chapter 17

Narcissa had watched her sister almost stumble through the halls of Hogwarts, her eyes staring vacantly forward, almost unseeing as she mechanically walked towards the exit. For a moment she had almost approached her. Almost gone to her.

But something about the way she moved, something about the look in her eyes, even from the distance she had been, was enough to hold her back.

It did not take much to guess what the problem was, even for her.

Nor did she think that it would be too hard for her to figure out exactly what her sister was likely to go do. Sighing, she shook her head and straightened her shoulders. She would have to have words with her other sister.

"Is something wrong?" a familiar voice suddenly asked as Narcissa almost jumped in surprise before quickly forcing face to a stony calm.

"Potter," she stated evenly as she saw James Potter standing there, looking at her curiously before nodding her head to his companion. "Sirius."

"You're not answering the question," James pointed out plaintively as he crossed his arms about her chest and gave her a look.

"Whether or not I answer the question is my own personal prerogative, Potter, and it is none of your concern." she stated primly as she gave him a sharp look while looking slightly flustered.

"Well, excuse me for trying to make sure you were all right, princess," James stated with a snort and a bit of sarcasm. "I was just trying to be nice about it."

Sirius groaned lightly and nudged James with his elbow. "Come on, mate, don't we have enough trouble without you going and antagonizing my cousin? She's at least been decent, hasn't she?"

"She was," James admitted with a slow nod. "She's not right now, though. She's being a bit of a jerk."

"Please?" Sirius asked again with a pleading look in his eyes. "I mean, come on, my family's finally being decent. I don't want it to start going to hell with them turning back into a bunch of angry berks."

"She's not exactly helping that idea," James snapped back before looking a Narcissa with all the seriousness an eleven year old child could muster. "Being upset is no reason to not comport yourself with civility and decorum! It doesn't matter how what your position is compared to someone else, let them degrade themselves, you're supposed to do your best to offer compassion and consideration."

He paused, a moment, and then his eyes narrowed. "Until they show that they will not offer you the same."

When he made the statement, he stood straight, giving her a sharp look in the eye, his back ramrod and the look in his eyes one that wouldn't be easily cowed. "So, what're you going to do, Black? Offer the same consideration given to you, or throw it back in my face?"

Sirius groaned and palmed against his face.

Narcissa however, just stared at him in silence for a long moment. Then she took a slow, deep breath and nodded her head. "I apologize, Potter. I am merely worried about my sister and need to talk to Andromeda."

And then it was like a switch was thrown and James with nodding his head looking sympathetic and even worried. "Right then. Hope everything's alright. Anything we can do to help?"

"Not at this moment, but I will keep you… in consideration going forward," she informed him with a slow nod of her head. "Good day, Potter. Sirius."

She half bowed to them both before turning and making her way to search the school for her sister.

"Seriously, James, have you gone daft in the head?" Sirius asked with an almost whining tone in his voice. "I mean, come on, you know she could've hexed us seven ways to misery, right?"

"So?" James asked as he looked back at Sirius, tilting his head to the side questioningly. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"…" Sirius looked at his friend for a moment before sighing and letting his shoulders slump. "I'm seriously starting to see what father meant by Potters being utterly nutters."

"If you aren't willing to stand up for what you say and what you believe, what else are you going to be other than a fraud?" James asked pointedly as he looked back at Sirius. "I mean, sure, it's scary and stuff like that, but if I just let myself only do stuff because it didn't scare me, what would I end up being?"

"I just… I just want to keep my family from going back to being how we were," Sirius said quietly as he looked down. "I don't want to lose this, James. You don't get how they were before. You don't understand how much different they are now. So much is different. And I don't wanna lose that."

"And if it's something that breaks that easy, well…" James started to say before pausing and shrugging his shoulders. "Well, wouldn't that mean you're, well, gonna have to spend the rest of your life being scared and worried about breaking it? That really how you wanna live?"

"… I just wanna have my family. I finally have them and I don't wanna lose that," Sirius said as he shifted his feet around. "I really don't want to lose them. Really, really don't."

"If you say so," James noted with a slight frown before shrugging. "Wanna go prank those bastards that called us blood traitors?"

"Yeah," Sirius said as he breathed a sigh of relief. That was something he could get behind, easily enough. "Wanna drag Remus into it?"

"Eh, he's not really interested in it. He wants to impress Professor Potter and be on his best behavior," James stated with a shake of his head. "And he convinced Pettigrew it would be a good idea too."

"Guess that just leaves the two of us then," Sirius stated as he straightened his back and made a show of straightening his robes. "More's the pity then."

"Oh?" James looked at Sirius in confusion. "Why do you say that?"

"Because neither of us know much of anything about restraint unless family's involved," Sirius reminded him before grinning a bit. "Which means we'll likely cause too much trouble without them trying to stop us."

"If you say so," James said with a slow nod. "Not sure what trouble that'll mean for us, but, sure, if you say so."

Sirus wondered for a moment if Potters were all as absolutely nutters as James when it came to everyone outside of their family and friends, then quickly shrugged off the thought. He was technically both. So, he didn't really have much to worry about, did he?

-o-o-o-

Harry was in the middle of teaching one of his third year classes when he felt the creations he left in the cave come to life. Frowning a bit, he had paused the lesson, lifting up a hand to signal for the students to be silent as he focused on confirming he had actually felt what he thought he had. Confirming it once more, he sighed and shook his head.

"Is there a problem, sir?" one of the braver third years asked, a hesitant tremor in their voice.

"No," Harry stated simply as he reluctantly pulled his attention away from the notification he had gotten. "Simply an alert spell I cast some time back has been triggered. Unfortunately, it is also something that I will have to be leaving to investigate shortly."

He took a deep breath then released it. "So, instead of your main exercise today, I want you all to take out your books and study chapters three through five. Your homework will be a three feet summary of the contents, one foot per chapter. We will have a quiz on the next class."

All of them were scurrying quickly to write down the information as he gestured and the instructions appeared on the board, as well as instructions for the next class. "Make sure that you take the time to think about how you can use the information as well. Class is dismissed, but those of you who wish to use this room for studying may do so."

He gave them all a nod before turning and briskly walking out of the class room towards the Headmaster's office.

As it happened, he found his path crossed by a still irritated Minerva McGonagall, frowning slightly but still maintaining an air of dignity. "Professor Potter. I thought you had a class to teach currently."

"Something suddenly came up and I am on my way to discuss it with the Headmaster." Harry stated simply as he gave her a brief nod of acknowledgement. "Excuse me."

"What could possibly be so important as to lead you to abandon your students?" she demanded with a glowering glare at him, while keeping pace with him.

"It's not particularly any of your business," he retorted flatly as he kept his voice calm and reasonable. "But, if you insist on knowing, an alert ward I set up has been triggered and I need to see to it."

Her face twisted into a grimace but she halted her hounding of him and gave him a slight nod of acceptance. After all, matters of security, as long as they weren't abused, were something that teachers had the right to investigate. "Have you contacted the Aurors?"

"No," Harry stated simply and shook his head. "Nor do I intend to."

"That is highly irreg…"

"I prefer them not be put in danger," he stated simply as he shook his head. "Trying to work with people I don't know and don't know me just adds a degree of complication that puts everyone in danger."

For a moment she opened her mouth to again protest before frowning a bit. "Is it truly that difficult for you?"

He snorted at that. "Professor McGonagall. I specialize in capturing and containing dark curses. I also turn them back against their casters, along with some of my more unique forms of elemental manipulation. It is very easy for someone that doesn't know how to work with me to end up hurting themselves and others because they panicked and did something stupid."

She grimaced a bit at that. "Do you not trust anyone then?"

He paused where he was, almost causing her to collide with his suddenly stiff back, before he slowly turned himself around and affixed her with a look. "Professor McGonagall. I happen to have had quite a number of people I trusted. People who I knew would have my back through anything and everything. Unfortunately, all of those people are gone now. And I am not so foolish as to think that the kind of rapport that takes years to build can be built up again with complete strangers in a simple matter of moments."

The unspoken ferocity in his tone made her take a step back, almost stumbling as the air of danger clawed at her. Slowly swallowing the thick bile of terror that she could feel squirming in her stomach, she reluctantly nodded her head. "I… see."

"No, you don't," Harry stated with a resigned sigh as he broke his eyes away from her and turned back towards his previous path. "Now, if you will excuse me, I need to be on my way."

Without waiting for her answer, he resumed his walk towards the headmaster's office, leaving her behind to consider exactly what his words meant.

-o-o-o-

Narcissa eventually found her sister settled at one of the tables in the Great Hall, enjoying a free period with Ted Tonks. Steeling herself, she quickly strode over directly in her direction. She was supposed to already be in class but family always came first.

"Andromeda," Narcissa said with a quiet urgency. Her hand reached out, lightly taking hold of her sister's sleeve and tugged upon it. "We need to talk."

"What is it?" Andromeda asked as she turned her attention away from Ted onto her little sister. "And aren't you supposed to be in class right now?"

"Did you convince Bellatrix to make another attempt to seduce the- Professor Potter?" Narcissa asked as she looked firmly into her sister's eyes, pointedly ignoring her second question

"A bit, I suppose," she admitted with a slow nod of his head. "I thought it would also make for a decent enough distraction from his fascination with making my life miserable."

"He just thinks you have plenty of talent, Rom," Ted said with a faint grin. "So he pushes you a bit more, just means he thinks you can go far."

"I have no interest in going far in that kind of life," Andromeda stated with an almost harsh sharpness to her voice. "And even less in being pushed towards it."

"I saw Bellatrix," Narcissa spoke up again as she looked at her sister. "She did not seem particularly pleased. Or even aware of herself. She did not have the look of a woman who had managed to secure even the slightest interest in the man she desired."

"Oh, bollocks," Andromeda swore as she hissed out a breath. "I thought…"

"Andromeda!" Narcissa hissed out as she glared, scandalized at her sister before looking at Ted with a scathing glare. "This is all your fault, getting this crass and ill thought out behavior in her head."

"No, pretty sure she was like that before we got involved," Ted disagreed with a shake of his head and a look of amusement on his face. "She just kept it hidden better before the whole thing about us being together came out to your family."

"This is not-!" Andromeda started to say before shaking her head. "So, he rejected her again?"

"As I said, she did not seem like a woman who had the confession of her feelings returned," Narcissa repeated as she glared at Andromeda. "Why do you insist on tormenting her like this?"

"I'm not tormenting anyone! I'm trying to help!" Andromeda protested quickly. "She was the one to come to me about it! Asking me for help!"

"And did you ever considered if she actually should have that help or not? That maybe Professor Potter truly does have no interest in pursuing a relationship with her?" Narcissa asked as she gave her sister a sharp glare. "That you were going to hurt her?"

"Why in Merlin's name would I think that?" Andromeda asked with a frown and a look of confusion on her face. "I mean, considering how she actually looks in muggle clothes? I don't see how he wouldn't be interested!"

"… Right, far be it from me to comment on the intricacies and potential shortcomings of your line of thought, love, but…" Ted noted before shaking his head. "You do realize that a bloke isn't guaranteed to be interested in a bird just because she's attractive, yes?"

Andromeda turned and just looked at him flatly. "Since when?"

"Look, love, there are plenty of blokes that works on, yes," Ted said with a shake of his head. "But, it's not a sure fire guarantee. I know it might be hard to believe, but there are some men that have standards beyond just how attractive she is."

"Are you implying that there's something wrong with my sister?" Andromeda asked as she glared back at him.

"You want me to quote you on just what?" Ted shot back before turning his attention back to Narcissa. "Sorry, but your sister has a bit of a problem with thinking fully about certain things and then over thinking overs."

Narcissa slowly rubbed her forehead and glared back at Ted. "Bellatrix is walking around looking like a zombie, with her dreams crushed, because you didn't think that it would be a bad for her to go and try to seduce the Hogwarts professor that has been single handedly rearranging our family's views and singling out you to focus on?"

"I thought-…" Andromeda began only to be cut off by Narcissa.

"Andromeda, he's the bloody Storm Chaser!" Narcissa stated with a glare. "Did you really think that it was just going to magically take care of itself? That he would see her dressed up and looking good and suddenly forget all about how they met?"

"… Yes?" Andromeda admitted with a slight wince and a shake of her head. "I mean…"

"I swear, the both of you are completely nutters in different ways," Narcissa stated before slowly shaking her head and sighing as she bowed her head to Ted. "My apologies. I shouldn't have accused you like that."

"I understand where you were coming from. I love her but I know she can be a bit daft in the head once she gets an idea in there," Ted stated with a rueful chuckle. "Trying to get it out before she causes herself a world of unpleasantness is damned near impossible."

"Hopefully what happened this time didn't have too much lasting damage," Narcissa stated with a sigh. "I really don't want to see Bellatrix end up as deranged as Au- I mean Walburga."

It was at that point that they saw Professor Harry Potter hurriedly along the edge of the Great Hall in a path that would lead him quickly towards the headmaster's office.

Involuntarily, Narcissa shuddered as she saw the stormy expression on the man's face. "I… Really hope that Bellatrix is all right."

-o-o-o-

"Is there something I can help you with, Professor Potter?" Dumbledore asked with a slight frown and an arched brow. "I thought you had a class to…"

"Ward alert." Was all Harry said as he nodded towards the professor's fireplace. "Need to floo to Hogsmeade so I can look into it."

"What manner of ward alert? I was unaware you had any property, Mr. Potter." Dumbledore stated with a frown.

"Ward on a cave I had a feeling Voldemort would be making use of," he stated simply, shrugging his shoulders slightly. "I got the alert for an all clear after he left. I need to check on it and see what he did. Or what he didn't do."

"Ah, I see," Dumbledore stated with a frown. "Do you desire assistance?"

"No," Harry stated simply as he shook his head and walked over to the fireplace before pausing. "What's the school policy about students trying to use their families to get out of responsibilities?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to be a bit more specific than that," Dumbledore pointed out with a slight frown before giving him a knowing look. "Though, I Imagine this has something to do with the sisters Black?"

"Just getting tired of having Bellatrix confronting me for courting." Harry stated with a sigh and a shake of his head. "It's getting old."

"Ah, young love," Dumbledore noted with a faint smile. "Perhaps you ought to give it a chance, Mr. Potter."

"I have. It wasn't to my liking." Harry stated bluntly before vanishing into the floo in an explosion of emerald flames.

"Ah, I suppose that would be a problem then," he noted with a sigh as he watched Harry vanish before pursing his lips. "Though, I fail to see what the issue is. From what I can see, the two of you would make a most interesting couple."

Sighing and shaking his head, he turned his attention to the paperwork in front of him. An interesting project for another time, he supposed. When there wasn't the pressing threat of a Dark Lord pressing down on things.

-o-o-o-

Bellatrix knew next to nothing. She existed, floating in a pleasant fog that didn't have the unpleasant realities of her life. Instead she enjoyed the warm, soothing sensation of doing nothing but what she was told to.

"Well, my lord, you have captured one of the blood traitors… what do you plan to do with her?" a voice commented, not that she really felt like paying attention to them. She had more important things to do, like enjoying the cloud she drifted on.

"Be silent, fool. Crucio!" A part of her wanted to giggle at that. She vaguely recalled the spell, one that she'd been hoping to learn how to cast, to master. That had been a long time ago, hadn't it?

The screams around her mattered little to her. She just had to stand there, enjoying the feeling that permeated her body. That was nice.

Tilting her head to the side, she frowned just slightly. Or was it? She remembered that the Storm Chaser didn't like that about her. How she thought it would be fun to be dangerous, dark, destructive.

Should she really be just standing her letting all this happen?

"Damnedable little wench. Imperio."

And instantly all her thoughts and worries went away. That was nice. Nothing to think about once more.

"My lord… I apologize, but if she's going to be so difficult to keep under, shouldn't we just…?"

"You wouldn't be implying I'm having difficulties controlling one blood traitor, now would you, Avery?"

"N-n-no, my lord, I would never…!"

"CRUCIO!"

The screams started up again then. They weren't very nice she decided. Too shrill and pleading. Did they always sound that way? She remembered how she sounded when she screamed herself before the Storm Chaser.

She didn't particularly like that sound, either, now that she… was she thinking something again?

"Get out of those worthless muggle scraps you call clothes, you little wretch."

She blinked a moment before realizing that the order was for her. Slowly, mechanically, she removed things. First the shirt, then the jeans. A moment later the brassiere and the panties until she was standing there, completely naked.

"Now burn those them and go put on your uniform for tonight." His voice was sneering and acidic as it commanded her to action. But that didn't bother her. She just needed to do as she was told. Nothing else really mattered.

Soon the clothes burst into flame and she watched them for a moment, almost feeling something, but it was too faint, too weak, to make an impression. Then she moved as she had been told. It was so much easier to just do as she was told and ignore her own wants and expectations.

A part of her mind noted that the "uniform" couldn't really even be called a robe. A brief, thin material of transparent silk that looked almost black when it layered together, and trimmed with black lace. It was almost… traditional in its appearance.

"Now, the collar and the cuffs."

Obediently she did as she was told, slipping on the collar she had been supplied, and then the cuffs. Almost as soon as she'd done so, she could feel the way the cuffs snapped her arms behind her back, and the collar forced her to arch back, thrusting out her chest in the process. As she stared up towards the ceiling, she noted the grain of the wood ceiling, studying the lines with a bored emptiness.

They were there, and she had nothing else to do until she was commanded again.

"Good," he stated with a sharp nod of his head. "Come along. Everyone should be arriving now." He grabbed hold of her by the back of her hair and suddenly she could feel herself being violently torn through the sensation of forced apparition.

They were in a cave. With a lake. An ornate wood platform stood around a solitary island in the center, with ornate silver snakes curling down hanging emerald banners hung around the cave's roof.

"Go, stand," he stated simply with his voice once more aloof and in control.

She didn't need to be told where she was supposed to go, the small platform raised up in front of the only rock jutting out of the island was the obvious answer as she walked to it and then stood there silently.

Then suddenly the air twisted and rent as black clad forms spilt out, arriving in sudden clumps in groups of three to five. All of them with their eyes behind stylish silver masks, watching her with eyes made of empty shadows. It was like being stared at by statues of puppets.

"Welcome to you all," he said, addressing them from where he stood in front of the assembled figures his head tilted to the side and his entire posture radiating power and control. "There have been those among you that have fallen prey to doubts and whispers. Thoughts that perhaps I am not whom I claim to be. That I am somehow… wanting."

He paused, letting the word roll off his lips as if it the syllables themselves were a fetid rot. "I have found your lack of faith… disturbing."

A grand gesture and, from the edges of the lake, a rolling flame erupted, spreading with a sinuous, undulating motion as it turned into a slowly uncoiling snake that hissed as it circled the edge of the water.

"In fact, I would almost call it disheartening. To think that a bunch of muggle loving fools would be able to vanquish Voldemort?!" He roared the last word as the head of the snake rose up behind him, looming over Bellatrix and Voldemort, staring down at the assembled Knights of Walpurgis, its body flaring so wildly, it was almost as if it had developed flaming feathers.

Then he seemed to calm down, though his crimson eye still burned with a hungering menace. "But, I understand. You were weak, you gave into the temptation of fear. You allowed doubt to cloud your judgement."

There was a pause before he affixed one figure in particular with a look.

"Most of you, however craven your doubts had made you, did not allow it to dull your thoughts and leave you prone to a most foolish mistake. Most of you did not make the mistake of thinking I would be so weak, so foolish, as to not notice the way they had gone crawling to others to try and curry their favor in return for my secrets."

He gestured languidly towards a single figure and suddenly everyone else around it was pushed away. "Honestly, Johnston… your betrayal alone was bad enough, but for you to think that I wouldn't notice it and that you were safe to come back after your little trip to the Ministry?"

"M-my Lord, you… I di-did nothing of the sort! I was only there… to deal with a fine my father received! They say he was muggle baiting!" There was a cringing, whimpering desperation in the voice as it struggled visibly against some kind of bonds holding him in place. "I…"

"Muggle-baiting, honestly, Johnston? That was the best you could do?" He sneered as his eyes locked on the mask and suddenly the shadows covering their eyes fled them, revealing terrified hazel orbs. "Did you really think a mind as weak as yours could deny me? Could hide your sins from me? I can see the truth of it all, all those traitorous thoughts, dancing about in your small, small little mind."

Then he turned and gestured grandly around the room.

"So, here, my friends, we have a foolish little traitor among your ranks. A craven little coward that thought himself clever as he went crawling to the pathetic little wretches at the Ministry for protection. And what's more, he thought he could keep it hidden from me! Even as he stands here, wearing the same mask and robes as you did, only he has soiled his beyond redemption."

There was a pause there as he let the words hang in the air and savored the look of panicked, animalistic terror in his prey's eyes. "So, alas, I'm afraid I have no other choice. Measures must be taken, as all of you know. Our honor must still be maintained."

The words were said with a note of sadness that didn't reach his eyes and suddenly the snake leapt forward and the traitor only screamed a short amount of time before dying into a whimpering gurgle as his flesh blackened and his body contracted, hunching involuntarily forward as his flesh burned and his muscles contracted.

When nothing was left but charred, greasy flesh, the serpent withdrew, leaving a wretched figure in its wake, a corpse horrifyingly disfigured, with just enough black, charred flesh left on its frame to resemble a man. Only to have Voldemort take it a step further. A gesture and a sickly spell shot out, wrapping itself about the figure with a nauseating glow.

"But, even in death and dishonor, there are still uses for such a creature," Voldemort noted idly as it straightened and stood on poorly angled legs, arms curled back against its body as its head hung limp and broken to the side. "After all, why make such a thing even more of a waste?"

And then the burned inferni turned and stumbled into the water of the lake, falling down in into its depths and vanishing from sight with an unnatural speed.

"But, for the rest of you!" He turned and smiled at them, a sharp, vicious thing that made them all shift nervously about. "For all your doubts, you did not falter and did not flee. So, I have a reward for you.

"I welcome you all to where I first realized my role in this world, where I first started on my path of cleansing away the mud and the filth, where first had the pleasure of ending one of their worthless lives."

The all looked both eager and worried as suddenly they could feel a tingle of magic slamming into place as wards went up all around the cave.

"For the duration of this evening's festivities, no one will be suddenly appearing in, no one will be leaving. Tonight, to each of you I give a piece of my own vengeance." He stepped aside, gesturing towards Bellatrix with a cold, jagged smile. "You can have everything of her except her life."

He gestured then once more and suddenly the fog over Bellatrix's mind lifted, returning her to her faculties. "But, no need to deny her the enjoyment of the experience, now is there?"

And suddenly, it was like a switch had been flicked, and the pleasant haze of the Imperius curse withdrew, leaving her suddenly aware of her surroundings and her situation; standing half-naked in front of a group of masked Knights of Walpurgis, bound and helpless without her wand. In a place where she didn't know where she was. Trapped under magics she had no comprehension off.

She shook away the last fogging clouds that remained of the spell and then sucked in a sharp breath as the reality of her situation sank in.

"There we go. Now she has some fight in her again," Voldemort noted with a drawl as he gestured and an onyx throne appeared at the back of the island where he took a seat, the burning serpent looming menacingly above him. "I do expect all of you can do something about that?"

It was then she realize exactly what they planned to do to her when the first figure advanced on her. "NO!"

"Oh, shut up you blood traitor bitch!" one of them spoke up, his wand slashing up as a sickly yellow length of magic snapped out and grabbed hold of her collared throat. "And get on your knees where you belong!"

She could smell the leather of the collar burning, an acrid, greasy smoke that burned at her nose as she was suddenly pulled forward, slamming her down onto knees as she felt the first sharp pain of her knees hitting solid stone with only a thin piece of silk to cushion her. Then she felt a sudden sharp twist of her hair being grabbed, pulled tight and vicious. With a hiss of breath, she felt how she was forced to arch back, to stare up at the silver clad face even as she struggled against the grip.

"You disgusting little harlot." She froze at the voice. The words mattered little, they never had, but she recognized the voice itself instantly. Walburga. "You ruined everything"

Then she felt the back handed slap across her face as her flesh scratched and tore from the few scant rings the woman still kept. "You cost me my family, my history, my dignity! My legacy! All because you wanted to be a panting little bitch for some dirty, half-blood mongrel!"

Bellatrix could feel the stinging slap once, then once more before something hot and wet splashed on her face, her aunt's spittle, before her face was thrown down almost stronger than she could resist.

"You should be grateful that you'll at least have something to offer your betters before your worthless life is ended. Even if it's to relieve themselves of their frustrations." She could hear the sneer in that voice, sharper, uglier than she remembered. "Even if they're just going to waste their seed on your worthless body."

Then she could feel her Aunt's face replaced by another, stronger, larger hand, and she was suddenly forced face down into the ground as her hips unconsciously rose, her body not flexible enough to curl down completely. "Well, that's a bit much. Maybe some of the more desperate will have a go, but some of us can enjoy ourselves in a much less… demeaning way."

And then she screamed as the curling shock of pain wroth up her spine, leaving her clawing, spasming in the air. "Like that? Not quite like a Crucio, it doesn't make your entire body just sing like the Cruciatus, but it leaves such a wonderful spread of sweet, raw flesh."

She could feel the tip of his wand then, pressing into her, tracing over her flesh like nothing, before suddenly hitting one particular patch, and it again exploded in pain. "We developed it after noticing the effects of a particular magical beast that liked to make its victims suffer an excruciating fate before they died. I've always wondered, though… what would happen if someone decided to flay skin like this, hmm?"

"Well now, why don't we find out?"

Bellatrix endured it, for a time, fighting down the tears, trying to give them as few screams as she could. But she could only last for so long before she finally couldn't help but scream, and scream, and scream.

-o-o-o-

Harry hadn't been in any particular hurry as he made his way through his secret tunnel. Voldemort had hardly done much to the cave beyond the inferni that he had stocked and the poison hiding the locket last time. And the poison, he knew, came after Sirius and Regulus were much older.

He did, however, note subtle tingling of magic as he approached, and frowned slightly. That was not what he was expecting. A quick check made him even more confused. Anti-apparition and portkey wards?

Why in Merlin's name would he have those up?

He frowned and closed his eyes as he extended his will out to the stone ahead of him, and assured himself that, yes, they were still there, ready to go to work. Which meant that there was another reason for those wards to be up.

A feeling hit his stomach, a dark, sinking feeling that promised no small amount of horrible, horrible things ahead.

He had already thrown everything that would be to the wind with his actions so far, was this part of the fall out of his actions?

Had Voldemort merely used the cave for other purposes that he'd never learned about? What reason would he have had to erect wards preventing anyone from leaving?

Too many questions. Too many things it could be. Too many horrible thoughts he didn't to contemplate. But he needed to know what he was going to face before he did anything.

So he willed a number of his creations to break away, peeling back from the wall, until only a thin layer remained. A thin layer that did not stop the faint sounds of screaming from reaching his ears.

Fighting down the urge to immediately rush in, he had a small piece of stone at eye height pull away from the wall so he could see inside. When he did, what he found made his blood boil.