A Snowball Upon A Hill

Harry sat with a mutinous frown upon his face. It was the third day of the Christmas holidays, and while he way beyond pleased to be spending time with Regulus again, that didn't mean he wanted to do it in such a manner as the one which was currently being force upon him.

"Turais, what are you wearing!" His mother's voice broke through his thoughts and Harry grimaced, turning to look at the women beside him. He was currently dressed in a pair of tight dragon leather trousers, along with a matching vest from which the white cotton of his shirt was held close to his body. The sleeves of said shirt were rolled up to the elbow, proudly displaying the dual wand holsters upon his forearms. Matched with the basilisk skin boots he' had commissioned -the tailor kept quite about the shed skin he'd brought to her seeing as she'd been allowed to keep half of it- he appeared a soldier readying for war. Not a pure-blood heir readying for a family gathering over the Christmas holidays.

"Cousin Narcissa is intent on bringing Malfoy along with her, much like cousin Bellatrix is bringing her new husband." Harry grimaced at the thought. The Lestrange heir had graduated a year behind Bellatrix, and Harry had been glad to see the back of him. He had enough with the younger brother in his own year.

"Malfoy's going to try something, either regarding Sirius' sorting, or for the stunt I pulled on the first night back. I'd rather not go in unprepared

"What stunt did you pull?!"

Harry looked up at Walburga as he finished trying his boots up, watching as her eyes drifted down to them.

"And where did you get Basilisk skin boots?!"

In all honesty, it wasn't Malfoy that Harry was preparing for. It was Bellatrix. Ever since hios sorting a tension had been building up between them, For the first eleven years of Harry's life, the girl had just been jealous of his magical abilities, and later, his parseltongue. But she hadn't been able to touch him.

Now though, with Sirius bringing what could be classifies as a 'disgrace' to the Black family name, she could challenge him to a duel before their lord just to batter him down. Harry didn't plan to allow that to happen. In fact, he was going to challenge Bellatrix. To not only hopefully disperse some of the tension between them, but to also stop her hurting his younger brother. With this, both Malfoy and Lestrange would get the message he'd put himself in the firing line for both Sirius and Regulus. Only he'd be a hell of a lot harder, impossible really, for them to take down.

Especially when he had something to protect.

"Doesn't matter. All that matters is that I'm not going to lose."

.

Sirius and Regulus had stared at his new state of dress, so different from the formal robes they'd been forced into. However, both had known to hold their tongue with their mother breathing down their necks. They'd arrived at Black manor, the home of his paternal grandfather by apperation, Walburga releasing her death grip upon Harry's shoulder as soon as they were in place. Orion was stood with both Sirius and Regulus, a light frown upon his face, but he seemed less interested in Harry's reasoning for his current state of dress, and more focused on what the outcome of his little wardrobe would mean. Harry couldn't blame him, usually these family dinners were dreadfully boring, with the only kind of action being the thinly veiled insults behide sugar coated words to see an actual duel take place, maybe two, would probably make Orion's day.

It was certainly going to make Harry's

Pushing open the doors to Black manor, Harry strode forward and gave his outer-robe to the house-elf, continuing through to the main room where the rest of the family was gathered. Already he could feel the powerful dark magic that was no doubt branded onto the arm of at least one person stood inside that room. He could feel the familiar dark hiss of Riddle's magic swirling around the room, the darkness almost like a welcome home.

This was the closest he'd ever been to his own time, the closest to what had once been home. And he was going to do his damn best to protect it, even if it was a little different than he remembered.

The doors parted for him at the call of his magic, the magic of the Black family heir. Eyes no doubt flashing green, Harry's gave landed upon the form of Bellatrix and Rodolphus, both of whom were branded. Bellatrix might have once been family as a child, she'd been his rival from a young age. Until she'd gone to Hogwarts, until she'd gotten tangled in with that crowd. She's chosen her side now, a side that stood opposite his own.

Before the girl could even open her mouth, Harry gave a flick of his wrist and the elder wand answered it call, shooting out into his gasp as opposed to the usual Holly.

"I, Turais Rigel Black, heir to the House of Black, declare that Bellatrix Lestrange, nee black and her spose have shamed the family by allowing themselves to be branded by the half-blood pretender Tom Riddle, the self-styled Lord Voldemort. And I challenge the both of them to an honour duel."

Honour duel

Basically one party thinks another has brought shame, they duel to defend their honour. should Bellatrix and Rodolphus lose, a given really, then they'd have to stop what they were doing immediately, or the backlash would see them shamed by the every family alive should the news get out. Bellatrix actually snarled at him, whilst Arcturus had whipped his head around to get a better look at his grandson, the third year who was challenging two whom had already graduated.

From the sharp intake of breath behide him. Harry assumed that Walburga had hear his declaration.

Casually writing out Tom's full name in the air, Harry lazily looked over his shoulder at his immediate family, frowning at his mother in particular. With a wave, the letter rearranged themselves and Walburga gave a soft chocking sound.

"Though of course this isn't much of a shock you is it mother dearest, After all, you were at school while Tom here roamed the halls, unleashing Slytherins Basilisk. You've suspected of course, and now you know it's true. You're pushing the agenda of a half-blood. Think on that while I finish up this duel.

.

They'd all made their way into the ball-room now, the only room big enough to hold a decent dual in. In comparison to Rodolphus' almost relaxed figure, Bellatrix looked cautious. Rightly so. she knew how strong his magic was, she knew he'd been consciously controlling it from a very young age. They couldn't kill him, what with him being the official heir, but she knew disarming him wouldn't mean the end of a duel. because his magic was just as good wandless. A family secret that'd been stashed away for use in an emergency only.

A secret Rodolphus clearly hadn't been let in on.

Tapping his fingertips against the solid wood of the Elder wand, Harry adjusted his grip ever so slightly, waiting for Arcturus to give the go ahead. The elderly Black looked somewhat hesitant, eyes flickering between the two Lestranges and his grandson, eyes asking if Harry knew what he was doing. The steel in his expression must have answered the man, because Arcturus let out a sigh and looked to the spectators. The remaining Black sister, Andromeda having run off with her muggle-born last summer, was sat between s scowling Walburga and a Lucius Malfoy that could at least try to hide his excitement. It was obvious the older boy was waiting for him to get beaten.

Well, he was going to be greatly discounted.

"Begin."

Harry leapt to a side, twirling his body in mid-air and the two stunners, opening spells really, missed him by a mile. Rodolphus gave a grunt of surprise, and the a Yelp as Harry's non-verbal stinging charm hit home on the side of his check, looking suspiciously like a slap mark. So he'd adjusted the spell slightly, so what?

"Don't you know you're suppose to let the youngest go first? Some duelling etiquette."

Bellatrix actually snarled at him, wand whipping about and sending what he recognised as a bone-breaker curse soaring his way. Harry caught it on the end of wand before batting it back in Rodolphus' direction. Okay, so that was a vey irritating reply.

Catching a spell on your wand was difficult, and can only be done if you magic was significantly stronger than the magic in the spell. He could probably pull the move everyone, even if he'd have to be somewhat careful whilst ha doing a spell form Voldemort or Dumbledore. It was basically a move to show off with, one to aggravate opponents. And from Bellatrix's face, she understood the move completely.

She didn't even the. To Rodolphus when he gave a whine at his broken hand.

"Come in Bella, let's dance."

.

He dragged it out, maybe for nine more minutes than the duel was worth. Bellatrix was good, as was her husband. But they didn't have the decade of experience that Harry did, so the dual should have been done in a minute. And everyone knew it.

Sirius actually whooped by the end, which saw an antler sprouting Bellatrix strung up to the ceiling by an animated chandelier and a Rodolphus who looked like he'd stole both a unicorn horn and its mane, buried to his neck in the floor. They had all sorts of other damage, but Harry had added the prank spells in there for his brother. Orion too was smiling, and surprisingly, even Walburga looked a little smug.

Arcturus however, was more focused upon those who'd come out worse off from the duel, even if he did look at the small scratch Harry had gained upon his cheek, the only injury he'd gotten from the duel.

"Bellatrix, you and your husband will stop your association with the dark lord until we are sure if his origins and proclamations.

____________________________________________

"And then the brat stuck Bella to the ceiling! It was humiliating, the kid isn't even out of third year yet and he was down right bored in that duel!"

Pausing in his pacing, Voldemort turned to look at the older Lestrange, who was knelt before him.

The man had appeared with a horn protruding from the centre of his forehead and long silver hair for their latest meeting, and after Crucioing the man for daring to turn up in such a way, he'd gone about attempting to remove the spell work. The inventor the work had let him

Somewhat surprised, for when he simply tried to dispel the effect, the older Lestrange had ended up growing a tail the same silver as his new hair and been.

Upon looking closer, Voldemort had found a great deal of detail, triggers that if not bypassed would lead to another addition to the impressive web, he'd finally found out how to unravel it all, and then demanded that Lestrange start from the beginning of the duel. Voldemort knew little of the new heir Black, often the information he gathered from was Bellatrix's loud complaining on the boy.

"I don't know what else you expected. Turais has always been consciously controlling his magic, it no surprise he's as good as he is," Bellatrix grumbled, folding her arms across her chest as Voldemort twirling his wand, undoing the antlers that's been sticking out of her head, "he's a parselmouth after all."

"What." It was an almost silent hiss that left Voldemort's lips, but Bellatrix and Rodolphus turned to look at him in surprise.

"My lord?"

"A parselmouth?"

"Yes my lord, I thought that Parkinson told you, Turais showed off the ability for the first time at his ball three years ago."

"What?! I thought that malfoy would be reporting that fact to you, he was the highest ranking death eater there!"

"It was your ball!"

Watching as the two death eaters began a spat between one another, Voldemort felt his temper rising until in a flash of green, one of the useless cannon fodders dropped back onto the hard stone floor.

"I want to know everything about this. And the I want you to find out more. Now."