Into the Mouth of Hell

Into the Mouth of Hell: Chapter 7

The Noble Sisters Black

Our house is hell, and thou, a merry devil.

For the rest of the holiday, Severus followed Bella's lead and pretended as if they had never heard what the fathers were planning in the drawing room the night of Boxing Day. The day they were to return to Hogwarts, Severus accidentally walked in on Lucius and Narcissa speaking in hushed tones on the parlor sofa. Severus excused himself graciously, turning directly into Roddy as he hurriedly closed the parlor doors.

"I suppose you've heard then," Roddy said sourly.

Severus mustered a look of complete ignorance. "Heard what?" His heart was pounding furiously in his throat.

"Lucius and Narcissa."

Severus sighed in relief. "Oh, yeah."

"Just can't keep their hands off each other. Avery and I caught them in the rose garden, pawing at each other like a couple of nifflers. It was gross." He pulled a face like he had eaten a slug, but Severus didn't think that they had looked too upset in the rose bushes that night. He excused himself quickly, and returned to his bedchamber to finish packing his trunk.

As he folded up a set of freshly laundered robes, he heard a knock on the door. "Come in," he said, his back still turned

"A word, Severus?"

Severus spun around to find Andromeda standing there, holding a large book. She always seems to have a book, Severus thought. "Of course, Andromeda," Severus said politely, bowing his head slightly and closing his trunk.

Andromeda sat on the end of the bed, looking up at him with her warm brown eyes. Severus had always found it peculiar how none of the Black sisters remotely resembled each other. "I just wanted to thank you," Andromeda said, looking down at the book she was holding, "for helping Bellatrix."

"Oh," Severus stammered, blushing. "It's nothing. I mean, she's just my friend."

Andromeda looked at him a little disbelievingly. "I know that she really appreciates your friendship, even if she perhaps has trouble expressing it."

Severus nodded. "Can I ask you something?"

Andromeda laughed. "You just did. But you can ask another question if you wish."

Severus paled a bit, but asked anyway. Surely, Andromeda would tell him the truth. "Does she really -- I mean," he paused to take a deep breath. "Does Narcissa have to marry Lucius?"

Andromeda considered a moment, as if debating how to answer. "Well, no. We all have free will. Narcissa seems to truly enjoy Lucius. It is a smart match. However, the penalties for -- disregarding -- our family's -- suggestions-- are a bit stiff."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, say she doesn't want to marry Lucius. Say she falls in love with a Muggle-born boy who is perfectly magical and really smart and sweet, and otherwise terrific," Andromeda said quickly. "Well, the family would never approve if the boy wasn't a pureblood wizard with a pedigree a mile long."

"Sounds like breeding dragons," Severus observed.

"It's a bit like that, I suppose," Andromeda sighed. "The easy path for our family seems to be getting sorted into Slytherin, marrying a distant-enough cousin, raising little Slytherins, and arranging charity events. It's rather bland."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Severus thought.

"Some of us want more, Severus," Andromeda said, rising. "Here. This is a book for you. I know how much you like to read, and I don't think you'll have found this at home or at Hogwarts."

Severus read the title: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. "Thank you," he said curiously. He flipped through the thin pages of the book.

Andromeda smiled. "It was a gift, but I've read it already. I thought you might get something out of it. It's by a Muggle, though, so you might want to be careful with it." Andromeda pulled out her wand. "I've been bewitching the title so that no one will suspect anything." She performed a small spell so that the front of the book now read Sonnets of a Sorcerer. "Consider it a thank you gift."

"Thank you very much," Severus said.

Andromeda patted his head, much like his mother might have done, and then left Severus to finish packing his trunk. He sat on the bed and opened the book. The first inscription on the inside cover read: You should not be wearing such chains as these. Love, T. And below that, in a different hand: There are more things in heaven and earth, dear Severus, than are dreamt of in our philosophy. ~A.

* * * * *

After the holidays, Severus noticed a change in Bella. She became generally elusive, spending more time in the common room studying and less time in the Great Hall cursing her rival Gryffindors. She also developed the odd habit of calling everyone by his or her last name, except Severus and Lucius, who remained on first-name basis. Avery and Lestrange, as they were called now, became more involved with Quidditch, and less afraid of Lucius now that there was another outlet for the Captain's zealous energy: Narcissa.

It seemed to Severus that they were together every moment of the day. Lucius no longer moped in front of the common room fire by himself late at night. With Narcissa at his side, they giggled and prepared themselves for their end of year exams, two white-blonde heads leaned together over books.

Rosier and Wilkes were quite upset that they weren't invited to Malfoy Manor for the holidays, although they only muttered this around Severus, never daring to bring their complaints to Lucius. Avery and Lestrange bragged about it whenever the first years were around, ceasing momentarily whatever discussion on Quidditch they were having. (Their longest argument ran for five weeks over the merits of blatching versus those of cobbing. Finally, Professor Meadowes put an end to it by threatening to have them removed from the team when they were "debating" in the back of her classroom and accidentally fired a hex at a little Hufflepuff girl who had the misfortune to be delivering a note at the time.)

Meanwhile, the Slytherin Dueling Club had been forgotten by everyone but Bella (who had managed to swindle a few books from the Malfoy library before holidays were over), Lestrange and Avery (who remained loyal to Bella, regardless of how she called them), Rosier and Wilkes (who were both terrified and mesmerized by Bella), and Severus, who remained her unswerving, devoted friend.

They found an empty room in the dungeons that they used for practicing hexes on each other. Avery and Lestrange insisted on practicing on Rosier and Wilkes, and Bella often partnered Severus. They practiced disarming, stunning, impeding, stinging, and then the shield charm for defense. Bella's poor toad was used to test curses that no one dared try on each other, including Cruciatus. Bella, especially, worked very hard, and after she mastered a few deflecting spells, she could duel both Rosier and Wilkes at the same time. It was very entertaining, and Severus would watch as she took them on, her face screwed up in concentration. She was very fast with her wand, and easily sidestepped and rounded her opponents. It was like watching a ballet, Severus thought, or a very well timed fencing match. When Rosier and Wilkes had both admitted defeat, Severus would give her a few useless pointers ("You have a weakness to your left side."), but he knew that he would never be as fast as Bella.

Even though they had never talked about it, there was an understanding between Bella and Severus regarding what happened on Boxing Day. They had been very close since then, often spending most of their free time sitting in comfortable silence in the common room. Severus was pretty certain that there were some things friends couldn't share without feeling portentously as though they belonged to one another, and a secret marriage pact and the burdens of blood were definitely among them.

* * * * *

When the first decent Saturday of summer came to Hogwarts, Severus was awoken in the early dawn hours by a draft. He rolled over, pulling his blanket tighter around him, and he felt the fresh air on his face, carrying the smell of mallowsweet. Bella.

His eyes snapped open and there she was, pushing her legs inside his covers, sliding them alongside his own. "Shhh," she whispered. "I had a bad dream." She pulled the drapes closed around the bed and settled down in with him.

"Are you daft?" Severus whispered, incredulously. "If you get caught in here, Lucius will kill us!"

Bella shrugged and nestled into Severus' chest. Her bare feet were like icicles as she curled them around Severus' calves. "No he won't. Just be quiet."

Severus sighed, and uncomfortably arranged his arms around her. She lifted her head and gave him a small peck on the cheek. "Do you want to know about my dream?"

"Sure," Severus said. He was pretty certain that he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep now that there was someone else in his bed, never mind that everyone in the school thought they were a couple (a rumor that Lucius rather encouraged).

"We were at the Manor," she said very softly, her voice barely a breath, "and we were looking at the sky, and suddenly everything tipped, and I was falling, Severus, I was falling into the sky, and I think I landed on Mars, because everything was red and really cold, just like you said it was. And there was a wizard there in black robes, and I couldn't see his face," she panted, "and then he reached out his hand to me, and I took it, and it was freezing, Severus. It was like I had just taken hold of death itself. And then he led me to the river, you know, the river on Mars you told me about, and he pushed me in." Bella shuddered. "And I think I drowned."

Severus was still trying to understand how Bella had ended up in his bed. She was obviously shaken, and very, very cold. Severus squeezed her tighter. He didn't really know what to say. Whenever he had bad dreams, his mother just gave him a potion she kept in the drawer of her bedside table and sent him back to his room. "I don't think you can die in dreams, Bella," Severus said finally.

"Will you come home with me this summer?" she asked suddenly.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to miss you."

"I will have to ask my mother," Severus said, "but I think that would be okay."

Bella smiled sheepishly, and curled up further into Severus' arms. He was aware how compromised they would be if anyone opened the drapes to his four-poster just then, but he amazingly didn't care. Soon, Bella was breathing deeply in her sleep and Severus shortly followed. He found the warmth of her body very intoxicating, and he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer.

He woke up sometime later in the morning, and Bella was gone. The smell of her still lingered, mixing with his own scent: mallowsweet and something like garlic.

* * * * *

He found her in the Astronomy section of the library after lunch that day, flipping through a book on Mars. "It didn't really look like that," she said to herself as he approached. "It's really more red, less orange." She showed him a picture from the book, crinkled her nose, and then thrust it back onto the shelf. "None of them have it right."

Severus grinned in spite of himself. "You really think you went to Mars last night?" He picked a book from the shelf. "What makes you so sure?"

"Because, it was just like you said, Severus, cold. And when I woke up, I was freezing," she flipped through another book and tossed it to the floor with a great angry sigh. "I just know."

Severus continued to grin. Bella really was entertaining when she was frustrated. "You can't Apparate or Disapparate within the grounds of Hogwarts you know." By the glare he received from her, he gathered that she obviously did know that. Severus sighed. "What are you looking for, then?"

"A picture of the wizard."

Severus eyed her. She was really upset over the whole thing. "I thought you said you didn't even see his face."

"I didn't!" Bella said, violently tearing another book from the shelf. "But I'll know him when I see him."

Severus sighed and started picking up the books Bella had strewn across the aisle. "If Madam Pince sees you, she'll have you dusting the books in the Restricted Section, and some of those bite."

Bella turned suddenly to Severus. He didn't like that look. "The Restricted Section!" she whispered. Her blue eyes widened with excitement.

Severus definitely didn't like that look. "Bella, you'll need a permission slip."

But she wasn't listening. She was heading out the door. "Sinistra can get me in, I'll just say I'm looking something up for exams..." Her voice trailed off as she turned the corner and was gone.

Severus put the books back on the shelf, fearful of Madam Pince's wrath. Then he caught two voices he had never heard before in the library: Potter and Black. Severus slinked back down the aisle, hoping that they would just pass by and not even see him crouched in the shadows. But as their voices grew nearer, he lost all hope.

"I think we should look in Astronomy first, you know, to check moon cycles and what not. Just to be sure."

"I think we should just ask him flat out, Potter. Enough of this detective work."

"You had all holiday to check it out--"

"I was busy."

"Signing autographs for your fan club does not make you busy, Sirius," Potter laughed.

And there they were, at the end of the aisle. Severus closed his eyes, willing himself to become invisible, but no such luck.

"Snivellus!" Sirius called loud enough for the entire library to hear.

Madam Pince hissed somewhere off to his left.

Severus opened his eyes. The situation, apparently, wasn't going to get any better.

"What are you doing down there? Lose a gobstone?"

Severus slowly stood up and smoothed out his robes. He straightened his shoulders and walked toward the exit of the aisle, but Potter and Black blocked him.

"Excuse me," Severus said coldly.

"No," Black said. "I feel like talking."

"What?" Severus snapped.

"You know, expressing ideas in speech substitutes. A conversation, a discussion, a tête-à-tête if you will." Potter crossed his arms over his chest, and Black followed suit.

Severus sighed. "As much as I am amazed that either of you have ideas and can find proper speech substitutes for them, I really have someplace I'd rather be." He made to move past them again, but they blocked him.

"Like my cousin's knickers, I suppose?"

Severus didn't remember picking up A Seer's Guide to the Galaxy, or smashing it into Black's aristocratic nose, nor did he remember breaking Potter's glasses with its thick spine. But he did feel the string of hexes that Madam Pince fired at them, and he did watch with a detached horror as Potter collided forcefully with the Astronomy case and sent it toppling down onto the three of them. After that, the next thing he remembered was Dumbledore's low floating voice, a glimpse of the moonlit hospital wing, and a shuffling of feet before drifting back to unconsciousness.

When he could finally open his eyes, it was morning. He straightened up painfulln his bed, feeling as if he had been trampled by a herd of hippogriffs. His knuckles on both hands were badly bruised, and it felt as though his ribs were broken. Wincing, he reached for the glass of water on his bedside table.

Potter and Black were still asleep in beds across from him, and a screen was pulled around a bed at the far end of the room. Madam Pomfrey bustled in, her arms full of bandages. She shot him a warning look, and then disappeared behind the screen. Severus heard moaning and a couple of yelps. Then Madam Pomfrey stepped out from behind the screen, arms free.

"Well, good morning, Mr. Snape," she said sharply. "How do you feel?"

"Broken," Severus said, wincing.

"Although I certainly do not approve of Madam Pince's overzealous behavior, I am most opposed to fighting in this school." As she said this, she drew a large slab of chocolate out of a cabinet.

Seeing the expectant expression on Severus' face, Madam Pomfrey laughed. "Oh, no, this is not for you." She disappeared behind the screen again.

Severus lay back down in his bed painfully, his entire body filling with dread at the howler he was likely to receive from his mother, or worse, his father. As Severus fumed, Madam Pomfrey returned to his bedside with a fresh glass of water and a small hunk of chocolate. "We do not magically mend wounds from fighting, so you'll have to heal the Muggle way if you intend to fight like them." She glared at the two beds where his aggressors slept. "However, that does not mean that you should suffer entirely. Two against one!" She shook her head, tucking in his bedclothes a bit tighter. "A girl came to visit you this morning, but you were quite out. She said she'd be back after lunch."

Severus smiled a bit at the thought of seeing Bella. His lips were fat and his entire face felt bruised, but at least he'd see a friendly face in a few hours. He ate his chocolate, which alleviated some of the pain in his chest, and then closed his eyes and drifted back into a dark and fitful sleep.

Something tickled the side of his face. He shook his head to escape it. The smell of mallowsweet drifted over him: Bella.

She giggled when he opened his eyes. "There you are, Severus! I was afraid I'd lost you." She was leaning over him so that her dark blue eyes were directly above his; her black hair a curtain around their faces.

"Bella," he said softly and smiled. "How are you?"

"Better than you, I'd wager." She leaned back, and a ray of sun hit him full in the face. "My bloody awful cousin is awake, so I made Madam Pince bring round a screen. You caused quite a commotion in the library yesterday, Severus. Madam Pince has closed it until Wednesday so that she can get everything settled back down. You crashed three bookshelves, smashed a table, and completely demolished the Astronomy section." Her tone was severe, but she was smiling. "Nice work."

Severus grinned a bit. "They started it."

"Well, that's what Otto Bagman told Dumbledore. He was in the next aisle over. He had a chat with Lucius, though, and told him that you actually threw a very heavy book at Sirius first."

Severus refused to let the color rise in his cheeks. "Is that what he said?"

Bella nodded. "He also said that you smashed Potter in the face."

"Mmm," Severus mumbled. "Funny he should say that."

"Funny indeed." Bella looked down at the far end of the hospital wing. "What I don't understand is how that titchy Gryffindor Lupin got involved."

"What do you mean?"

Bella raised her eyebrows. "He's the worst off! I caught a glimpse this morning, and he looks like he got into quite the row."

"He wasn't there."

"Huh," Bella said, then shrugged. "Well, I brought you these." She handed him a small stack of books. "Madam Pomfrey said you'd be in here for at least another day, just until the swelling goes down." Bella looked concernedly at him. "You really look like hell, you know." She dug in her bag for a moment, then handed Severus a small mirror.

Severus gasped at his reflection. Almost his entire face was covered in purple blooms. He had a cut across his forehead, a black eye, and both his lips were split and swollen. "Bloody hell!" Severus whispered.

"You were caught in an avalanche of very heavy books. All three of you had concussions, but they say Potter got the brunt of it. Dumbledore conjured stretchers to carry your bodies to the hospital wing." Bella chuckled. "Avery and Lestrange were betting on which one of you would be out the longest. Looks like they owe me some money." Severus laughed with Bella.

Black's voice cut into their laughter. "Say, cousin, think you could break up whatever inappropriate and thoroughly disgusting things you two are doing for a minute so I can ask you a question?"

Bella rolled her eyes and gripped her wand. "What is it, Sirius?"

"I was just curious what you saw in that nasty, greasy git. I thought you had better taste, Bellatrix."

Bella stood up, a look in her eye like she was thinking about the best way to curse him into pieces. But then she tucked her wand back into her robes and grinned broadly.

"He's like my brother," she said.

"But you don't have a brother," Sirius clarified.

"I know," Bella countered, "but even still, Severus makes a better Black than you do, Sirius."

Sirius let out a derisive, barking laugh. "I'm not sure that's something to be proud of, Bellatrix. I mean, when you look at our family--"

But he was cut off by the sudden entrance of the Slytherin Quidditch team, led by Lucius Malfoy, and still wearing their practice robes. "You better come, Bellatrix. It's your sisters."

"What's the matter, Lucius?" she asked, perplexed.

"Down in the Great Hall. You better hurry," he said swiftly. There was a note of panic in his voice.

Bella glanced at Severus. "I'll be back," she said, and then ran from the hospital wing.

"I hope you are well soon, Severus," Lucius said, his gray eyes flecked with something close to fear. Avery and Lestrange nodded, their eyes strangely excited.

Severus barely had time to say "thank you" before Lucius swept out of the room. At the moment Lucius opened the door to the hospital wing, a piercing cry not unlike a banshee's split the air. Lucius broke out into a run, the Quidditch team at his heels.

* * * * *

The way Avery and Lestrange told it, all three of them were rolling around the Entrance Hall, pulling each other's hair and screaming hexes. The way Rosier and Wilkes told it, Narcissa swung Andromeda around by her hair while Bella hexed her. But the way Bella told it (after her and her eldest sister served their first detentions with Meadowes), Narcissa had slapped Andromeda, and pulled her by her hair out the front doors of the castle, and Bella had merely tossed a few Impediment jinxes at people who were trying to interfere.

"It's really none of their damn business anyway!" Bella fumed as she used a scourging charm to clean her hands. For the first in a series of detentions, Meadowes had made her polish all the cases in the trophy room, while Narcissa had to clean the suits of armor. "Filthy, dirty, nasty, blood traitor!"

Apparently, Narcissa had overheard a third year Hufflepuff named Bertha Jorkins gossiping in the loo about the secret love affair between two sixth year Ravenclaws: a pureblood witch and a Muggle-born wizard. Of course, Narcissa listened intently. When the identities were revealed, Narcissa discovered the amour between her sister and Ted Tonks, and went storming into the Great Hall, where Andromeda was having a late lunch with her friends. Andromeda did not deny it, and flat out refused to end it. As the argument escalated, both girls were shrieking. Finally, Andromeda screamed, "This is my life and I will make my own choices!" and bolted for the Ravenclaw tower. Narcissa caught her by her long hair, thoroughly walloped her across the face, and then dragged her outside.

Lucius, returning from Quidditch practice, watched the fight unfurl with detached horror. When he tried to pull Narcissa away, she threatened to hex him, so he decided to see if Bella could talk some sense into her. When Bella made it out of the hospital wing, Narcissa was holding both of their wands, and was dragging Andromeda bodily, by her hair, towards the Hogsmeade gate, berating her sister with a list of obscenities.

"How DARE you shame us! You cannot TAINT OUR BLOOD with your nonsense! We all must SACRIFICE if we want ANYTHING out of life, Andromeda!" and on and on about tradition, pride, and how she couldn't just shirk her responsibility to her family for a good snog or two.

By the time Bella figured out what was going on, a huge group of people was coming down the lawn at them. Bella hexed Ted Tonks, who was leading the group, and also a few others, possibly even Professor Sinistra, but she couldn't remember. She was able to get in her own tirade, though, calling Andromeda a filthy blood traitor and a selfish whore, among other things, and tried repeatedly to slap some sense into her.

And then Professor Meadowes and Professor McGonagall came; they disarmed the Black sisters, shot a couple of stunners, and dragged Bella and Narcissa to Dumbledore's office, where they received their detentions. Andromeda, mortified of course, was taken to the Ravenclaw tower, where Madam Pomfrey attended to her for a week before she felt safe beyond the walls of her dormitory.

And so there Severus sat with Bella, who was shaking with rage as she retold the story, in front of the common room fire with Lucius, who clucked his tongue in all the right places, and Narcissa, who was busily writing letters to every person in her family. Occasionally, the sisters would make eye contact, which would launch them into another round of Andromeda bashing. This went on for about a week; anytime someone would mention Andromeda, or anything having to do with Ravenclaw or Muggles, Narcissa and Bella would begin swearing. And then, after Andromeda's self-imposed tower exile ended, neither one of the girls admitted to having a third sister.

"She's not my family!" Narcissa would say.

"No sister of mine would run off with a Mudblood!" Bella would say.

A letter came from their mother telling them that it was official: Andromeda had been removed from the Black family tree and had been informed that she was no longer a member of the Black family, having recently celebrated her seventeenth birthday and thus fully entitled to "make whatever choices she saw fit," as her mother, Electra wrote.

Narcissa sighed. "And to think, she was Daddy's favorite!"

Bella rolled her eyes. "You can have her room, Severus."

Severus smiled and decided that no one need ever know about the Muggle book Andromeda had given him as a token of appreciation for his friendship with Bella. Some gifts, he rationalized, were best kept between the giver and the receiver.