Title: Pride's First Fall
Author:
iulia_linnea
Pairing: Severus/Bellatrix, implied Severus/Narcissa
Rating: NC-17
Warnings (highlight to view): For adult/teen chan and implied teen/teen chan.
Word Count: 2860
Summary: At fifteen, Severus knows something about Dark Magic, but he would prefer to know a certain dark-haired witch.
Disclaimer: This piece is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling; various publishers, including, but not limited to: Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books, Raincoast Books; and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's Note: Written for
mieronna as part of
hp_loveletters’
Valentine's Day fic and art exchange. Thank you,
calmingshoggoth,
eaivalefay, and
hawkeyecat, for beta'ing.
Severus found her in the Blacks' back garden, an
over-grown, moss-covered expanse of
earth that held an ancient air, though imparted nothing of her
family's nobility. She was weeping, but he
could barely hear her for all the chatter of the company filtering
through the open windows above them. He was
uncertain if he should approach her, for he knew that she was promised
to another-one who would
not approve of his attentions to his intended.
But she's crying, and she's a
girl. I can't just leave her like this, the
fifteen-year-old
thought, smoothing down his formal robes nervously.
"No one comes out here," Bellatrix accused
more than said then, turning to stare at him.
"You did."
"So did you. Why?"
Severus looked at Bellatrix, wondering at how her hair was so
dark that it disappeared in the
blackness of the night, and then shook his head at how stupidly
sentimental he was being. She's
not for you. Don't even dream.
"I asked you a question, Snape. Why'd you
come out here?"
Severus drew himself up in an approximation of his
father's arrogant stance and said archly,
"The celebration wearies me," as if he had been to
many such gatherings.
"Does it?" Bellatrix asked, as if she
genuinely cared about his answer but knew that
she should not. "Those are important people in
there."
"Not so important that you stayed," he
replied, taking a few studiously casual steps closer to
the fountain by which Bellatrix sat.
"The Lestranges have money."
"So they do. The Blacks-"
"Have more," Bellatrix interrupted, her
voice strangling in her throat. "That isn't
why."
"Why then?" Severus asked, bravely sitting
down on the stone edge of the fountain next to
her. "Why'd they . . . promise you to
him?"
"No chance of babies that would breathe fire, I
expect."
"Ah."
"There hasn't been a Black-Lestrange union
in over three generations."
"I knew what you meant," Severus said,
testily. "And it's a myth, anyway."
"What is?"
"Babies that breathe fire. You'd more
likely have a Squib child, inter-marrying too closely."
Bellatrix gave a bark of laughter and scrubbed at her eyes.
"You think you know everything,
don't you, Snape?"
"I know that you were crying," he
asserted, feeling a bit more at ease because she had not
told him to go away.
Pretty girls usually did.
"Tell anyone that, and
I'll-"
"Tell me why you were crying, and I won't
say a word."
Bellatrix stared hard at him, for a moment, considering.
"Fine. I'd rather tell Andromeda,
but she's . . . . Oh, fine. I think that Margaret French is
trying to steal my magic."
Severus,
who had felt all of his awkwardness return at the mention of
Bellatrix's blood-traitor of a sister, could barely conceal
his
surprise at the revelation that Bellatrix thought that
French could steal anything so strong as a Black's magic.
"That's
ridiculous. She's a Hufflepuff!"
"She wants Rodolphus for herself. She's
been telling me all term she'd make me worse than
a Squib if I accepted him."
"And you listened to her? Really,
Bella-"
"Don't you call me that!"
"I apologize," Severus said quickly,
knowing that he had been far too familiar. But the girl's
eyes-they seemed to absorb all the ambient light and shine
with such a compelling glow that he
could barely help but think of her as beautiful. Stop it.
Stop it, you git! She's not yours.
"What do you know about that sort of thing,
magic-stealing?" Bellatrix pressed. "I know
you're always at your books. I know Lucius thinks you know
things. Is it true?"
Lucius thinks I know things? Severus
thought, inordinately pleased. "Yes," he affirmed
proudly. "I know lots of things. I even know how to keep
French from stealing your magic."
This was not strictly true, but Severus knew that the
magic-stealing business was as much of
a myth as fire-breathing babies.
And if I "help"
her, perhaps she'll let me steal a kiss as payment.
His cock twitched in approval at the idea.
"How then? What would I have to do? Is blood
involved?" Bellatrix demanded, her eyes
glittering almost feverishly at the thought.
Severus took it for fear.
"Well, no. But we'll need salt."
"Salt?"
"To set a circle. Is there somewhere . . . more
private we could go?"
Bellatrix raised a suspicious eyebrow as Severus held his
breath, but then jerked a nod at
him and rose. "Follow me."
Exhaling, Severus did so, watching in admiration as Bellatrix
raised one hand to lazily catch
the jar of salt that was levitating from a lower window toward her. She
can do wordless magic, too!
He doubted very much that her younger sister, who was inside even now
being fawned over by
Lucius, could do that. I don't know what Lucius
sees in that pale thing.
Bellatrix led him to a shed by the fence at the back of the
property, which was situated under
the drooping branches of a tree as if to hide it.
"This is our playhouse," she explained,
leading Severus into the dark little room and then
spelling the door locked. "Lumos!"
she cast, before setting her wand to hover above them like a tiny
torch. "Well? What do we do?"
Severus looked about himself and saw three rickety wooden
chairs, a stained wooden table,
and a musty smelling armchair which was missing most of its padding.
There was a disturbing scent
of old copper in the air, old copper and dust and something sickly
sweet that he could not identify.
"What kinds of games do you get up to in here,
anyway?"
"Snape," Bellatrix huffed, "do
you know how to help me or not?"
Perhaps I don't want to know, at that.
"Of course I do. Give me the salt and scourgify that
table," he ordered, trying to recapture his air of authority.
Bellatrix obeyed him, and he could not have been more pleased.
"Now, take the salt and form a ring of it on the
table, being careful not to break it-and do it
clockwise!"
"I'm not such a fool that I
don't know not to do it widdershins," Bellatrix
snapped,
surreptitiously altering the direction of her pouring as she followed
Severus' instructions. "There.
Now what?"
"Now we sit," Severus told her,
desperately trying to think of how to proceed. "Clear your
mind." A poem? No. A riddle?
No! She wants protection. To do that
I've got to- "Black, tell
me exactly what French said to you. Has she touched you? Has she taken
anything of yours?"
"Of course she hasn't!"
"I had to ask. The spell demands specificity. Have
you," he said, pausing to remember the
exact line in Darke Artes for the Ages,
"'felt the tug of darke magicks coursing through
your
veynes'?"
"No. French just threatened me, Snape. If
she'd touched me,
I'd've-"
"Right then. Now we join hands," he
interrupted, shucking off his robes and laying them on
the back of his chair before reaching over the salt circle to
Bellatrix. "Well? Don't tell me you're
afraid," he mocked.
Bellatrix removed her robes, as well, and then held out her
hands to grasp Severus'. "What's next?"
So warm, he thought, abruptly sitting down.
"Charging the circle. You know how to do that,
don't you?"
"You sound like you've a frog in your
throat," Bellatrix chided, looking doubtful. "Fine
then. I don't know. How do I charge the circle?"
"R-rub my hands," Severus said,
nervously.
It was probably all he was going to get, and he wanted to make
the most of touching her.
Bellatrix glared at him, but she did as she was told.
"Like that?"
For a moment, Severus was unable to answer her.
"Y-yes. Good."
"Charged enough, yet?" Bellatrix asked a
moment later, clearly smirking at Severus in the
gloom.
"Are you? I mean, do you feel . . .
charged?"
"I feel ridiculous," she replied, making
to pull her hands out of his.
"No!" Severus yelled, startling Bellatrix.
She froze. "What? What did I-"
"Black, don't be an idiot! You
can't just break a charging circle of power,"
Severus told her,
his face purposefully full of shock at the witch's supposed
ignorance. "Do you want to flood the
room with undirected magical energy?"
"How was I supposed to know? I don't even
know what we're doing."
"Keep rubbing-and close your
eyes-and tell me what, exactly, it is you want to do
here."
"I don't want French to
steal-"
"No. Tell me what you want,"
Severus hissed, enjoying the feeling of power tricking
Bellatrix was giving him.
"I want to protect my magic," she replied,
her lower lip trembling.
It made Severus feel slightly dizzy to see it.
"I-I'd say the circle is charged
now."
"So what do we do?"
"I'm going to tell you a spell.
It's simple. You'll repeat it after I've
said it, and then . . . and
then I'll give you further instruction as to how to break the
circle safely."
"All right."
His trousers uncomfortably tight, Severus pulled from memory a
nursery charm he had once
read in a book of magical myths. "Craft the spell in the
fire. Craft it well, weave it higher. Weave it
now of shining flame: None shall come to harm or maim. None shall pass
this fiery wall. None shall
pass, no none at all."
"That's long," Bellatrix
protested.
Severus groaned. "You're wasting the
circle, Black. Perhaps we should just forget-"
"No! All right. I'll do it, but . . .
."
"But?"
"Would you repeat it again?"
"Oh, very well," Severus said, acquiescing.
Bellatrix repeated the charm, waited a bit, and then asked,
"What next? And there isn't any
fire, so-"
"Do I have to tell you everything?"
Severus asked in feigned irritation. "You're
supposed to
envision a protective flame around yourself-your aura, you
know-and then incorporate the spell
into your metaphysical being. Can you do that, Bellatrix?" he
demanded, hoping she would not
comment on his use of her given name.
He liked the way it sounded rolling off of his tongue.
"I don't think you're a very
good teacher."
"Of course you don't. You can't
even do a simple protection charm on your own."
"Bastard," Bellatrix muttered, pressing
hard Severus' fingers. "Craft the spell in the
fire,"
she began, squeezing her eyes even more tightly closed until she had
completed the chant.
Severus called upon his own wordless magic to send a chill
washing over the witch. She's
got to think it's working, after all. He was
pleased to see her shiver.
"I . . . I think it worked. I can see the wall.
I'm inside of the wall!"
"That's good, very good. Now
we've just to break the circle, and you'll have a
spell to call
upon when you feel threatened. It will keep working if you recharge it
every month."
"How?"
"You just have to chant the charm to yourself. Can
you remember it?"
"Of course I can remember it, Snape. Can we get on
with it? My arms are tired."
"This part is tricky," he said, his voice
uncertain. She won't do it. I know she
won't do it.
"How tricky?"
"Open your eyes."
Bellatrix did so, and Severus' breath caught in his
throat. He wanted to get things over with
too, so that he could take himself off and deal with the annoying
problem touching Bellatrix had
caused him.
"We used metaphysical fire to set the spell, so we
have to invoke . . . something wet to close
it."
Bellatrix smirked. "There's no water
here."
"I . . . I know."
"My tongue's . . . wet," she
told him, leaning forward. "Should we kiss?"
"That's . . . that's the way I
always break my circles of power," he managed to choke out.
"Don't you dare close your
eyes," Bellatrix told Severus, leaning closer still, causing
them
both to raise their arms, until she had pressed her mouth against his
and was pushing her tongue
between his lips.
Oh . . . .
Kissing Bellatrix was as good as he had imagined it would be,
but it caused too intense a
sensation to do so while gazing into her eyes, and his
prick's relentless throbbing made him lose his
balance then. He let go of her hands, dropping his own to the table for
purchase, and broke the salt
circle.
Suddenly, the silken heat of Bellatrix's tongue was
gone.
"Took you long enough," she said, her
expression amused and haughty, as she wiped her
mouth.
"For what? To break the circle?"
"No, you git. To kiss me."
"But, I thought-"
"Oh, I know exactly what you were thinking, you
under-sexed pillock. That's why I brought
you here."
Severus felt like a fool. It was all for larks. She
was just-
"Don't look so crestfallen. You got your
kiss."
Severus grabbed his robes and turned to the door, saying,
"Bitch," while a hundred dark
curses ran through his mind.
"Don't go," Bellatrix ordered.
It was hardly necessary, for she had warded the door. When
Severus went to turn the knob, it
did not move.
"Let me out!"
"I'm not done with you, you
prat."
"You've had your fun. Now let me
out!"
"No. I said that I wasn't done with you.
Turn around, Severus."
Stunned by Bellatrix's use of his first name,
begrudgingly, he did so.
"You do know about dark magic. I know you do, and I
do want your help."
"With what?" he asked, his curiosity
getting the better of himself.
"You know about binding magics, do you? The kind
they use at weddings?"
Severus thought quickly. Even now, Narcissa Black's
engagement to Lucius Malfoy was
being celebrated inside the house, and his year mate had not looked
particularly happy about it.
"Yes. I know all about that sort of thing.
Why?"
"I don't want my little sister being
enthralled by some parvenu. I can't think what my
parents mean by engaging her to Malfoy, but if I can protect Narcissa,
I will."
"Binding magics are powerful," Severus
said, forgetting his embarrassment as the new
problem began to unfold in his mind. "Once bound,
there's nothing-"
"Exactly. 'Once bound', but I
want you to do something to prevent Narcissa's binding. Can
you do that? For me?" Bellatrix asked, batting her eyelashes
sarcastically at Severus.
"Stop that."
"Oh, fine. Don't be tiresome, Snape. Can
you help me, or can't you?"
"After that stunt you just pulled, you've
got some nerve even asking!"
"Is Sevvie angwy? Aww."
"Shut up!"
Bellatrix moved around the table to stand between Severus and
the door, pressing herself
against him. His breath caught, again.
"You're nothing but a tease. I
won't-"
"I'm not always a tease, you
know," Bellatrix said, before kissing him again.
Severus' cock, which clearly knew nothing of pride,
was as hard as it had ever been as
Bellatrix rubbed it with one thigh.
"I'll do anything you like, Snape,
anything at all-if you'll help my sister."
"B-before," he insisted.
"Before, or I'm not doing anything for
you."
"As you wish," the witch said, licking
Severus' lips before sinking to the floor in front of
him and ripping the buttons of his trousers off so that she could free
his weeping prick. "Will this
do?" she asked, taking the swollen flesh into her mouth.
"Yes!" he yelled, walking backwards in
astonishment and reaching out behind himself to grasp
the lip of the table for support.
Bellatrix laughed, and the vibration of the hot channel of her
mouth as it rubbed and sucked
his prick drove all thought from Severus' mind. Up, down, in,
out-the friction of her bobbing head,
of her vise-like mouth, was amazing, and it did not take long for the
wizard-who was stuttering out
a string of nonsensical words-to come.
Afterwards, Bellatrix, breathing deeply, surprised Severus by
tucking up his quiescent cock
back into his small clothes. She even charmed his buttons back onto his
trousers and did them up.
"Will you help me?"
Severus looked at Bellatrix's disheveled clothing
and disordered hair and thought, Not so
beautiful after all. "A deal's a
deal," he said, his mouth dry. "But the kind of
help I'm to provide
Narcissa comes with . . . a cost."
Bellatrix laughed. "No doubt the coin is
blood-virgin blood?"
Severus thought then of Narcissa's flawless skin, of
her pure blue eyes, of the way those eyes
had widened in confusion when the announcement had been made. So
innocent, so frightened, so
naïve-that one would never try to trick me.
She wouldn't see that I was invited to a party and
then ignore me, either, he thought, thinking of Lucius, who
had not even bothered to tell him that
he was becoming engaged.
"Well?" Bellatrix pressed.
"No doubt," he replied, offering Bellatrix
his arm. "Is that a problem?"
"Only if Lucius finds out."
A knock at the shed's door startled both of them.
"Bella? Are you in there?" a tentative
voice called.
"Presumptuous, aren't you?"
"Don't be angry," Bellatrix told
him. "I just wanted to be sure that you were a
gentleman,"
she continued, gesturing for the door to open after casting a grooming
charm on them both.
"I am that," he said, turning to look at
how sweet Narcissa Black appeared when silhouetted
by moonlight. "Good evening, Miss Black."
"Se-I mean-Mr. Snape,"
the girl said, walking into the gloom. "Bella says that you
can
help me . . . ."