When The World Ends. D/G, K/M. 9/11. R.
Title: When The World Ends
Author: Eustacia Vye
Author's e-mail: eustacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Rating: R. OMG, I didn't actually write smut...
Pairing: Draco Malfoy/Ginny Weasley, Katie Bell/Marcus Flint.
Disclaimer: The characters here do not originally belong to me, but to JKR, Raincoast, Scholastic and their teams of lawyers. This version of the characters is all mine, though.
Spoilers/Warnings: This takes place during DH (minus the Epilogue of Doom). Also, this fits "undercover: having to participate in illegal / hurtful activity" prompt on my
hc_bingo card.
Summary: Ginny is tired of being pushed into the background as if nothing she endured counted for anything. It turns out, Katie feels the same way. They plan on making a difference in the war, even if no one takes them seriously.
Prior chapters:
One - Shadows On Our Own
Two - Forming Alliances
Three - Knowing The Names of Things
Four - In The Shadow Of Flames
Five - Through Ashes
Six - Broken Images
Seven - Finding an Equilibrium
Eight - Faces In The Firelight
Shelter me from this again
Dedicated to the end
Help me break my conscience in
To free us from our innocence
I am losing you again
Let me out and let me in
'Cause you're not alone here
Not at all
Let me belong here
Break my fall
Breaking Benjamin, "Break My Fall"
The Warringtons held a gala every Easter, inviting all of the Pureblood elite. Of course the Death Eaters would be attending in force, and it was expected that everyone branded with the Mark would arrive for the gala. It was also expected that there would be "entertainment" of some kind afterward, to be provided by the Warringtons and Malfoys to honor the Dark Lord.
So of course, Marcus and Katie had to be there.
Her best dress robes were nowhere near as nice as some of the elite dresses the Pureblood witches were wearing, but Katie at least fit in. Marcus had been fitted for a set of new dress robes, and he had glowered more than usual throughout the entire thing. The glower returned as they got ready for the gala, and only lessened a fraction when they arrived at the Warrington estate. Katie kept her eyes open and her mouth shut, taking in various members of the Ministry that she hadn't expected. That included the director of the Auror program, Chester Woodmere, who was deep in conversation with Gregory Goyle's father. There were so many faces she didn't recognize, and she tried to do her best to at least get a good glimpse of them. She could always pull the memories out later for others to recognize.
Marcus brought Katie over to his friends. Over the past three months, she had met with them and their girlfriends at various dinners or parties. Bletchley's fiancée had been killed on New Year's Eve by Order members during a raid on a Death Eater party. That had explained the steady drinking the day she had met him at Warrington's. Even at this Easter party, Bletchley spent most of his time close to the bar. Montague was with Cassiopeia Greeley, a distant cousin that his mother had recommended due to her bloodline. She wasn't terribly bright, but she was pretty and had pure blood. Pucey often dated Honoria Hackleback, who had been a Ravenclaw in his year at school and now was working at the Ministry's Accidental Magic Reversal Department. Higgs attended the party with Estella Medill, who was an assistant to the Undersecretary of Education. Warrington's mother was using the gala to fish for a future daughter-in-law, and he was more than happy to let her.
Katie was stuck with Cassiopeia, Honoria and Estella for most of the cocktail hour. They did know a lot about the assembled party, so Katie was able to coax stories out of them under the guise of gossip. Honoria was friends with Iris Parkinson, Pansy's cousin. That eventually led to the Parkinson girls, Millicent Bulstrode and the Greengrass sisters to join them. Katie hadn't known any of the girls well at school, as they had been below her and in Slytherin. Admitting that led to more gossip and conversation, though Millicent was the quietest of the new arrivals.
"What are you doing with Marcus?" Iris asked, a sharpness in her tone that Katie didn't like. She had the most vicious things to say about Ministry members not in attendance at the gala, and the long sleeved formal gloves hid any potential Dark Mark on her left arm.
"We're together," Katie replied, eyebrow arched. "Why?"
"It's been that way for months, dear," Honoria told Iris. "But then, you spend time at different parties now, so I'm not surprised you haven't met her."
Iris stared at Katie. "You were in Gryffindor at school. I remember your name on the team roster from back then. My brother used to mumble about you lot."
"I enjoyed Quidditch," Katie replied with a shrug.
"So is that why you're together?" Iris pressed, leaning slightly forward.
"He saved her life," Cassiopeia supplied when Katie wouldn't answer. "Their village burned down, and he saved her life. It sounds terribly romantic."
All eyes were on Katie at the careless comment, and she slowly sipped her champagne despite her tightening throat. Some spy she made; any mention of that fire and she nearly froze. She put down her glass, glad that her hand wasn't shaking. "It wasn't romantic, Cass," Katie murmured.
"How did it happen?" Iris asked, no sympathy or empathy in her tone at all.
Katie was convinced she was a Death Eater. "I don't like talking about this. There are better things for us to talk about. It's a party, after all," she said with a strained smile.
"Well, this is more than simply a social gathering," Iris said, her smile rather like a shark's. Pansy looked vaguely ill and the Greengrass girls were looking away from her. Millicent was quiet, but her hands were clenched tightly in her lap. Whatever was going on, Iris was in tight control of that knot of girls.
Katie glared at Iris. "I watched my mother burn. I don't like talking about this."
"Iris, don't be rude," Honoria murmured, shaking her head at the other woman. "She's with Marcus. He'd never be with one of them. He dotes on her, the lucky girl," Honoria added, shooting Katie a jealous glance. "Adrian couldn't commit to anything more than a few dates at a time, let alone making sure I'm not upset about something."
"What are you-"
Katie was cut off by a shadow approaching her from behind and Honoria's knowing smirk. She looked up and saw Marcus standing there. She smiled at him reassuringly. "Marcus."
"I thought you'd like a drink," he said slowly, though neither he nor Katie ever drank much at any of these parties. "Hello, ladies."
"She's quite all right," Cassiopeia told Marcus, waving him off. "Do tell the boys we'd like to see them sometime, will you?"
"I'll come back for a dance," he told Katie, touching her shoulder gently.
Katie waited until Marcus was out of earshot, trying not to smile much. The other girls simply stared at her for a long moment. "See? Didn't I tell you?" Cassiopeia said, breaking the silence. "He's a romantic." She patted Katie's arm fondly. "It's sweet."
Iris made a moue of disappointment, but Honoria then jumped in to talk about how thoughtless Adrian could be. Daphne Greengrass ventured a few comments about Theodore Nott, and Pansy Parkinson commented on Blaise Zabini.
"I thought you were dating Draco Malfoy?" Katie asked, confused. "The two of you were at the Yule Ball together at school."
Pansy shook her head. "We're just really good friends at this point. Besides, his family is in a tight spot right now. It wouldn't be safe to be that closely associated with him." She looked down at her lap for a moment, then looked up and shrugged. It looked careless, but Katie could see the tension there. "I can do better, I'm sure of it."
"Well, he's seeing someone," Millicent said. "He sneaks off a lot, and he definitely looks like he was getting shagged regularly."
The gossip turned toward the Hogwarts crowd, and Katie pretended to pay attention. Iris still gave her speculative looks, though that didn't bother her nearly as much as the direct questioning after the village fire. She eagerly joined Marcus for a dance, and let him drag her off from the dance floor down a corridor. She didn't care if any of the girls realized it; they vacillated between simpering arm candy or vicious harpy anyway. "Marcus? What is it?"
Warrington smirked at them as he passed. He was on his way back into the ballroom, presumably from visiting the loo. Marcus brought Katie into a small room that might have been for guests to sit and wait apart from the festivities. He locked the door and pressed Katie up against the wall. "I've been waiting to do this a long time," he growled as he pulled up her robes, his voice louder than was strictly necessary.
Eyes wide in alarm, Katie caught hold of his arms. "Marcus?"
There was something in his eyes that cautioned her not to speak. "It's all right. I don't think too many will notice we're gone for a few minutes."
Which of course meant that plenty of people had noticed.
Marcus slid his hands along her thighs, caressing the bare skin between Katie's stocking and garters. "The talk was dull and unbearable." He moved in to kiss her neck, and Katie gasped when his fingers found her center. "Louder," he whispered.
Feeling like a horrible tart, Katie made sure to moan louder. She wondered who he thought was on the other side of the door, but it was probably best she didn't know. Marcus knew how to work her body at this point, so it did feel good. It took her a moment to realize that he was whispering into her ears as she moaned and clutched at him for balance. He was whispering names and dates and places for meetings, everything he had been able to glean from the other members of the party. He was telling her because no one would be able to tell that she knew these things, and she would be able to let the Order know.
So it meant that he was being invited to join in the "festivities" after the main part of the gala was over, and it chilled Katie to the bone.
Marcus moved inside of her after making her come twice. She buried her face in his neck to muffle some of her cries, and he continued to whisper into her ear, his breath hot and warm against her neck. He could be killed for doing this. She could be killed for doing this. She still froze when the fire was mentioned, when she thought of her parents dying in her home village. It wasn't as bad as the first time she had to worm her way into Marcus' social circle, but she wasn't nearly as cool or collected as she should have been. She was getting better at this, but she was still a student playing at being a master.
Katie clung to him even after he had finished, long after the whispers had stopped. "Don't go," she whispered to him. "Come home with me."
His mouth was hot and open over hers when he kissed her, but he still pulled away, his face a carefully blank mask. "I can't."
He led her from the little room, and Katie thought she saw raised eyebrows and smirks from his friends and their girlfriends. Iris detached herself from the Hogwarts girls she was clearly in control of, and Katie knew that she couldn't dodge the woman for long. Marcus directed her to go home in a bland voice. "Don't wait up, Katie," he murmured, brushing a kiss against her forehead. They were outside of the room that held the private apparition point for Warrington's home. Katie could see Iris coming down the hallway out of the corner of her eye and wanted to shout at Marcus that she was a big girl, she could handle herself. It was like being in the training program, with all those eyes on her, waiting for her to trip up and make a mistake. It was just like standing tall even when she wanted to break to pieces along her curse scar lines. It was just like pretending that she was fine even if she wanted to dissolve into a puddle of tears.
But he wouldn't be able to concentrate if she stayed, and she knew that. "Stay safe," she told him, touching his face gently. She smiled at him, as if everything was all right. It was the appearance of the thing, she told herself. They were using each other, and that was all that had happened. It didn't mean anything. None of this meant anything.
Iris was there when Marcus left, her smile dripping venom. "He's so protective of you."
"I didn't think you were the type to want a man hovering over you," Katie told her. She refused to cross her arms over her chest as she was protecting herself. She had her wand in a pocket of her skirt, and she had become proficient at wandless magic in the advanced course. She could handle Iris. It was just words, after all.
Iris circled close, her eyes glittering with malice. She was a protégé of Bellatrix Lestrange, and it showed. There was a casual cruelty to her, and Katie didn't imagine that her cousin Pansy would be exempt from it. "Oh, he's not my taste at all," she purred, her smile looking anything but social. "Why going home so soon? Why is Flint sending you home?"
"I'm tired," Katie said with a negligent shrug. "He's being thoughtful."
Her smile was like a shark's. "Oh? You sound like such a delightful shag..." Iris began, reaching out to touch Katie's bare shoulder.
Katie moved faster than she could think. She had Iris' wrist in her fist and whirled around her, bringing that arm behind the other woman and pushing it as high up as it would go without breaking. She had shoved Iris into the wall, her face pressed into the wood paneling. Katie had her wand in hand, pointing right at her sharp little chin. "You're not my type," Katie said, her voice level even though her heart was pounding.
"Pity," Iris murmured, sounding nonchalant. Katie could see the pulse pounding in her throat, though she couldn't tell if Iris was afraid or aroused. "I can't see anything when I try to look into your mind. Curious. Why is that?"
"It's not polite to peek where you don't belong," Katie replied coolly, pressing the tip of her wand into the hollow of Iris' cheek. "And not polite to listen when people are shagging. Jealousy is such an ugly look for you."
Iris glared at her, but said nothing. The wand pressing into her face and the pain in her arm were warning enough.
Katie let her go and stepped back as Montague came down the hall with Cassiopeia. "I think we're done, aren't we?" she told Iris frostily.
Iris adjusted her gloves, which had been pushed aside when Katie manhandled her. Katie thought she could see the top of the Dark Mark before the glove was pushed back into place. "Yes, I suppose we are." Her voice was just as frosty, and her chin lifted a notch. "I underestimated you. It won't happen again."
"Marcus and I are together for a reason," Katie replied. She smiled at Iris, mirroring the sharklike smile she had received not long before. "Remember that."
Montague sighed as Iris retreated back toward the ballroom. "And here, I thought I would be able to play the noble gallant." He patted Cassiopeia's arm. "Well, I'm still able to squire you safely home, Cass."
"No one believed me when I said it was a love match," Cassiopeia replied with a shrug. "Well, it's good that someone can do that in these times."
Montague sighed. "Cass..."
She turned to him and placed a finger over his lips to silence him. "We're friends, always have been. There are worse things that could have happened to either of us."
He nodded and kissed her forehead gently. "Safe trip home, Cass. I'll see you tomorrow."
Katie felt strange watching this interchange, but would have felt more conspicuous if she had simply left. Cassiopeia smiled at Katie and approached. When she took Katie's arm in a friendly way, steering her toward the apparition point, Katie didn't balk. Cassiopeia didn't have the same menacing air that Iris had. "Not all of us can be as lucky as you," Cassiopeia murmured softly when they reached the apparition point. "But it's not a terrible thing for us. Don't worry about me on that front."
"But, I didn't-"
"Of course you didn't say anything," Cassiopeia interrupted with a laugh. "But you were going to, I could tell. You haven't spent much time with us before now, so you don't really know how it works. But everyone knows everything about everybody in these parties. We all know how it goes. You're lucky. There are no expectations for you, no one telling you who or what to be all the time. Take that and run. Do what makes you happy. There's so few of us that can."
Disturbed, Katie only nodded and made her farewells before apparating home. She had messages to send and much to think about.
***
When the raids that Draco was supposed to be a part of over Easter hols were interrupted by Order members, he automatically assumed it was Ginny's doing. He didn't know how she did it, but he was convinced she was the one that letting them know. There was a connection between them, no matter how much he wanted to deny that it was there, and somehow she knew where he was going to be.
Yet he didn't know where she was, and that was making him utterly miserable.
He looked over at Crabbe and Goyle. Crabbe was starting to get something of a vicious streak in him now that he was ignoring Draco. Goyle was still more silent between the two of them, still more likely to watch and observe rather than make remarks. He still chafed when Draco ordered him about like a lackey, but it was different than the way Crabbe spoke to him. Neither were willing to simply look like foolish bodyguards any longer, but Draco wasn't really sure of how else to relate to them at this point. He had always imposed his ideas on them, and expected them to agree. That was all he knew of friendship, really.
"What?" Crabbe asked irritably.
"How did they know we were going to be there?" Draco asked, concerned. "Any one of us could have been caught or died tonight."
Crabbe scoffed. "Not me. I won't go out like that. I'll burn the lot of them."
"Don't joke, Vince," Goyle admonished, shaking his head.
"You'd more likely burn the lot of us trying to get away from them," Draco said.
Crabbe's jaw tightened. "I've gotten better control of it now. I know what I'm doing."
Draco turned away from him. That would just end badly, no matter what happened. "They can't be that good at tracking us. We didn't even know until yesterday where we were going." He thought of the prisoners in his basement with a sick feeling in his stomach. He did what he could for them, but he wasn't willing to risk his neck for them.
He wasn't even sure what he would be willing to do if Ginny was down there.
There was a commotion outside, and Draco got up. It sounded as though there were going to be more prisoners at Malfoy Manor. He would be expected to participate in torture soon enough, and he couldn't hide behind the fact that he was a student forever.
Narcissa looked at Draco. "There are Snatchers in the drawing room," she told him, her voice quiet and strained. "They say they have Harry Potter."
If anything, Draco felt even worse. Everyone knew how much he had hated Harry in school. They would expect him to do something. They would expect him to torture Harry, and the fight had gone out of him. It wasn't even because of Ginny, though Merlin knew he hated the fact that Harry dated her first. Draco had no taste for torture, and it was only the veiled threat overhanging him and his parents that even made him go through the motions.
It was almost with relief that Draco lied. Of course it was Harry with the Weasley boy and the Mudblood girl. Of course. But the ridiculous pustules made the lie a believable one, and Draco did his best to avoid the worst of the ensuing fight. He had to stay alive for Ginny's sake. No one else would save her; Harry was too busy being a hero, no matter what the cost. He knew she had escaped the castle, and he could only hope that she had the good enough sense not to return after Easter hols. He wouldn't be able to do anything to help her if she did.
"You missed an opportune moment," Goyle said once everything settled. He didn't quite look at Draco, preferring to stare at the fireplace in the drawing room. Bellatrix was seething mad, and stomping around in the dining room. Everyone knew better than to approach her; even without a wand, she was dangerous.
"I didn't recognize him," Draco insisted stubbornly. "How could I? Face like that..."
Goyle turned to look at him. "You recognized him," he said quietly. "You did it for her, didn't you? That's a stupid thing. She won't know you did it, and you could've been hurt for it if anyone figured it out."
Draco stared at Goyle. "I don't know what you're talking about..."
"I'm not as thick as you like to think." Goyle turned away to look back at the fireplace. "I know you've been sneaking off to see that girl. Sometimes you have red hairs on your robes when you get back into the common room."
Draco's mouth was dry, and he could taste the ash in the fireplace. "Oh."
"Vince didn't notice it."
"Why didn't you say anything, then?" Draco asked quietly. "If I've been that horrid to you..."
"You weren't. Not all the time, anyway." Goyle turned and smiled at him. "You're miserable enough most of these days. I thought some distraction would be good for you."
"Has it been?"
"I haven't made up my mind yet."
Draco laughed and Goyle smiled at him. "Thank you," Draco murmured.
"Just don't be stupid and get yourselves killed."
"I'm trying," Draco replied ruefully. "So far, so good."
"You're going to have to choose where your alliances lie," Goyle continued in that same soft voice. "You have to stand for something."
"I just want my family safe."
"I know. But you can't play both sides forever."
Draco nodded, not even bothering to deny that impression. He was hedging his bets, even if it kept looking more and more like Harry Potter was going to die. If Voldemort was in charge... Maybe he could ask for Ginny and keep her. He might have to do vile things to prove he was worthy of the Dark Mark on his arm and to prove he deserved a boon like that, but it was possible. Anything was possible, right?
***
Bellatrix seethed. Not only did she not get a chance to finish things off with the Mudblood, but they had Harry Potter and the sword of Gryffindor here and ready for the taking and it went all to hell from there. Lord Voldemort saw her at her worst, and she failed, and there was no way to salvage things at this point.
Even worse, Draco didn't seem to be taking to the life as well as she'd hoped.
She had her little protégé toys to play with, and they showed more zest for the cause than Draco did. Narcissa had likely coddled the boy too much. Lucius certainly hadn't involved him in any of the schemes he'd had. That came in handy when he was caught after the Ministry of Magic debacle, but it left the boy unprepared. And she could only do so much with what little time she had. She had too much to do, too many things to handle.
She caught a flash of Weasley red in her mind and stopped in her relentless pacing. It was late at night and everyone else was asleep. She was the only one still awake, the only one angry enough to still be trying to figure out what went wrong. Bellatrix would never admit it to anyone else, but things had gone horribly, terribly wrong and she didn't know how to fix it.
But a Weasley? Here?
She stalked through the halls of Malfoy Manor, searching for the bit of Weasley red in her mind. It was here somewhere, a blood traitor was in the house somewhere...
Draco's room.
She opened the door as swiftly and silently as she could, determined to save her nephew from danger. He didn't know how to protect himself well enough yet. He was not yet molded into the shape of a proper Death Eater.
He was in bed, asleep. No one else was in the room.
Confused, Bellatrix stalked into the room. Wandless, she couldn't properly search the room. That dreaded Weasley blood traitor had to be about somewhere. She tried to cast a searching spell without her wand, but her magic fizzled out before it reached the walls of the room. There was nothing she could see, nothing she could sense. But she knew that there was a Weasley somehow connected to her nephew, somehow in this room. Bellatrix had to save him from that taint, that evil that came from blood traitors. It only lead to putrefaction of a preserved bloodline, and that couldn't be borne.
Draco made a soft moaning noise in his sleep and twisted beneath his sheets, a hand fisting in the pillow. Concerned, Bellatrix sat on the edge of his bed and touched his cheek gently. She never had children and never would. He was the closest thing she would ever have to a child, Black blood running through his veins. She had to preserve that, had to make sure he did well for himself. If Narcissa and Lucius weren't able to provide for him, she had to.
Here. Weasley red. In his mind, in his dreams.
Bellatrix pulled back as if singed, disbelieving what he had felt. That noise hadn't been a moan of surprise or terror, and the red she had seen in her mind didn't speak of anger or hate or the proper modes of attack against a blood traitor.
No, he was infatuated with the Weasley girl.
He would deny it when awake, she was sure. He wasn't a simpleton. But the girl had curves, and Draco was still a boy. He lusted after the girl, and was confused enough about his duty and his place in their world. He wasn't yet indoctrinated on Voldemort's plans for the future, wasn't yet involved as much as he would be. He hadn't proved himself, and Lucius' mismanagement of the boy was leading him down the wrong path.
"That's all right, Draco," Bellatrix crooned, stroking his face gently. She leaned down and kissed his forehead, brushing his hair back. "I'll take care of you. I'll make everything all right again. It will all work out for the best for you. That's a promise."
Content, Bellatrix let herself out of his room.
***
***
To chapter 10
Author: Eustacia Vye
Author's e-mail: eustacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Rating: R. OMG, I didn't actually write smut...
Pairing: Draco Malfoy/Ginny Weasley, Katie Bell/Marcus Flint.
Disclaimer: The characters here do not originally belong to me, but to JKR, Raincoast, Scholastic and their teams of lawyers. This version of the characters is all mine, though.
Spoilers/Warnings: This takes place during DH (minus the Epilogue of Doom). Also, this fits "undercover: having to participate in illegal / hurtful activity" prompt on my
hc_bingo card.
Summary: Ginny is tired of being pushed into the background as if nothing she endured counted for anything. It turns out, Katie feels the same way. They plan on making a difference in the war, even if no one takes them seriously.
Prior chapters:
One - Shadows On Our Own
Two - Forming Alliances
Three - Knowing The Names of Things
Four - In The Shadow Of Flames
Five - Through Ashes
Six - Broken Images
Seven - Finding an Equilibrium
Eight - Faces In The Firelight
Shelter me from this again
Dedicated to the end
Help me break my conscience in
To free us from our innocence
I am losing you again
Let me out and let me in
'Cause you're not alone here
Not at all
Let me belong here
Break my fall
Breaking Benjamin, "Break My Fall"
The Warringtons held a gala every Easter, inviting all of the Pureblood elite. Of course the Death Eaters would be attending in force, and it was expected that everyone branded with the Mark would arrive for the gala. It was also expected that there would be "entertainment" of some kind afterward, to be provided by the Warringtons and Malfoys to honor the Dark Lord.
So of course, Marcus and Katie had to be there.
Her best dress robes were nowhere near as nice as some of the elite dresses the Pureblood witches were wearing, but Katie at least fit in. Marcus had been fitted for a set of new dress robes, and he had glowered more than usual throughout the entire thing. The glower returned as they got ready for the gala, and only lessened a fraction when they arrived at the Warrington estate. Katie kept her eyes open and her mouth shut, taking in various members of the Ministry that she hadn't expected. That included the director of the Auror program, Chester Woodmere, who was deep in conversation with Gregory Goyle's father. There were so many faces she didn't recognize, and she tried to do her best to at least get a good glimpse of them. She could always pull the memories out later for others to recognize.
Marcus brought Katie over to his friends. Over the past three months, she had met with them and their girlfriends at various dinners or parties. Bletchley's fiancée had been killed on New Year's Eve by Order members during a raid on a Death Eater party. That had explained the steady drinking the day she had met him at Warrington's. Even at this Easter party, Bletchley spent most of his time close to the bar. Montague was with Cassiopeia Greeley, a distant cousin that his mother had recommended due to her bloodline. She wasn't terribly bright, but she was pretty and had pure blood. Pucey often dated Honoria Hackleback, who had been a Ravenclaw in his year at school and now was working at the Ministry's Accidental Magic Reversal Department. Higgs attended the party with Estella Medill, who was an assistant to the Undersecretary of Education. Warrington's mother was using the gala to fish for a future daughter-in-law, and he was more than happy to let her.
Katie was stuck with Cassiopeia, Honoria and Estella for most of the cocktail hour. They did know a lot about the assembled party, so Katie was able to coax stories out of them under the guise of gossip. Honoria was friends with Iris Parkinson, Pansy's cousin. That eventually led to the Parkinson girls, Millicent Bulstrode and the Greengrass sisters to join them. Katie hadn't known any of the girls well at school, as they had been below her and in Slytherin. Admitting that led to more gossip and conversation, though Millicent was the quietest of the new arrivals.
"What are you doing with Marcus?" Iris asked, a sharpness in her tone that Katie didn't like. She had the most vicious things to say about Ministry members not in attendance at the gala, and the long sleeved formal gloves hid any potential Dark Mark on her left arm.
"We're together," Katie replied, eyebrow arched. "Why?"
"It's been that way for months, dear," Honoria told Iris. "But then, you spend time at different parties now, so I'm not surprised you haven't met her."
Iris stared at Katie. "You were in Gryffindor at school. I remember your name on the team roster from back then. My brother used to mumble about you lot."
"I enjoyed Quidditch," Katie replied with a shrug.
"So is that why you're together?" Iris pressed, leaning slightly forward.
"He saved her life," Cassiopeia supplied when Katie wouldn't answer. "Their village burned down, and he saved her life. It sounds terribly romantic."
All eyes were on Katie at the careless comment, and she slowly sipped her champagne despite her tightening throat. Some spy she made; any mention of that fire and she nearly froze. She put down her glass, glad that her hand wasn't shaking. "It wasn't romantic, Cass," Katie murmured.
"How did it happen?" Iris asked, no sympathy or empathy in her tone at all.
Katie was convinced she was a Death Eater. "I don't like talking about this. There are better things for us to talk about. It's a party, after all," she said with a strained smile.
"Well, this is more than simply a social gathering," Iris said, her smile rather like a shark's. Pansy looked vaguely ill and the Greengrass girls were looking away from her. Millicent was quiet, but her hands were clenched tightly in her lap. Whatever was going on, Iris was in tight control of that knot of girls.
Katie glared at Iris. "I watched my mother burn. I don't like talking about this."
"Iris, don't be rude," Honoria murmured, shaking her head at the other woman. "She's with Marcus. He'd never be with one of them. He dotes on her, the lucky girl," Honoria added, shooting Katie a jealous glance. "Adrian couldn't commit to anything more than a few dates at a time, let alone making sure I'm not upset about something."
"What are you-"
Katie was cut off by a shadow approaching her from behind and Honoria's knowing smirk. She looked up and saw Marcus standing there. She smiled at him reassuringly. "Marcus."
"I thought you'd like a drink," he said slowly, though neither he nor Katie ever drank much at any of these parties. "Hello, ladies."
"She's quite all right," Cassiopeia told Marcus, waving him off. "Do tell the boys we'd like to see them sometime, will you?"
"I'll come back for a dance," he told Katie, touching her shoulder gently.
Katie waited until Marcus was out of earshot, trying not to smile much. The other girls simply stared at her for a long moment. "See? Didn't I tell you?" Cassiopeia said, breaking the silence. "He's a romantic." She patted Katie's arm fondly. "It's sweet."
Iris made a moue of disappointment, but Honoria then jumped in to talk about how thoughtless Adrian could be. Daphne Greengrass ventured a few comments about Theodore Nott, and Pansy Parkinson commented on Blaise Zabini.
"I thought you were dating Draco Malfoy?" Katie asked, confused. "The two of you were at the Yule Ball together at school."
Pansy shook her head. "We're just really good friends at this point. Besides, his family is in a tight spot right now. It wouldn't be safe to be that closely associated with him." She looked down at her lap for a moment, then looked up and shrugged. It looked careless, but Katie could see the tension there. "I can do better, I'm sure of it."
"Well, he's seeing someone," Millicent said. "He sneaks off a lot, and he definitely looks like he was getting shagged regularly."
The gossip turned toward the Hogwarts crowd, and Katie pretended to pay attention. Iris still gave her speculative looks, though that didn't bother her nearly as much as the direct questioning after the village fire. She eagerly joined Marcus for a dance, and let him drag her off from the dance floor down a corridor. She didn't care if any of the girls realized it; they vacillated between simpering arm candy or vicious harpy anyway. "Marcus? What is it?"
Warrington smirked at them as he passed. He was on his way back into the ballroom, presumably from visiting the loo. Marcus brought Katie into a small room that might have been for guests to sit and wait apart from the festivities. He locked the door and pressed Katie up against the wall. "I've been waiting to do this a long time," he growled as he pulled up her robes, his voice louder than was strictly necessary.
Eyes wide in alarm, Katie caught hold of his arms. "Marcus?"
There was something in his eyes that cautioned her not to speak. "It's all right. I don't think too many will notice we're gone for a few minutes."
Which of course meant that plenty of people had noticed.
Marcus slid his hands along her thighs, caressing the bare skin between Katie's stocking and garters. "The talk was dull and unbearable." He moved in to kiss her neck, and Katie gasped when his fingers found her center. "Louder," he whispered.
Feeling like a horrible tart, Katie made sure to moan louder. She wondered who he thought was on the other side of the door, but it was probably best she didn't know. Marcus knew how to work her body at this point, so it did feel good. It took her a moment to realize that he was whispering into her ears as she moaned and clutched at him for balance. He was whispering names and dates and places for meetings, everything he had been able to glean from the other members of the party. He was telling her because no one would be able to tell that she knew these things, and she would be able to let the Order know.
So it meant that he was being invited to join in the "festivities" after the main part of the gala was over, and it chilled Katie to the bone.
Marcus moved inside of her after making her come twice. She buried her face in his neck to muffle some of her cries, and he continued to whisper into her ear, his breath hot and warm against her neck. He could be killed for doing this. She could be killed for doing this. She still froze when the fire was mentioned, when she thought of her parents dying in her home village. It wasn't as bad as the first time she had to worm her way into Marcus' social circle, but she wasn't nearly as cool or collected as she should have been. She was getting better at this, but she was still a student playing at being a master.
Katie clung to him even after he had finished, long after the whispers had stopped. "Don't go," she whispered to him. "Come home with me."
His mouth was hot and open over hers when he kissed her, but he still pulled away, his face a carefully blank mask. "I can't."
He led her from the little room, and Katie thought she saw raised eyebrows and smirks from his friends and their girlfriends. Iris detached herself from the Hogwarts girls she was clearly in control of, and Katie knew that she couldn't dodge the woman for long. Marcus directed her to go home in a bland voice. "Don't wait up, Katie," he murmured, brushing a kiss against her forehead. They were outside of the room that held the private apparition point for Warrington's home. Katie could see Iris coming down the hallway out of the corner of her eye and wanted to shout at Marcus that she was a big girl, she could handle herself. It was like being in the training program, with all those eyes on her, waiting for her to trip up and make a mistake. It was just like standing tall even when she wanted to break to pieces along her curse scar lines. It was just like pretending that she was fine even if she wanted to dissolve into a puddle of tears.
But he wouldn't be able to concentrate if she stayed, and she knew that. "Stay safe," she told him, touching his face gently. She smiled at him, as if everything was all right. It was the appearance of the thing, she told herself. They were using each other, and that was all that had happened. It didn't mean anything. None of this meant anything.
Iris was there when Marcus left, her smile dripping venom. "He's so protective of you."
"I didn't think you were the type to want a man hovering over you," Katie told her. She refused to cross her arms over her chest as she was protecting herself. She had her wand in a pocket of her skirt, and she had become proficient at wandless magic in the advanced course. She could handle Iris. It was just words, after all.
Iris circled close, her eyes glittering with malice. She was a protégé of Bellatrix Lestrange, and it showed. There was a casual cruelty to her, and Katie didn't imagine that her cousin Pansy would be exempt from it. "Oh, he's not my taste at all," she purred, her smile looking anything but social. "Why going home so soon? Why is Flint sending you home?"
"I'm tired," Katie said with a negligent shrug. "He's being thoughtful."
Her smile was like a shark's. "Oh? You sound like such a delightful shag..." Iris began, reaching out to touch Katie's bare shoulder.
Katie moved faster than she could think. She had Iris' wrist in her fist and whirled around her, bringing that arm behind the other woman and pushing it as high up as it would go without breaking. She had shoved Iris into the wall, her face pressed into the wood paneling. Katie had her wand in hand, pointing right at her sharp little chin. "You're not my type," Katie said, her voice level even though her heart was pounding.
"Pity," Iris murmured, sounding nonchalant. Katie could see the pulse pounding in her throat, though she couldn't tell if Iris was afraid or aroused. "I can't see anything when I try to look into your mind. Curious. Why is that?"
"It's not polite to peek where you don't belong," Katie replied coolly, pressing the tip of her wand into the hollow of Iris' cheek. "And not polite to listen when people are shagging. Jealousy is such an ugly look for you."
Iris glared at her, but said nothing. The wand pressing into her face and the pain in her arm were warning enough.
Katie let her go and stepped back as Montague came down the hall with Cassiopeia. "I think we're done, aren't we?" she told Iris frostily.
Iris adjusted her gloves, which had been pushed aside when Katie manhandled her. Katie thought she could see the top of the Dark Mark before the glove was pushed back into place. "Yes, I suppose we are." Her voice was just as frosty, and her chin lifted a notch. "I underestimated you. It won't happen again."
"Marcus and I are together for a reason," Katie replied. She smiled at Iris, mirroring the sharklike smile she had received not long before. "Remember that."
Montague sighed as Iris retreated back toward the ballroom. "And here, I thought I would be able to play the noble gallant." He patted Cassiopeia's arm. "Well, I'm still able to squire you safely home, Cass."
"No one believed me when I said it was a love match," Cassiopeia replied with a shrug. "Well, it's good that someone can do that in these times."
Montague sighed. "Cass..."
She turned to him and placed a finger over his lips to silence him. "We're friends, always have been. There are worse things that could have happened to either of us."
He nodded and kissed her forehead gently. "Safe trip home, Cass. I'll see you tomorrow."
Katie felt strange watching this interchange, but would have felt more conspicuous if she had simply left. Cassiopeia smiled at Katie and approached. When she took Katie's arm in a friendly way, steering her toward the apparition point, Katie didn't balk. Cassiopeia didn't have the same menacing air that Iris had. "Not all of us can be as lucky as you," Cassiopeia murmured softly when they reached the apparition point. "But it's not a terrible thing for us. Don't worry about me on that front."
"But, I didn't-"
"Of course you didn't say anything," Cassiopeia interrupted with a laugh. "But you were going to, I could tell. You haven't spent much time with us before now, so you don't really know how it works. But everyone knows everything about everybody in these parties. We all know how it goes. You're lucky. There are no expectations for you, no one telling you who or what to be all the time. Take that and run. Do what makes you happy. There's so few of us that can."
Disturbed, Katie only nodded and made her farewells before apparating home. She had messages to send and much to think about.
***
When the raids that Draco was supposed to be a part of over Easter hols were interrupted by Order members, he automatically assumed it was Ginny's doing. He didn't know how she did it, but he was convinced she was the one that letting them know. There was a connection between them, no matter how much he wanted to deny that it was there, and somehow she knew where he was going to be.
Yet he didn't know where she was, and that was making him utterly miserable.
He looked over at Crabbe and Goyle. Crabbe was starting to get something of a vicious streak in him now that he was ignoring Draco. Goyle was still more silent between the two of them, still more likely to watch and observe rather than make remarks. He still chafed when Draco ordered him about like a lackey, but it was different than the way Crabbe spoke to him. Neither were willing to simply look like foolish bodyguards any longer, but Draco wasn't really sure of how else to relate to them at this point. He had always imposed his ideas on them, and expected them to agree. That was all he knew of friendship, really.
"What?" Crabbe asked irritably.
"How did they know we were going to be there?" Draco asked, concerned. "Any one of us could have been caught or died tonight."
Crabbe scoffed. "Not me. I won't go out like that. I'll burn the lot of them."
"Don't joke, Vince," Goyle admonished, shaking his head.
"You'd more likely burn the lot of us trying to get away from them," Draco said.
Crabbe's jaw tightened. "I've gotten better control of it now. I know what I'm doing."
Draco turned away from him. That would just end badly, no matter what happened. "They can't be that good at tracking us. We didn't even know until yesterday where we were going." He thought of the prisoners in his basement with a sick feeling in his stomach. He did what he could for them, but he wasn't willing to risk his neck for them.
He wasn't even sure what he would be willing to do if Ginny was down there.
There was a commotion outside, and Draco got up. It sounded as though there were going to be more prisoners at Malfoy Manor. He would be expected to participate in torture soon enough, and he couldn't hide behind the fact that he was a student forever.
Narcissa looked at Draco. "There are Snatchers in the drawing room," she told him, her voice quiet and strained. "They say they have Harry Potter."
If anything, Draco felt even worse. Everyone knew how much he had hated Harry in school. They would expect him to do something. They would expect him to torture Harry, and the fight had gone out of him. It wasn't even because of Ginny, though Merlin knew he hated the fact that Harry dated her first. Draco had no taste for torture, and it was only the veiled threat overhanging him and his parents that even made him go through the motions.
It was almost with relief that Draco lied. Of course it was Harry with the Weasley boy and the Mudblood girl. Of course. But the ridiculous pustules made the lie a believable one, and Draco did his best to avoid the worst of the ensuing fight. He had to stay alive for Ginny's sake. No one else would save her; Harry was too busy being a hero, no matter what the cost. He knew she had escaped the castle, and he could only hope that she had the good enough sense not to return after Easter hols. He wouldn't be able to do anything to help her if she did.
"You missed an opportune moment," Goyle said once everything settled. He didn't quite look at Draco, preferring to stare at the fireplace in the drawing room. Bellatrix was seething mad, and stomping around in the dining room. Everyone knew better than to approach her; even without a wand, she was dangerous.
"I didn't recognize him," Draco insisted stubbornly. "How could I? Face like that..."
Goyle turned to look at him. "You recognized him," he said quietly. "You did it for her, didn't you? That's a stupid thing. She won't know you did it, and you could've been hurt for it if anyone figured it out."
Draco stared at Goyle. "I don't know what you're talking about..."
"I'm not as thick as you like to think." Goyle turned away to look back at the fireplace. "I know you've been sneaking off to see that girl. Sometimes you have red hairs on your robes when you get back into the common room."
Draco's mouth was dry, and he could taste the ash in the fireplace. "Oh."
"Vince didn't notice it."
"Why didn't you say anything, then?" Draco asked quietly. "If I've been that horrid to you..."
"You weren't. Not all the time, anyway." Goyle turned and smiled at him. "You're miserable enough most of these days. I thought some distraction would be good for you."
"Has it been?"
"I haven't made up my mind yet."
Draco laughed and Goyle smiled at him. "Thank you," Draco murmured.
"Just don't be stupid and get yourselves killed."
"I'm trying," Draco replied ruefully. "So far, so good."
"You're going to have to choose where your alliances lie," Goyle continued in that same soft voice. "You have to stand for something."
"I just want my family safe."
"I know. But you can't play both sides forever."
Draco nodded, not even bothering to deny that impression. He was hedging his bets, even if it kept looking more and more like Harry Potter was going to die. If Voldemort was in charge... Maybe he could ask for Ginny and keep her. He might have to do vile things to prove he was worthy of the Dark Mark on his arm and to prove he deserved a boon like that, but it was possible. Anything was possible, right?
***
Bellatrix seethed. Not only did she not get a chance to finish things off with the Mudblood, but they had Harry Potter and the sword of Gryffindor here and ready for the taking and it went all to hell from there. Lord Voldemort saw her at her worst, and she failed, and there was no way to salvage things at this point.
Even worse, Draco didn't seem to be taking to the life as well as she'd hoped.
She had her little protégé toys to play with, and they showed more zest for the cause than Draco did. Narcissa had likely coddled the boy too much. Lucius certainly hadn't involved him in any of the schemes he'd had. That came in handy when he was caught after the Ministry of Magic debacle, but it left the boy unprepared. And she could only do so much with what little time she had. She had too much to do, too many things to handle.
She caught a flash of Weasley red in her mind and stopped in her relentless pacing. It was late at night and everyone else was asleep. She was the only one still awake, the only one angry enough to still be trying to figure out what went wrong. Bellatrix would never admit it to anyone else, but things had gone horribly, terribly wrong and she didn't know how to fix it.
But a Weasley? Here?
She stalked through the halls of Malfoy Manor, searching for the bit of Weasley red in her mind. It was here somewhere, a blood traitor was in the house somewhere...
Draco's room.
She opened the door as swiftly and silently as she could, determined to save her nephew from danger. He didn't know how to protect himself well enough yet. He was not yet molded into the shape of a proper Death Eater.
He was in bed, asleep. No one else was in the room.
Confused, Bellatrix stalked into the room. Wandless, she couldn't properly search the room. That dreaded Weasley blood traitor had to be about somewhere. She tried to cast a searching spell without her wand, but her magic fizzled out before it reached the walls of the room. There was nothing she could see, nothing she could sense. But she knew that there was a Weasley somehow connected to her nephew, somehow in this room. Bellatrix had to save him from that taint, that evil that came from blood traitors. It only lead to putrefaction of a preserved bloodline, and that couldn't be borne.
Draco made a soft moaning noise in his sleep and twisted beneath his sheets, a hand fisting in the pillow. Concerned, Bellatrix sat on the edge of his bed and touched his cheek gently. She never had children and never would. He was the closest thing she would ever have to a child, Black blood running through his veins. She had to preserve that, had to make sure he did well for himself. If Narcissa and Lucius weren't able to provide for him, she had to.
Here. Weasley red. In his mind, in his dreams.
Bellatrix pulled back as if singed, disbelieving what he had felt. That noise hadn't been a moan of surprise or terror, and the red she had seen in her mind didn't speak of anger or hate or the proper modes of attack against a blood traitor.
No, he was infatuated with the Weasley girl.
He would deny it when awake, she was sure. He wasn't a simpleton. But the girl had curves, and Draco was still a boy. He lusted after the girl, and was confused enough about his duty and his place in their world. He wasn't yet indoctrinated on Voldemort's plans for the future, wasn't yet involved as much as he would be. He hadn't proved himself, and Lucius' mismanagement of the boy was leading him down the wrong path.
"That's all right, Draco," Bellatrix crooned, stroking his face gently. She leaned down and kissed his forehead, brushing his hair back. "I'll take care of you. I'll make everything all right again. It will all work out for the best for you. That's a promise."
Content, Bellatrix let herself out of his room.
***
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To chapter 10