'It's not fair it's not fair I dont I don't understand what what did Crouch-'
Dusk was falling, and Lutain was growing more unsettled by the hour.
The sun had fallen below the horizon, casting a ghostly orange hue to splash against the clouds in a vivid misting of crimson and pumpkin orange. It was beautiful, reflecting off the growing rows of corn and painting dark green leaves to dark shades near black. Speckles of colour on waxy leaves, reminiscent of the frothy spread of blood in a perforated lung.
Skylar felt hazy, as if his brain resembled something more like damp parchment. Wet, distorted, liable to turn to mush under enough pressure. Lutain was constricting, tight along his shoulders and chest with his head resting heavily atop Skylar's skull.
Cerestes. Lutain urged with unmistakable panic, Cerestes!
Skylar didn't understand, he had half a mind to swat the snake to the floor.
"Everything alright, mate?" Ron asked lowly, eyeing him from across the bed with cautious eyes.
No, everything wasn't alright.
Hermione worried her lip, looking at Ron with something unspoken.
"Skylar, you know you can talk to us." Hermione urged, eyes nearly watering with some sort of restrained emotion. "Something's wrong, isn't it?"
Skylar gave the briefest nod. "Yeah, I don't….I don't know what but something's coming."
Lutain hissed sourly. Cerestes.
The same name again, repeating over and over although it had some sort of meaning Skylar didn't know. A meaning he should know. "The snake is repeating Cerestes again."
Hermione's brow furrowed, "like an omen?"
Cerestes! Lutain hissed furiously, sounding desperate as if he was holding something back.
Skylar was tired of it. He knew Adrian was the heir, something had wormed into his skull and told him only hours prior. Since then, he lived in a daze. Unable, and incohesive to the world around him.
"Tell us something new." Skylar spoke bluntly, barely blinking as he was aware of every scale, ever breath of his companion. "Or stop talking entirely."
Lutain's reluctance was nearly tangible. So sour and potent, Skylar could nearly taste it on his tongue.
Mad lady. Lutain whispered quietly. Soon. I think.
Skylar inhaled sharply, eyes widening in alarm. "When? Lutain, when?"
Lutain twitched, but once the dam opened it was impossible to restrain the tide. Night.
Skylar cursed so foul Ron's eyes widened. "Hermione, we- we've got to go."
Hermione paled, but nodded. She stumbled for something, muttering under her breath as she started gathering random objects from around the room. She placed them on the bed hurriedly. A few rolled inwards from Skylar's body weight, resting against his thigh encouragingly.
"Wait, mate." Ron stumbled, clearly baffled by how quickly the atmosphere escalated. "We need details."
Skylar inhaled slowly and turned to look at Lutain with a small glare. "Hear that Lutain? We need details. Now."
Lutain managed to somehow look guilty, floundering a few seconds before grudgingly. This night. Attack. Cerestes. Here.
That wasn't much to go on, but it was enough for Skylar.
"We're getting that contingency plan going," Skylar bit out, looking at Hermione who already was hauling a nondescript canvas bag from the back of the closet. "Just in case."
Ron nodded without question. "The plan where we go looking for those Horcrux thingies? Or the one where we get to that safehouse? Mate, we can't apparate yet even!"
"I can." Hermione confessed quietly, blushing under the two boys' amazed stares. "Tonks taught me. Honestly! I wanted to prepare just in case and Tonks is surprisingly good at apparating!"
"Huh." Ron blinked without question, "so...which plan?"
Skylar swallowed thickly. "I...I don't know. I think something is coming here- that Cerestes bloke is going to attack here- likely for Selwyn."
"Adrian isn't in the right mind for that." Hermione's lip wobbled, "I- you saw him earlier!"
"Shite, that's bad timing." Ron sighed but looked far too tired of the situation in general. "Bloody hell, our parents are going to murder us."
Skylar exhaled quietly and knew he couldn't argue that. He had tried sneaking out earlier that summer and was downright terrified that his mother was going to snap his wand with how furious she had been. Molly Weasley had exploded time and time again over Ron's safety, Skylar didn't know how Hermione's parents were okay with her being there the entire summer.
The problem, was that the parents didn't understand. The war was bigger than some...some societal concept of a proper childhood. Skylar couldn't sit back and wait for everything to blow over, the war wasn't going to wait until he was middle aged.
People were dying, and it was his duty to stop Voldemort. Learning advanced potions or how to do a couple new spells wasn't going to change that fact.
(His parents didn't understand. Dumbledore did, that was why he told him about the Horcruxes. That's why he confided in Skylar about them.)
"It doesn't matter what our parents' think." Skylar admitted quietly. His heart hammering in his chest. "If...If everything we know and suspect is true, then Voldemort's got a half dozen magical artifacts that're keeping him alive. We have a starting point, we have an idea on what to do and where to look and we're the only one that can stop him."
Hermione nodded quietly, although she looked terrified of the prospect. Ron nodded grimly, he had long since understood that.
"Mr. Scamander is going to take care of the basilisk." Skylar continued to explain with a rush, "he and Dumbledore are going to try and stop that thing."
"The rest of the Order I thinks trying to stop the attacks, and figure out what his followers are up to." Ron's brows furrowed as he chewed his lip, "some Gringotts nonsense or something."
"Which means we need to find those secret objects." Hermione sighed, "oh I hate this."
"On the bright side, we already know about a few." Skylar soothed the two, "Dumbledore let me know his suspicions. He has the one, but he's pretty sure that the snake is one, so is Slytherin's locket and Hufflepuff's goblet."
Lutain snapped his head up, although frustratingly said nothing.
"Any idea where those may be?" Ron asked rhetorically, flopping backwards onto his bed in disbelief. "Congrats, so we have three, Professor Dumbledore has four, we still are missing two then, but those are probably Gryffindor's thing and Ravenclaw's thing."
"Sounds easy." Hermione jokingly added, although her voice was weak. This was looking like a horrible adventure ahead of them. "I hate this, Sky."
Skylar hated it just as much. "I'm going to Floo Dumbledore, let him know that there's likely going to be an attack tonight. Keep packing."
Hermione nodded sagely, sighing down at the bed as if the world was falling apart at her fingertips. "Alright, I need to thank Mr. Scamander for that expansion spell. Truly something amazing."
Skylar was sure that it was.
Lutain tightened slightly, dragging Skylar back to the threat at hand. With one hand, he shushed the snake and the other he patted Hermione's shoulder. "We'll get through this fine, guys."
Hermione shook her head, "Skylar, we don't even know how to destroy these Horcruxes!"
Skylar knew. Dumbledore had confided in him why killing the basilisk was now such a priority. Basilisk venom was one of the few things capable of destroying a Horcrux.
(Adrian Selwyn, was a basilisk animagus.)
"Don't worry about that." Skylar smiled weakly, "I uh, I have that covered."
What would Adrian Selwyn possibly desire enough to help them?
(Lutain and Skylar both could only think of one thing.)
They appeared like lightning bugs, barely visible through the growing stalks of corn. Floating a pale blue, they circled around the house like wolves.
Remus peered out the window, spotting them instantly and growing tense. Tonks glanced at him quietly, then at the fireplace hesitantly.
"Go get Albus." Remus murmured, face stony.
"I- Adrian said only Sirius and old Moody." Tonks nearly whispered back. "I don't want to upset him."
Remus licked his lip worriedly, "I think it's Bellatrix. Tonks, please, get Albus."
Tonks chewed her lower lip before she looked at the fireplace with a kink in her eyebrows. "I-...I can't. I'm sorry, I don't want to break Adrian's trust."
Remus turned to look at her directly, pausing and nearly stepping backwards at the strangely determined expression on Tonks' face.
"Tonks-..."
"No, let me…" Tonks inhaled and let it out slowly. "Remus Lupin, I understand completely where you're coming from, but just as much as Adrian is your child he is also mine. I know that this seems….bad, but if Adrian said not to get Albus then by Merlin's name I'm not going to just go get him!" Tonks had a slight flush, her eyes wide but Remus hadn't seen her look so certain in his life.
Instantly his face softened, "Tonks...I- I just want him to be safe."
Tonks wrung her hands with a small sigh, "Remus, he's practically an adult now and he's not the best, but he's still alive. Merlin, I have more trust that he'll be okay than you being okay."
Remus chuckled softly, although he didn't look any less tense. Tonks smiled knowingly. She lifted on her tiptoes, drawing her face close to his jawline. "I'll go wake Moody and Sirius, okay?" She whispered gently, giving a couple pats on Remus' shoulder as she sauntered off in the near dark. Remus didn't realise he was smiling until long after she left. Moments like those reminded Remus of just how fond he was of Tonks.
The flickering lights were growing larger, closer. It wasn't good. There were many, likely five or six shapeless forms in the corn.
"Great," Remus sighed through his nose, tense in the dark where he squinted out over the kitchen sink. "Five Death Eaters, and Bellatrix Lestrange."
"Hate that bitch." Someone grumbled behind him quietly, Sirius scampering through the dark carefully and hanging low out of sight. Sirius blended in well with the night, practically invisible even where he loosely brushed against Remus' side. "Five you think?"
Remus squinted out once again, his eyesight was generally superior to others in the dark. "I'm fairly sure. If it's Bellatrix, it's likely the other two Lestranges with her."
"Rabastan and Rodolphus." Sirius grunted back quietly, "yeah, Selwyn talked about them a bit. They'd likely come with. Selwyn mentioned Rowle too."
"Rowle? Damn, he's a good dueler." Remus grimaced slightly, holding his breath as someone knew with a limp joined them in the dark.
"Good, you're already here." Moody grumbled, miraculously quiet as he too stared out, magical eye rolling around. "How many?"
"Six total," Sirius repeated back, "Bellabitch for sure, we're guessing Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange also, possibly Rowle, but we don't know about the final two."
Moody gave a small frown, "Greyback. I can see him out there, didn't think we'd spot him but I see that mangy dog. Not Rowle, the gait's all wrong."
"Great," Sirius huffed under his breath, "Tonks is sending the delay to Albus, if we don't check in again he's coming over with Shacklebolt. Somehow he already knew, there's a raid over by Cardiff right now, but Tonks has got him updated."
Remus' mouth flickered into a small smile. He had underestimated Tonks yet again.
Sirius gave a small chuckle, a huge wordless grin spreading across ear to ear. His eyes were sparkling. "Moony, you're adorable."
Remus flushed and drew his wand with a pointed look.
Sirius nearly wheezed with how he tried to keep his laughing silent.
"Oh Merlin, you killed him." Tonks whispered, sliding back into the small group. Her hair was as black as Sirius' and for once Remus could see the family resemblance.
"Not yet, cousin." Sirius grinned, his teeth white in the dark.
"Alright." Moody grumbled quietly under his breath, "This is the plan. I'll take Greyback, I can spot him better in the dark than you folk."
"I'll take Bellatrix." Remus murmured quietly, causing Moody to shake his head sharply.
"No, none of that." Moody growled out, eye rolling around. "You're too big a target against her, and you don't have formal training. You take on Rabastan and Rodolphus, don't worry about taking them out, just keep them distracted enough. Tonks, you're on support for Remus or Sirius depending on who needs it."
"Great, I get the bitch." Sirius grinned, rolling his head and popping his neck a few times. "And by that, I'm just distracting her until Greyback is down, then we switch and she's the main target?"
"You know it." Moody grumbled with a rare grin, "Ready?"
From behind the group, a new voice spoke up in the dark. "No. I'm walking out there. You're staying in here."
In the center of the kitchen Adrian Selwyn stood wearing a black robe he likely stole from Hermione (it was quite small but fit him better than anyone else's would), with his eyes sharp and nearly glowing in the dark.
Remus opened his mouth to protest before Moody lifted one hand to demand silence.
"...You expecting them?" Moody inquired with a small squint, jerking his head in the direction of outside.
Adrian tilted his neck slightly, a large black stain vanishing from the side of his throat in the imprint of scales. "I heard. They're here to pick me up."
Moody's lip curled in annoyance, "You taking that bloody snake with you?"
Adrian twitched slightly, his face unreadable."No. Skylar...likes him."
Remus would have to address the way Adrian's body twitched, as if the admittance hurt him.
"You'll walk right out there, and leave with Lestrange?" Moody asked with a frown, visibly skeptic, "we're supposed to trust you?"
Adrian rubbed his upper arm uncomfortably, "The- Voldemort's currently based at Rowle's manor. Near Kirkwall. It's warded against muggles but nothing against wizards, it would show up on ministry scans although its supposedly abandoned."
Remus inhaled sharply, Tonks blinked in surprise.
Sirius had the strangest reaction yet. He lowered himself to his knees, now lower in height than Adrian himself. Sirius' face looked sad but he extended one hand with a small grimace. "Hey, kid. Look, we never got along amazing but...I don't know. I grew up with arses and really, after all this shites over you need to come over. I respect you kid, hang in there. Helps coming eventually."
Adrian's eyes were wide and he genuinely looked taken off guard. "I- Black?"
"Sirius." Sirius quickly corrected with a small smile, "You're not a bad kid, Adrian. I mean, shites been bad for you but in a lot of ways you're so much better than I was with all that pureblood family crap. Maybe after this, we'll go wreck some more couches, eh?"
Adrian's eyes were wet, but he nodded and accepted the outstretched hand, shaking it slightly. "Alright. I need to go."
"Selwyn." Moody grumbled, nodding towards the front door, "first sign of trouble, we're coming out."
Adrian gave a small nod before he snuck past and paused in front of Remus and Tonks.
Tonks was smiling but there was no way to disguise how heartbroken she looked.
Remus wasn't faring better, especially when Adrian focused his attention on him and only him.
"Remus…" Adrian paused, voice lingering between them before dragging off hoarsely. It sounded pained, accompanied by the way his throat felt thick. "I-..."
Remus smiled weakly, "It's okay." It isn't.
Adrian shook his head slightly, "I- the…" Adrian exhaled shakily and his hands curled into fist, "I- it's Harry."
Remus blinked in confusion, opening his mouth before Adrian looked at him with desperate seriousness. "My- my name. It's Harry."
Harry. Har-
Oh.
Oh.
Remus was frozen in shock, and in that moment Adrian slipped past him and out of the front door. Leaving like a whisper, unspoken and hanging in the air between them.
The door banged shut behind him, and in that moment the darkness swallowed his shadow until he was gone.
Across the yard, a single bobbing light darted forward.
"There's Bellatrix." Moody grumbled under his breath, watching attentively as slowly a dark figure made its way over the grass in the dark.
Sirius grimaced and inched towards the door, "I don't like this. It's too calm, they're too spread out."
"I know." Moody grumbled, squinting before his mouth curled and he shook his head, "Get Albus. It's a trap, they're going to attack the house."
"Mr. Newt put up wards on the whole house before Adrian got here," Tonks supplied, voice low as she rattled off the information, "It'll hold all the way up to Fiendfyre and blasting curses."
"Remind me to give that man my thanks." Moody nodded, slowly making his way to the door. "Sirius, think you can get around them and flank them?"
Sirius didn't reply more than shifting smoothly into a lean black dog, sleek and invisible in the night. He knew which side Greyback was on, he would go around the other way.
Moody opened the door slowly, being sure the hinges didn't creak. Tonks in return grabbed a paperweight, other hand filled with floo powder ready to send the waiting signal. Remus hung back with Moody, ready to burst out with wands raised the moment Sirius made the signal, or Bellatrix attacked.
They didn't have to wait long at all.
Adrian walked over the grass slowly, hearing it crunch under his feet.
He knew where to walk, something dragging and pushing him further out to where the corn was towering high. His breaths were loud, puffs that he forced in and out as each step lolled him further.
The stolen robe was itchy, scratching on his exposed arms where his shirt didn't cover. It was a miracle his trousers could be drawn tight enough.
He saw the light, the main glowing one that was rapidly approaching. He could detail faintly the chaotic black hair.
"Bella!" Adrian shouted, knowing his voice was slightly hoarse. The light wavered slightly, before it bobbed and the woman took off in a sprint.
He almost clued in too late that the woman would have tackled him to the ground. He skittered aside, fumbling jerkily to avoid her sharp nailed grab, well aware of how disastrous his blood spilled would be.
Bellatrix was suddenly there, face gaunt and crazed and teeth bared in a snarl (had he once thought it was a smile?) and everything Adrian didn't want.
"My baby." She cooed, swaying in place as she fumbled in her cloak, yanking out a wand Adrian hadn't seen in a long while. "Your wand!"
(Something about it felt wrong, to take it so casually when he had no memory of where Sirius put his other.)
"Thank you." Adrian nodded back, taking the wood back in an unpracticed grip. Bellatrix's snarl was uncomfortable.
"I missed you!" She chirped like something foul, "You're so pretty and tall now!"
(He was disgusting and stunted.)
Adrian didn't say anything, he only placed his wand in his sleeve in the cheap sewn in wand holster. It was bound to slip later on, he just needed his hands free to avoid Bellatrix's talons. The corn was swaying high around them.
"How did you find me?" Adrian asked flatly, not bothering to fake a pleasantry. It was dark enough he doubted that the woman would see his facial details well, even with the lumos.
"Oh!" Bella's voice chirped like a wren. "Cissy! I took her brat and he found out about those blood traitors! Knew where you'd likely be!"
(Merlin, had Bellatrix always been so...batty?)
"Draco?" Adrian translated after a second, pausing to gather his thoughts. "He's...here?"
That would be a revelation for the blonde. Adrian almost wished he had seen the other's face when Bellatrix stormed into his house.
"Yep!" Bella nearly giggled, spinning around to face the blackened field, "Draco!"
She shrieked hoarsely, loud and arrogant with the slumbering house behind them. With this level of carelessness, how had she never been taken down before?
(She had, he almost forgot about Azkaban and what it had done to her.)
The corn parted after a second, fumbling under clunky footsteps stirring soil and mice. Adrian's eyes glowed in the face of the lumos spell, practically shoved right in front of him. The yellow brightened eerily, as if he was something beyond human anymore.
Draco on the other hand, looked terrified.
His skin was pale, translucent yet not to the point of sickly. Stressed more likely, eyes nearly bulging with the effort of each forced breath. A fake calm to not impede his movements and functioning, a terrible coping mechanism.
Adrian felt his mouth curling, the one half grin he spent years practicing in the mirror to just look unsettling enough. Instinctive and dry, twisting the scars across his face until it looked painful.
"Hi Draco." Adrian chirped, the effort falling flat as his tone didn't sound nearly chipper enough. He sounded tired, exhausted and ready to be taken away. "Sorry about Bella. She get impatient."
Bella snarled, and without hesitation Adrian turned and drew his wand, pointing it between her eyes with a twisted grimace on his face. "Bella, shut up."
Either out of respect for his father, or out of admiration for his sudden maturity, Bellatrix fell back with no noise. Draco's nostrils flared with the force of his inhales and exhales. If not for the careful regulation, Adrian was sure the blonde would have been hyperventilating.
"Hi." Draco croaked out, his voice breaking and fragmenting to where it was almost unrecognizable.
Adrian nodded out towards the others staying hidden in the field. "Who else did you bring? Rodolphus and Rabastan also. Was that Fenrir I heard?"
Bellatrix took two steps forward, hunching over and resting her boney chin on his shoulder as if he was okay with it. (He wasn't.)
"What good ears." She crooned happily, "That silly dog wanted to come light some fires. That bastard traitor is here too."' Bellatrix sneered looking annoyed. "He called you lackluster."
That left Adrian blinking in surprise, "I- Snape? Not Rowle?"
"Off doing something. Paper pushers or something boring." Bellatrix dismissed without a care. Anything Rowle was doing was likely incredibly important. Draco swallowed thickly.
"Right, well." Adrian sighed, running one hand across the back of his neck, "did you bring my cloak also?"
Bellatrix grinned and dug around in her cloak with shaking fingers. Her breath smelled foul, she was a marionette with rusted gears. Adrian despised her, something about her...existence, was rubbing him wrong.
Bellatrix tugged it out with a flourish, the long tassels along the bottom refused to abide to gravity and floated leisurely after the fabric, unsettling and ethereal in all the wrong ways. It was terribly ironic, how his appearance was made to match something so foul.
Draco paled once more, looking even more horrified as Bellatrix lowered herself to one knee to assist Adrian into it, then sinking lower into the dirt and mud humbly.
The cloak was cold in the way silk was, gentle and soothing against the irritated spots of skin where the borrowed cheap cloak scratched him. It was luxury and gentle and Adrian felt like he was burning in it.
"My Lord." Bellatrix hissed with a giggle, huffing out breaths of poorly restrained laughter as Draco whimpered.
"Stop that." Adrian snapped, glaring at Bellatrix as his irritation rose. "I was never given that title. Let's go already. Merlin knows I'm going to get enough shite from this." Adrian muttered under his breath, walking past Bella without looking back. "And Draco? Try not to be an arse, because this time, someone else will kill you."
Draco gulped and shook his head, "I- I'm sorry."
Adrian paused, and turned to look at him. Half hidden under the cloak, green and yellow sunburst staring with a look of undisguised rage.
"No." Adrian spoke, short and flat. "No, you aren't sorry. You don't want to die, and now you realize that I can kill you."
From behind him, someone gave a huffing gruff laugh, swaggering through plants with a hunched position. Adrian didn't look, he was practically untouchable now.
"You don't have that courage yet, lord." The man growled, a low bass rumble that Adrian placed at once.
"Greyback." Adrian sighed, this time taking a step to turn and face the man directly. "So we meet. I've heard a lot about you."
He didn't look how Adrian expected him to. He looked more...more like an animagus than a werewolf, somehow his features were morphed and emphasized even in human form. His teeth were long, canines poking out from his upper lip like some sort of eldritch horror. He was covered in grey scar tissue, his eyes golden despite the full moon not near. Ink traced over his exposed ears, the illusion of points and fur tracing down his neck. Adrian couldn't see his hands, but they were likely long and pointed.
"I haven't heard about you much." Greyback laughed, a low chuffing noise as he approached leisurely, hunching over and looking more impressive by the second.
"I'm something of a secret weapon, dog." Adrian coldly retorted. He was well aware of how Draco was shaking beside him. Obviously terrified out of wits end.
"Me?" Greyback's bushy eyebrow lifted as he finally got to the point where he was nearly walking on his hands, prowling towards Adrian savagely. "You look more like the Lord's lap dog, brat. How I'd love to sink my teeth into you."
If Lutain were here, this was when he would rise. Hissing and dancing and exposing his dazzlingly yellow belly and long fangs. Lutain wasn't there, no matter how Adrian looked at it.
Adrian on the other hand, he had fangs himself.
"Oh really?" Adrian asked, already starting to grin as he focused and tried to shift ever so slowly. It wasn't as slow and as careful as he wanted- he could feel his hair shifting oddly as the plume began to rise like a sail. His eyes itched in the weird cloudy yellow they always turned, glowing in the dark.
His teeth were sharpening, the large carnivorous rows of backwards hooks; he nearly stumbled to force the change to simply...stop.
"Take a bite out of me." Adrian purred, all of the pent up aggression and frustration coming through in the morbid amusement over the situation. His words, still English, held a very heavily accented hiss.
Draco whimpered quietly, although not as much as Greyback's full body flinch backwards. Instinctively repelled by the basilisk, even without his eyes showing.
(He never knew how to get his eyelids to lift. He'd have to ask Adalonda about it when everything was over.)
"Well, look at you." Greyback rumbled lowly, staying low to the ground in a reluctant submissive pose. "Looks like my runt did house you in."
Bellatrix snapped her head around ,eyes wide in unmistakable disgust. "Excuse me? Your runt?"
"Y-yes." Draco stuttered up, clearing his throat as he tried to summon words, "he- Selwyn's been w-with Remus Lupin, the d- werewolf."
Greyback snapped halfheartedly at Draco, causing the boy to flinch away.
Bellatrix, well, she had little to stop her from any slurs.
"A filthy monster?" she practically screamed, "taking care of my Adrian?"
Oh, Draco had really done it now.
"I change my mind!" Bellatrix hollered, pulling her wand and spinning towards the sleeping house, "Confringo!"
The curse flew, then impacted some sort of invisible barrier and exploded sharply with a rattling bang like fireworks. Anyone who had still been sleeping wouldn't be anymore.
Adrian sighed through his nose, half out of anxiety and half out of frustration. Why couldn't they just leave already?
"What?" Bellatrix guffawed, pausing and staring at her wand as if it was the flaw.
"There's a ward, you buffoon. If they hadn't grown suspicious of Mr. Selwyn's absence, you've essentially blown all semblance of cover." Someone drawled from behind, slipping through the corn to join the group. Snape was being escorted on either side by Rabastan and Rodolphus.
"Kid," Rodolphus grunted with a small nod, his brother had a small grin as Snape flinched slightly at the sight of Adrian.
Oh, this was deliciously hilarious.
"So." Adrian paused, pointedly staring at Snape with a rather unimpressed look. "I heard you called me lackluster."
Snape had a phenomenal grasp on his expression. Nothing shifted, although Adrian could tell that underneath it all, he was unsettled.
"My apologies." Snape clipped back, but made no further advancement to grovel.
Adrian frowned, "That's not very...apologetic."
Remus had told him it was rude to pry into people's head, but considering that this was Snape of all people, he felt he was allowed that right.
Snape grunted slightly and his legs began to buckle. Flashes drifted too quickly through Adrian's head, images and pictures too disjointed and frazzled to clearly be seen or deciphered. Snape's head was chaotic and torn, shredded with a disarray of thoughts and ideas and lies and truths that it was impossible to see.
Adrian pulled back roughly with no care for being nice. It was relieving to have no care of subtlety, when he pressed past Sirius' eyes he was so gentle it made his hands shake. Snape, he tore free like a barbed hook from a fish's cheek.
"That was disappointing." Adrian sighed, although all three Lestrange's didn't seem to comprehend what had happened. With one look, Snape was left recovering undignified. Draco flinched once again, Greyback cackled.
"Well." Bellatrix huffed with a frown, "I want to blow up that house. And slit my cousins throat."
Without further prompting, she spun and cast Fiendfyre.
"Shite!" Draco hissed under his breath, throwing himself on the ground as the chaotic dark magic spun and burned and spread far too quickly and untamed for even Adrian's taste. It rose and fought against the barrier, singing and coiling like a wildfire quickly spreading outwards. Even if it couldn't break the local ward, it could trap it in a hurricane of smoke and eventually choke out the occupants.
Adrian fell to his knees as Greyback leapt over him, claws just shy of piercing his cloak. A second later the werewolf was running towards the building, howling oddly in his human voice.
Snape cursed and stood, trying to throw off the restraining hands of the Lestrange brothers. Draco stayed on the ground in shock.
"Shite," Adrian hissed under his breath, running his hands through his hair and dislodging his cloak.
Bellatrix on the other hand, spun and started gouging out the earth with huge crevices all while blasting at the ward with darker and darker curses. The bangs were getting louder until the shock waves were so hard Adrian felt his ears pop.
A second later, and something slammed into Rodolphus and Rabastan, sending them sailing towards the ground. Adrian didn't miss the way Snape grabbed Draco and took off into the fields out of sight.
Instead, Rodolphus screamed as a large black dog bit into his arm, spilling blood into the air.
"No!" Bellatrix screamed, spinning around and pointing her wand at Sirius who took up a terrifying snarl. His teeth were pink and dripping froth, his body invisible.
A second later, spells were flying from the direction of the house.
Adrian hit the ground and rolled, trying to keep under the fray as Bellatrix countered with more and more violent spells. Rabastan recovered and sent Sirius flying, he shifted back halfway in the air to land sprawled on the ground just shy of the fire.
"Why does everything involving you," Sirius shouted face first into the ground, "involve bloody fire."
Bellatrix screamed and Moody joined in, deflecting her curses and cursing as Greyback lunged at him, nearly removing his one good eye.
Just as Rodolphus nearly sent a cutting curse into Sirius, Tonks flew out from nowhere and sent a shield up, deflecting the shield towards Bellatrix.
"You look like someone who licks toes!" Tonks screeched at Rabastan, causing the man to pause in downright bafflement.
Sirius sprang up and sent a blasting hex, nailing the man's hip and projected him across the field. "Cousin, if that's your smack talk, we need to work on it." Sirius grinned in response, shielding a haywire spell.
Of course, all good things could never last.
Adrian had expected them to leave quickly, but Bellatrix would not ever pass the opportunity to take shots at what she herself was angry with.
Adrian had thought that she was simply furious with Remus, in his care and adoption of him from under her hands. He thought that her rage and wrath and the relentless curses were simply for dramatics.
The door to the house slammed open, and lo and behold, Skylar Potter with Lutain coiled around his throat stood in the doorway with a determined expression.
Adrian inhaled sharply, eyes wide as he struggled to his feet and screamed in Parseltongue "Lutain! No!"'
Of course, he didn't listen.
Skylar and Lutain leapt through the flames, clumsily shielding to get through. It was a miracle the boy could shield at all. Tonks spotted the brown haired boy and started cursing under her breath, her vulgarity a sharp contrast to the playful sass from before.
Adrian clutched his wand and rose, spitting out a deflection spell to clash with what was likely lethal.
"Skylar!" Adrian hissed, stumbling his way over the grass and countering the flames with his wand for once, "do you have a death wish?"
"No!" Skylar heaved for breath, shifting without thought to press his back against Adrian's. "I can't let Bellatrix get away!"
"What the-" Adrian honestly stumbled, his brain short circuiting over the sheer stupidity of what the boy had said. "Have you ever stopped and thought for one second in your life?"
Lutain hissed, pressing his scales around as he looped his coils around both Skylar and Adrian, a living chain to tie them together. "He's not as smart as you."
Adrian snorted and Skylar huffed sourly.
"Shut up, you garden hose." Skylar panted out, yelping as a stunner came far too close. "I'm plenty smart!"
"Wait-" Adrian flinched in alarm, "you- did you just understand him?"
"Duck!" Skylar screamed, reaching behind him aimlessly to grab Lutain (and Adrian's throat) and pull them to the ground.
Just in time for Fenrir Greyback to leap from the burning haze and smoke and press Skylar to the ground with one massive clawed hand.
Skylar gasped, inhaling hoarsely in panic as his breathing cut off.
Adrian inhaled in alarm, Lutain didn't respond to Skylar's wordless pleas.
"Skylar!" Remus shouted, not at all happy but desperate under it all. Adrian could understand that- shite was he supposed to save Skylar?
A curse flew through the air, and hit Remus' side with dangerous precision. The man paused, lurching and gagging as he dropped to the ground, seizing.
Bellatrix grinned with blood pooling down a split lip, her wand trailed on Remus' prone body.
Adrian's hearing faded out. He didn't realise he was screaming until the soreness of his throat got to him.
He stood wobbly, at an angle as he trailed his wand in the air pointed at Bellatrix. The sudden shift of the battlefield triggered Lutain's hissing, the werewolf nearly yipping in his haste to get away.
Adrian turned on Bellatrix, hand still as stone and entire existence shaking.
"You-" Adrian seethed, taking a few steps. The battlefield quieted, drawn to a hasty and tense stalemate as Adrian slowly stalked his way across the field.
Remus wasn't moving.
Adrian saw red.
"He was mine!" Adrian screamed, spittle flying in an enraged froth. "He was mine and you- you-..."
Bella made a small noise of surprise and confusion, lifting both hands upwards as she stepped backwards in alarm. "Adrian? I-."
"He was mine!"
"I- I am yours too!" Bellatrix countered, blinking quickly and stumbling, "I- I'm yours, my Lord!"
My Lord. That was all he would ever be to her.
She wasn't a mother, she was a weapon in the war that he was now (and always would be, thanks to her) trapped in.
Bellatrix Lestrange, his bitch of a caretaker, had just killed the only family he loved.
Over it all, Tonks was screaming, sobbing and crying and Sirius was roughly holding her back. Skylar was on the ground, his bloody hero complex had killed him.
No. Bellatrix was the one to curse him. Bellatrix was the one to-
( A million years ago, Luna had sat on the bridge and watched finches play in the gorge aside the castle. 'Do you think the birds know, that the earth with gorge on them when they decide to stop flying?')
"You're right." Adrian spoke. Voice flat, a monotone that left her paling. "You are mine to do with as I wish."
(How similar to his father did he sound? Did she know what was coming?)
"An eye for an eye." Adrian bristly laughed, holding his wand aloft. There would be no coming back, but in the end (because of her), there was nothing worth coming back to.
A tooth, for a tooth.
"Avada Kedavra."
The spell flew, as bright green as his eyes.
Bellatrix fell dead to the ground.