The Black Sheep

A/N: last chapter!

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

chapter seven

The Final Task

Disbelief gave way to the beginnings of panic as Bo read the note for what seemed like the hundredth time. It has to be some kind of cruel joke, she told herself in desperation. What possible reason could Voldemort have to want Narcissa dead? Bo shut her eyes, trying to remember her last meeting with him. Had he used Legilimency on her without her even being aware of it? Had he discovered that she knew Narcissa was hiding Draco from him? She could not see how that was possible. She had felt nothing in his presence, no pressure into her thoughts, and certainly nothing like her first encounter with his skill at Legilimency. Stop, she commanded herself when she realized that she was shaking with dread, calm down. Seek answers. Snape was back in attendance with Voldemort; she did not dare go to him. There was only one option left. Bo threw a spare cloak over her shoulders, secured her front door, and disapparated under the cover of the night's inky darkness.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

When Bo arrived on its front steps, Malfoy Manor looked as baleful and desolate as it had on her last visit. She used the serpentine doorknocker and did her best to quell the anxiety that was growing steadily in the pit of her stomach. She waited for several minutes before she heard activity from the other side of the door. Finally, the many locks clicked and snapped, the knob turned slowly, and one dark eye peered out at her as the door opened only a crack. Recognizing Bo, Bella opened the door wider and whispered fiercely,

"You shouldn't be here, Bo. Cissy is looking after Draco, but if she finds out you're here, there could be--trouble."

"I need to speak with you," Bo whispered back urgently.

Bella cast a harried look behind her, stepped out of the door and closed it carefully. Bo made to speak, but Bella gestured for silence.

"Not here," she murmured. "I'll need time to reason with Cissy before she should see you again. Let's go to your place."

Bo offered no argument and returned immediately to the steps of her own front door. She let herself and her aunt inside after Bella had Apparated next to her. Tearing off her spare cloak and tossing it aside, Bo followed her aunt into the living room, where Bella stood, watching her niece expectantly.

"I need your help, Aunt Bella," she said in a strangled sort of voice.

"What's happened?" asked Bella, a look of genuine concern on her face.

"The Dark Lord...my final task, I cannot do it."

"But you must. You must," said Bella, aghast.

"I cannot!" Bo cried, unable to keep her distress in check any longer.

"Come now, Bo," Bella chided. "You are a Black. Nothing is impossible for you."

Bo bit her bottom lip so hard that she tasted blood. She strode over to the wooden table where the scroll still sat open, grabbed it, and thrust it into her aunt's hands.

"The Dark Lord has commanded me to kill Aunt Cissy!" Bo cried again. "I cannot do it! She was like a second mother to me, especially after Mum died! She and Draco were the only family I ever felt that I could count on! I can't do it, and I won't!"

Bella stared down at the scroll dumbly, as if it were written in a foreign language. She looked exactly as she had when Bo had used the Cruciatus Curse on Draco.

"Why does the Dark Lord want Aunt Cissy dead?" Bo asked. "I don't understand--does he blame her for Draco's cowardice?"

"No," whispered Bella hoarsely, still staring wide-eyed at the scroll. "He would have told me. It wasn't supposed to be her."

"Well, what other reason could he have, if not Draco? Unless--?" Bo regarded her aunt uncertainly. Bella looked up at her and met her gaze with an unreadable expression. Bo made a quick decision to tip her hand.

"Did the Dark Lord learn about the Unbreakable Vow?"

"Cissy can't have told you about that," said Bella softly, her brow furrowing. "So. You've been meeting with your old Potions Master."

"He told me about the Vow, yes," said Bo angrily. "And he also told me that he has as much to fear from the Dark Lord as Aunt Cissy does, if he should ever hear of it. That leaves only you, Aunt Bella."

The two women stared at each other in silence for several minutes before Bella finally spoke.

"I warned Cissy not to go to Snape. Perhaps she feels as comfortable concealing things from our Lord as that lying worm does, but I do not. I tried my best to protect her, but when the Dark Lord demands the truth from me, I give it."

"Then he knew of the Vow this entire time? Why did you not tell me sooner?"

"It wasn't supposed to be her," Bella repeated simply.

"What does that mean? Did you discuss my tasks with the Dark Lord?"

"Only the last," Bella said sadly. "He told me you'd be perfectly suited to the task. He said you'd be taking care of someone who has plagued him for some time now. But I never thought..." she trailed off, staring dully into nothingness.

"Well, who did you think he was talking about?" Bo shouted, incensed.

Bella hesitated.

"The Dark Lord has plans for all of his enemies. Especially Dumbledore's people."

"Dumbledore's...?" and suddenly, Bo understood.

"You thought I was going to have to kill Nymphadora?!"

And though her face remained white to the lips, Bella's eyes changed dramatically, as if her niece had uttered a spell. She fixed Bo with a hard, cold stare.

"Yes, that is what I expected. Your sister has made quite a nuisance of herself. But more than that, she is an abomination. It is only fitting that one of her relatives should accept the duty of wiping her from existence."

Bo absorbed this revelation in speechless incredulity. In her wildest dreams, she never would have imagined that she would hear such a thing. How could Bellatrix think that she would be willing, even able, to kill her own sister? For a moment, Bella seemed lost in her own little world. And then, apparently reaching a decision, she looked at Bo and said darkly,

"You must do as the Dark Lord instructed."

"What?!"

"I warned Cissy not to betray the Dark Lord and she did not listen. If she was willing to betray him once, she could do it again. We can't allow that."

There was a glint of something in Bella's eyes that made Bo uneasy, and without making the conscious effort, her right hand moved to hover over the spot in her robes where her wand lay. Bella didn't seem to notice. She was gazing directly at Bo, but her eyes were glassy and focused on the intangible.

"You have no choice, Boadicea. When the Dark Lord commands, we must obey."

Bo stared mutely at Bella as if she was seeing her aunt for the first time. She knew the woman was devoted to Voldemort, perhaps more than any of his other followers. She had witnessed for herself the aftereffects of her aunt's long stint in Azkaban. But there was something else; something beneath the madness and the zealotry that Bo was just beginning to recognize. Her whole body tensed as Bella spoke again.

"You have no choice!" she repeated loudly. "Just as I had no choice when the Dark Lord demanded the same of me!"

Comprehension dawned on Bo like a blow to her head. She began to tremble, not with fear, but with a blind rage the likes of which she had never before felt. Her voice exploded out of her like a piercing scream.

"It was you?! It was YOU?!"

Bella did not seem the least bit concerned at the question. She drew herself up to her full height and looked down at Bo with a haughty pride.

"Yes. When Andromeda got in the way, it was I whom the Dark Lord sent to eliminate her. He wanted to see if I would do it. He wanted to test my devotion. He need not have bothered. I am his. I will be his forever. And I proved that to him the day I killed your mother."

Bo stood rooted to the spot, the blood rushing in her ears as her pounding heart sent it speeding through her veins. She could not hear, she could not think, and all she felt was a fury so vast and deep that she could not move, either. Her throat had constricted to the point that she found it difficult to breathe. She took several heaving breaths, finally managing to speak through tightly clenched teeth.

"Aunt Cissy told me that Voldemort killed my mother."

"That's what Cissy believes," said Bella, her tone almost conversational. "Only the Dark Lord and I know the truth, and now so do you."

"How--could--you--?" Bo asked, choking on her words.

"Bo, don't you see?" said Bella, stepping closer to Bo with that same maniacal gleam in her eyes. "It was an honour. The Dark Lord honoured me with the chance to take responsibility for my own family, to deal with the blood-traitor in our midst myself. He has bestowed that same honour upon you. You are a Black. This is your chance, to prove to your master and to everyone else exactly what that means!"

"What about Draco?"

"If he is a true Death Eater, he will come to thank you, in time."

The tears against which Bo had been fighting fell silently down her cheeks, blurring her vision and leaving a salty taste on her lips. She was shaking from head to foot. And suddenly she realized, if she did not kill Narcissa, someone else would. The Dark Lord had already sent Bellatrix after one of her sisters. And now she stood before Bo, ready to watch the other one die. Who would it be next? Draco? Nymphadora? Or would Bo herself be her aunt's next victim?

Bo's hand flew to her wand, but even with her quick reflexes, Bella was faster. She held her wand at Bo's throat, barely inches from the skin, and glared at her with a mixture of wrath and indignation.

"Drop it," Bella spat, indicating the wand in Bo's right hand.

Bo complied, returning Bella's glare with nothing but contempt.

"You are choosing death?! For what? For some idiotic, childish sentimentality? That means nothing compared to the wishes of the Dark Lord, NOTHING!"

Bo remained silent, her tears having dried and her pulse nearly back to its normal rhythm. She stood erect with her chin lifted over Bella's pointed wand, and stared at her aunt with deepest loathing. Whoever is to die next, Bo told herself, it won't be at my hands.

"You FOOL!" screamed Bella, whose temper was growing exponentially with each passing moment. "We could have restored the House of Black to its proper place, you and me! When the Dark Lord finally reigns over all, we would have been the most feared, the most respected women in his court! But you would rather join your traitorous moron of a mother in death?!"

Bella regarded Bo with disgust.

"You are no true Black," she said.

As Bella drew another breath, Bo knew what was coming and her eyes closed nearly of their own volition. Once again, her sister's face popped into her thoughts. Although the old anger flared just the same as it always had, she wondered if Nymphadora would ever learn the truth. And just as she told herself that her sister was far too slow-witted to ever figure it out, a deafening boom split the air and the floor shook beneath her feet. Her eyes flew open just in time to see Bella whirl around to point her wand at Snape, who was rushing into the living room from the hallway. Bella began to shout a curse, but she was too late.

"Stupefy!" Snape called out, his wand already aimed at Bella before she had even begun to turn. She immediately slumped over and dropped to the floor in a heap. He stalked over to her crumpled form with his wand still aimed directly at her, picked up her wand where it had fallen out of her hand, and pocketed it. Then he turned to Bo, who was staring at him in shock.

"Are you injured?" he asked.

Bo shook her head.

"You--you stunned her."

"Yes, I did," said Snape, frowning at Bo. "I could revive her and allow her to finish what she was going to do, if you prefer."

"How did you know?" asked Bo softly.

"I didn't," said Snape, his frown deepening. "The Dark Lord mentioned your last task as I was leaving him, and something in the way he spoke of it gave me pause. I came here to see for myself and heard Bellatrix's screaming from the street."

Bo looked down at the motionless form of her aunt on the floor. She was struck by a sudden panic.

"What am I going to do?!" she asked, trying to stifle the sob that threatened to break through.

"You're not going to do anything," Snape said sternly, jabbing Bella with the tip of his shoe. "I am not inexperienced with Memory Charms. As far as Bellatrix shall be concerned, you will be dead at her hands. In fact, that is what everyone will believe."

"What do you mean?" she asked in bewilderment.

"Firstly, you are going to give me Draco's wand," he said quietly, raising his left hand in her direction, palm open. This caused some mild confusion until Bo remembered the wand hidden away in her pocket. She retrieved it and handed it to him in silence. He placed the wand next to Bella's in the pocket of his robes.

"Next, you are going to drink this," he said, conjuring a small, globe-shaped bottle out of the air, "so Bella can confirm your death herself. And then you are going to remain here under heavy concealment until it is safe."

Bo looked down at the bottle when Snape pressed it into her hands and saw that it was full of a thin, glossy black liquid.

"Draught of the Living Death?" she asked, and Snape nodded curtly.

"I can't," said Bo, holding the bottle out to him. "My final task was to kill Aunt Cissy. If anyone should go into hiding, it's her."

Snape looked at her, his face impassive. Finally, he said,

"Leave Narcissa to me."

"You're asking me to trust you," said Bo softly.

"You have little choice," said Snape, frowning once more. "Unless you truly do wish to die. You know as well as I do that there is nowhere you can hide that the Dark Lord will not find you, as long as he believes you are alive."

Bo regarded him in silence. She found herself in this impossible situation because she had taken too many things on blind faith, and faith in the wrong people. How could she trust him so implicitly when she had just been proven so horribly mistaken?

"You could go to them," he said, a cold note in his voice. He did not have to explain who 'them' was. "But you would be risking their lives as well as your own."

"If the Dark Lord wins this war, what would be the point?" she asked in a whisper.

"The point," said Snape, "is survival. You and I both know that that bottle holds your only real chance at it."

Bo looked down at the bottle again. Her mind was numb and uncooperative. She felt completely drained, and yet oddly weighted down as well. Without another thought, she uncorked the bottle and drank the contents in one swallow. It was bitter, yet not unpleasant. She looked over at Snape, who was watching her without expression. She made to step toward him to hand him the empty bottle and realized too late that her feet no longer followed her instructions. She staggered forward and Snape just managed to catch her before she fell.

"It works quickly," she whispered, not completely aware of what she was saying. His face swam into and out of focus above her.

"Yes," he said, peering down at her with his usual inscrutable look.

"Will you be here when I wake up?" she asked, her eyelids drooping.

"I don't know," he said after a pause.

"I hope you are," she sighed as her eyes finally closed. The last thought to cross her mind, just before the dreamless sleep of living death consumed her, was: I suppose Aunt Bella is right, I'm not truly a Black, after all. Nymphadora will never let me live it down.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

A/N: Thank you to all those who have taken the time to read it, and even more thanks to those few who have been kind enough to leave a review. Reviews of all shapes and sizes are very, very much appreciated. A special thanks to my original betas for this project: Proto, Lala and minime. You guys rock, pure and simple. There shall be a sequel (which was the plan from the very beginning), but it will not be written until after the release of book 7. Until then...sleep well, Boadicea. You're gonna need the rest.