me?" Bellatrix gave a sharp nod, and Andromeda grabbed her wrist. "Let's go."