The Swan's Fight

"Hell is in the detail" Tom McRae - A & B's song

Chapter 2 - Togetherness versus Loneliness

"I am not convinced."

"That is stating the obvious. But you could at least, I don't know, try!"

"I try, but it doesn't reach the brains. All right?"

"This would be possible if you had some of those."

"Oh, shut up."

"When I want to."

She decides it's time to intervene. "Both of you quit that right now. You are on detention, not on a duel, so I only want to hear the sound of your quills on the paper. If you don't understand, Mister Potter, it is probably because you are not trying hard enough... But Mister Malfoy, you are supposed to explain him, not to sink him down on purpose, and I don't believe you are trying hard enough too." Why was she stupid enough to put the both of them on the same detention? Oh, yeah, because they were fighting in class and she was thinking about Lymp.

"Professor?"

"Yes?"

"I don't believe we can work together."

She growls. "I don't believe I gave you the choice. Don't act stupidly enough that you don't remember where your interests lie." And, without paying any more attention to the two enemies, she begins to write a letter.

< Lymp, I am so sorry for your nose. No matter how red it is, I will always love it, and you too.> Now, this is a good beginning. She chuckles inwardly. Why is he the only one that can make her laugh like that?

< I had a strange dream yesterday. A wolf and a fox were running together in the Bois de Boulogne. > Will he remember that it is the name of the wood along Paris where all the Nancy boys walk the streets? It had been a strange dream, indeed.

< And they were happy. > Happiness has become something important to talk about, because it is a most rare feeling in their lives.

Malfoy and Potter are fighting again. Exasperating. She points her wand towards the two of them. "Silencio!" Now, no matter how hard they try, they won't be able to produce a sound for the next 20 minutes. That's relieving.

< And suddenly the wolf became a human being, and grew angry. And he killed all the Nancy boys with a wave of his wand. Honestly, this is weird. I don't even know why I am telling you about that. > Why indeed? Good question, because this was likely to make the werewolf quite upset. However, she will not write about how bloody that dream had been. So bloody that when she had awoken, she had dry blood under her nails: she had scratched her arms in her sleep.

< I know what my mission is now: I have to seduce Albus Dumbledore and marry him, but only he impregnates me with triplets. > She giggles at the mere thought of the idea. Though it's somewhat disturbing. Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy look at her with suspicion.

< About the cage, it breaks my heart to know you enclose yourself in it for the full moon, and I am ashamed that Foxel is not here to run with you in the woods. No matter how cold they are. > She is truly hurt by the pain he has to go through, but there is nothing she can do to help apart from thinking a lot about him, which she fully intends to do.

< I love you as much as you're bored, Foxel. > After a thought, she decides to add a post-scriptum, because with Lymp, you never know what he will decide to understand : < P.S. I was joking about the mission. I know what it is, but you don't expect me to tell you, do you? I'm sure you're not that stupid. >

She reads her whole letter again to check for spelling mistakes. She's one of those orthography freaks, unable to send out a letter with the slightest mistake. She'll write it over and over again until it is perfect. She smiles with satisfaction. Then she stands up, and tells the boys that the detention is over. She's done with her letter, so there's no point in staying stuck in that room with the boys for one more minute.

When Draco crosses the threshold, she reluctantly calls Harry. "Harry, can I have a word with you?"

The teenager nods just as reluctantly and heads towards her desk.

"I saw Remus yesterday, he asked me to give you a message from him. He says that he thinks about you a lot, even if he doesn't write enough, and he hopes you will come at the Order's new headquarters for Christmas." Boy, this kid never smiles!

"That's nice. I'll think about it." That's a pretty clear 'no'.

"I know the Weasleys will be there, as well as most of the members of the Order, and aren't they all your family?" He reacts quite violently.

"My family is dead."

"Mine too," she deadpans. Harry looks at her with renewed respect.

But it soon turns back to teenage angst. "You didn't kill your family."

"As a matter of fact, I did, Harry. You don't know me as well as you think you do. I killed them all. Apart from Remus, of course; you know he's my cousin." Apparently, he doesn't.

"Remus Lupin?"

"Oh, I only got to meet him seven years ago, he was from the infamous part of the family, the not-wealthy-enough, if you see what I mean..." She is furious at some remembrance. Nobody sane would want to upset her. Her eyes throw ice and her words freeze the atmosphere. "Move your butt, Harry, we all have to overcome one day or another. I know you're sad about Sirius, and your life isn't all perfect, but you must admit that there are other people out there that need your help. Remus needs to be with you, the Order needs to make sure you're alive and all these kids out there need you to embody their hope!"

Harry is still angry, but this time the anger is directed towards himself. She calms down.

"And how do you expect me to give you the present I am hiding in my cupboard if you're not there?" She is winning: he smiles.

*

Hogwarts is covered with snow, Negra is feeling much better with no reason to account for. Not that she needs one anyway. She feels good, that's all that's important. She rolls around her neck a huge black scarf; it's most likely going to be pretty chilly during the match. She heads towards the Quidditch pitch, perfectly aware of her being late, absolutely not caring, and she sits in the teachers' corner. The student commenting the game - Pier Pitier - is nearly swooning with excitement. "And the seeker dives, Potter is just as insane as usual, is that a Wronski Feint ? YES IT IS, IT'S WONDERFUL ! Aaaand Ginny Weasley hits the bludger, but no! Malfoy avoids it with a faaaaantastic looping..." Professor McGonagall seems to regret Lee Jordan.

Negra sits near Madam Hooch, the flying teacher, who giggles like a teenager at Pitier's commentaries and McGonagall's reaction. "Ah, Miss Glace. I knew you would come."

"How could I miss a Slytherin/Gryffindor game, can you tell me?"

"You were Seeker, right?"

"Yep, back in Beauxbatons." The flying teacher wonders if she misunderstood her on purpose.

"No, I meant in the Paris-Saint-Merlin*, when you were professional."

"Oh." She doesn't look like she is going to talk about it, and looks eagerly at the two student teams intently trying to kill each other. "I was Seeker, yes. I wanted to be Beater, but I wasn't heavy enough..." She ponders for a while on the deception that she wouldn't be able to throw cannonballs at people.

But Madam Hooch is not done with her. Actually, Negra tells herself that the nice flying teacher is a slut for gossip. "Why did you quit?"

"This, Madam Hooch, is only of my concern." Do never ask Negra a question she doesn't want to answer. She may be blunt about it. "I do remember I got my first Firebolt quite late, you know. I think it was about a year after I left the team..."

"That's funny, Potter has a Firebolt too. He got it three years ago. It's a bloody fast broom, I'd love to have one."

Listin Werton, the Ancient Runes teacher, rolls his eyes. "Women talking of brooms..." Negra laughs, while Hooch and Werton - who just realized the possible innuendo - blushes. Snape, sitting one rank in front of the three undisciplined teachers, turns towards them.

"If you would be kind enough as to quit behaving like hormonal students..."

"Aaand Katie Bell scores, what a smart big-boobed girl!"

*

Christmas is tomorrow. Christmas is the privileged time for people to forget their hatred and only think about love, family, friendship... Right? So Negra is reading 'How to forget: Pensieves and Thought Concealments' for the third time, while Nymphadora Tonks is telling her how happy she is to finally meet someone her age over and over again.

"Thank God, you are going to come to the Order meetings, that is so bloody cool. You'll see, they never leave you alone, it is even worse when you're also in Hogwarts, I'm sure, but-"

A shout cuts Tonks' monologue. "Of course I'm late, this house of yours was bloody hard to find!" Negra smiles and stands up, dropping her book: her boisterous beloved Lymp has arrived. Ten hours late.

She hears Remus trying to protest. "You might not be able to follow simple instructions, Lymp." The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher leaves a bewildered Tonks alone and joins the werewolves in the little hall of the cosy cottage.

Lymp is tall, very tall, and skinny. He looks definitely weird in his random Muggle clothing, and a large wicked smile tears at his sharp features. The strangest thing is neither his snow white hair, nor the long chain bearing a smooth onyx around his neck: it is his ink black eyes. In the corner of his eyes there are tattoos: the left eye sports a sad moon, and on the right one smiles a merry sun. Both of the tattoos are one inch long.

There is something trustful about Lymp, along with a dangerous thing that makes you eager to be his friend rather than his enemy. He opens widely his arms. "Foxel! Tell this horrible friend of ours how stupid he was to hide his house so well that even the members of the Order are unable to find it!"

Negra's smiles widens. "I was perfectly able to find it, Lymp. You just wouldn't notice a Hippogriff in your bathtub."

Lymp laughs, and embraces his lover, without a glance towards Lupin, or Tonks, who just joined the group. "I love you too, Foxel, and I was so bored in Moscow..." His long arms press her fragile body against his chest.

"Maybe the two of you need some time alone?" There is an evil tone in Remus' words. Negra and Lymp decide that they have lots of physical things to discuss privately - it's been six long months - and head towards the stairs, barely listening to Remus, who insists: "Be downstairs at nine for dinner, all right?"

Negra closes the door of their bedroom. Lymp looks appreciatively at the bed, the frames on the walls, the mirror, the numerous books ('Which Broomstick', 'Seekers through the ages', 'The Dark Arts and the Light', 'How to learn cooking in Three days', 'The Dark Arts Outsmarted'...). He raises one eyebrow, "How long have you been here?"

"Merely a week. I hope you brought stuff to read with you, 'cause I'm done with those." She pats the bed. "And this is your side of the bed."

"Hey, I wanted the other side!" She leans bluntly towards him and stares at his face. He covers his nose in a dumb survival reflex. "What?"

"Your nose is just so...so red!" He laughs again. It feels wonderful to be together. "So, tell me, Lymp. The cage..." Her voice sounds weary. She looks tired, but were they to make a contest out of it, she would lose. He looks exhausted.

"Don't worry about the cage, Foxel. It's a necessary device, Remus must have told you. What I want to talk about is your dream."

She sighs, she knew she shouldn't have written him about it. "I don't really want to talk about that. Telling you was stupid; I don't even believe there is a deep meaning behind that one. Let's forget about it, okay?"

"Anything you want. But you'll have to pay for my grand acceptance of you." As a matter of fact, Lymp suffers from both Lycantropy and another rare disease which makes him unable to be serious for more than two minutes, no matter what the circumstances are. They're not sure the disease even has a name, but they believe that the Weasley twins also are afflicted with it. "I want you to swear me that you are not trying to seduce Dumbledore."

She puts her right hand on her heart. "I swear." Then she sits down on the bed, on his lap. They hug again, exchange some heated kisses. Then, she pushes him away. "Lymp..."

They really are meant to be together, it's obvious. Two highly wounded characters, who become happy and serene the very minute they get together... "Yes?"

"Did you have time to see her?" He seems to understand who she is referring to.

"Yes. She is wonderful. She has my hair, my nose, your eyes, your lips, your bad temper, and she is going to become a powerful witch." He caresses her neck with his lips. "I saw her three times. She is wonderful."

"And is she treated well?" She can't hide her worry, so she doesn't even try.

"She is spoilt, Foxel, horribly spoilt. My sister loves her and she loves my sister."

"And she doesn't suspect anything, does she?"

"No, she has no idea. She is certain I'm her uncle. I was there for her birthday, she just turned-"

"Six, I know."

"I know you know." Lymp hesitates for a second. Then he adds, knowing fully what kind of reaction he'll get: "She wants to meet you."

Negra stands up. "No way, Lymp, you can't do that to me!"

"Calm down. You really should play Quidditch again, it would be good for your nerves, you know."

"I can't. I did quit, remember?"

"Oh, please, you stopped playing because you were pregnant, Foxel. As far as I know, pregnancy usually only lasts for nine months!" He instantly calms down. "Sorry. I got carried away. But this is only because you didn't let me have the good side of the bed."

"No, I'm the stupid one." He nods furiously, she ignores it. "I'm just afraid, you know? I love her so much, I could not pretend she is not my daughter, and watch your sister be her mother... You understand?"

"Of course I understand." He smirks. "Though I'd understand better with a sensual sexy wet kiss." With a laugh, she complies.

*

Harry drops his case on the floor. "Once again, we surprisingly made it alive." Molly Weasley shakes her cloak to get rid of the snow, Ron is doing the same thing with his hair. Harry wipes his glasses.

"Where are we, Mrs Weasley?" Hermione has spent the last three weeks trying to guess where the new Order headquarters could be, and she is vexed that they had to take four different portkeys to get there.

"Somewhere in Wales, Hermione dear. Come on, all of you, hang your cloaks, we are going to have dinner." She heads towards the kitchen. "Remus, are you here? Ah, Tonks, hello. I assume Lymp as eventually arrived, if Negra's not here?"

Tonks doesn't even hide her wide grin: "They are both upstairs, er...celebrating their long expected reunion."

"Oh." Molly blushes. "Well maybe we could-"

Remus Lupin stands up and welcomes them to do with the general awkwardness of everybody imagining his cousin having sex. "You could all come in the kitchen to have hot chocolate." While the others rush into said kitchen, he smiles warmly to Harry. "Negra will be glad you finally decided to come."

"Talking about her, can I have a word with you?"

"Sure, follow me." They go upstairs, on the sixth floor, and Remus opens a door of dark wood. "This is to be your room."

They enter the room and Harry bluntly asks. "Can I trust her?"

"She is a member of the Order, of course she is trustworthy."

"You never told me she was your cousin. I mean, I don't know if I should trust someone like her. She is too difficult to figure out." Harry clearly expects answers, as fast as possible. Remus notices he is very different from the year before. What he had to overcome would destroy anybody's childish manners. But Harry is way too much an adult in a teenager's body.

Remus sits down on the little bed: Harry deserves the truth. "Negra is my cousin. She's always been hard to figure out, that's her nature. And it's the reason why she is such an effective spy. The Order sent her in Hogwarts to spy."

"She told me you only met few years ago."

"Actually, I first met her boyfriend, Lymp. He is a werewolf as well. You'll meet him tonight, I think you will like him. Everybody does. Anyway, I met Negra after he started dating her. She was broken at that time, she was in a dreadful state. He healed her." Remus speaks in a dreamy voice, staring into space. Harry listens with hunger. "Negra is on our side. She is one of the few people who have more reason than you do to hate Voldemort."

Harry clearly doubts that anyone would have that privilege. "Why?"

Lupin realises he has revealed the teenager more than he intended to. What do you choose between betraying Negra's trust and helping Harry trust her? "He made her kill her whole family. But for her that's not what's worse." He pauses. This is the last step before betrayal. And a betrayed Negra is everything but nice... But Harry left to himself is probably worse. He has no Lymp close by to calm him down. "The remaining Death Eaters wanted to kill her. With a very complex spell they attracted her into a trap. It didn't work, but it modified her body. She won't be able to give birth anymore."

Harry raises an eyebrow, meaning insolently 'and so what ?'

"She was pregnant before they cast the spell. Being a target, she had decided to get an abortion. But that spell made her change her mind, and she gave birth to a little girl. Lymp being a target too, they gave the baby to someone they could trust. They had to abandon their baby, Harry, and she is not ready to forget it. It's a very simple feeling, but it's extremely strong."

Harry ponders out loud: "I don't think I understand. I mean, it must be hard to live, but it's not... The little girl, she is not dead, right?"

"Hopefully."

"What's her name?"

"Mélodie."