ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT

Chapter Eight- A Lovely Light

“Don’t look in its eyes.”

“What are you on about, Weasley?”

“Just don’t look in its eyes, Zabini. Trust me.”

“Why in Grindelwald’s name should I trust you?”

Draco rolled his eyes. “You two are on the same side now, if you’d stop bickering for long enough to remember it.”

Blaise rocked back on his heels and looked challengingly at the two of them. “That brings up another interesting point. Since when have you been with us, little Gryffindor girl? Why, just last month you were in Potter’s inner circle, sister of his best friend and all. Your family’s the biggest disgrace the pureblood world’s ever seen. Why the sudden change of heart?” His eyes locked with hers, and though a clear mixture of suspicion and contempt was plain on his narrow features, simple curiosity was not lacking.

Ginny flushed at the slur on her family and the implication of her betrayal, but tilted her chin up defiantly. “Who are you to judge me, Zabini? What I do is my business, not yours, no matter whose side I’m on.” Draco winced slightly, recalling the livid red brand on the other boy’s arm, an unmistakable mark of power. If Ginny only knew about it... well, considering it was Ginny, she might not act any different at all.

Blaise smiled blandly. “But it is, apparently, Malfoy’s business, isn’t it?” All the furious blush in the girl’s face drained away so fast that she suddenly resembled a ghost. First Tally, now Blaise. How obvious had they been?

“I haven’t the least idea what you’re talking about,” she said haughtily, turning her back on him. She crouched low again over the lugubrious toad. Blaise cocked an incredulous eyebrow at Draco, who looked back at him blankly, unwilling to either admit or deny anything. The dark-skinned boy sighed.

“Whatever you say, Freckles. Sell us out and I’ll kill you myself.”

“I don’t doubt it. Now shut up.” Ginny was inwardly furious to a degree that even she found frightening. How dare Zabini try to humiliate her out of this? She had agreed to do it, no, she had decided to do it. This was what I wanted, she berated herself mentally. No pathetic smirking Slytherin is going to scare me away. “And I’m warning you, look at its eyes, and they’re the last thing you’ll ever see.”

“Your information is slightly incorrect,” said Bellatrix. All three jumped at the sound of her voice coming from the overstuffed love seat; not even Blaise had noticed her stealthy return. “The gaze of a new hatched basilisk will merely numb or freeze the recipient, and only for a short time. Still, her advice is sound, Zabini, unless you’d like to miss out on our first mission together.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for all the gold in Gringotts,” and for once there was no wryness in his voice at all. A small smile, a mere flicker of the lips, stole across her face.

“I think it’s hatching,” whispered Ginny, so quietly that the words were almost lost. Her eyes were utterly riveted on the egg as it rocked slightly under the dead weight of the still-warm toad carcass. Absorbed in their quarreling, all three of them had missed the telltale demise of the sluggish animal. Now they gathered close around the gently quivering egg. Bent together in a circle, each was equally intent on the unborn monster, hypnotized by the small movements they could see it making against the soft and nearly translucent sheath which was all that remained of the shell.

Bella smiled to see their heads bowed together, coal black, flame red, and ash blond almost mingling. It was a Trio more than powerful enough to rival the precious three working for that foolish and senile old meddler, Dumbledore. No one would ever know the trouble she had gone through to bring these brats together and make something great of them. Nevertheless, she was certain that they would do her and her Master proud yet. Even the little Malfoy bastard. There was time yet to rectify the damage done to his loyalty by the arrogance and stupidity of his parents. She had known her sister was weak, but to ignore a potential recruit and take the boy’s devotion to the cause for granted was nothing sort of negligent. It had been very satisfying to kill the silly bint for letting the Dark Lord’s plan to free Lucius fail. Not that Bella had regretted the loss of her brother-in-law in the slightest. After all, had Narcissa or Lucius done anything to assist the Dark Lord in the days after his fall? No. They had hid and lied, betraying everything they held dear. Strategic duplicity was all very well, but only when it served a purpose in the Dark Lord’s plans; the actions of the Malfoys were pure and simple cowardice. No wonder their spawn was so flawed and weak. Still, there was potential beneath the boy’s conceited surface and she would be the one to bring it out.

Besides, her sister’s death had clearly put into motion the events that brought the little Weasley fully back into her Master’s power, and nothing was as sweet as that triumph, not even the masterpiece that was Blaise Zabini. A fine servant of the Dark Lord that boy would be, a master spy and a brilliant fighter. Bella knew she would see him rise swiftly through the ranks, bloated as they were by incompetents and fools. But he simply didn’t have the power and influence that Miss Weasley was going to hold. She shivered in pleasant anticipation. Yes, these three would go far together. An unbreakable trio, that’s what she would forge them into.

Bellatrix could hardly wait to begin.

“Merlin, it’s beautiful,” Ginny breathed. Mesmerized by the half-seen undulations of the slim and poison-green reptile, she forgot her own warning and stared openly. It slipped fluidly out from under the dead toad, shedding the wet and clinging remains of its shell and writhing in a damp circle around the warm fleshy carcass. Without hesitation, it slid its tiny fangs into the body with liquid grace. Before she could see more, Ginny felt a hand slip over her eyes and she caught her breath in surprise.

“Don’t watch, Miss Weasley,” whispered Draco from behind her. “It might be the last thing you do.”

Its eyes were still shut, she wanted to protest, but his hand was still pressed against her face and the warmth of it distracted her. A muted gasp escaped her as he pulled her closer to him.

“Well, pardon me for crashing the party, you two mad lovebirds, but could we possibly get down to business?” Blaise’s mocking voice penetrated Ginny’s dazed mind and she broke away from Draco with stunning alacrity, conscious of the blush rising on her cheeks as she saw Blaise and Bellatrix both eyeing them with distaste.

“I’ll thank you to keep your minds on the task at hand, Draco, Ginny,” said the Death Eater calmly. “First of all, as none of us is a Parselmouth, the basilisk must be transported to the Dark Lord as quickly as possible. Blaise, I believe I can entrust you with that task?”

“With pleasure, my lady,” said Blaise, sweeping a sardonic half-bow in Bellatrix’s direction. Draco and Ginny looked at her for a moment, expecting her to reprimand the Slytherin’s teasing actions. But the anticipated rebuke never came. The Slytherin boy gingerly scooped up the fledgling monster, careful to keep his bare skin well away from the keen and venomous fangs. Pointedly looking away from the writhing reptile cradled in his hand, Blaise walked into the corridor and shut the door firmly behind him. Draco and Ginny shared a brief look of bemusement before Bella recalled them sharply to the present.

“Tonight there is no time for your ridiculous antics and conceited foolishness. Rash actions are not going to be tolerated. If you truly want to be one of us, you must prove to me that you are capable of handling the pressure of a mission with grace and poise. You must be able to follow directions. Most of all, children, and I can’t believe I’m actually forced to say this, you must be capable of keeping your hands to yourself. There are spells which could easily eradicate this immature romantic nonsense between the two of you. Do not force me to use them.”

She took her wand from a concealed pocket within her tattered robes and waved it lazily at the bare stone wall to their right. A large image of Wales painted itself there within a few seconds, the waves of the Irish Sea slapping disconcertingly on the distant shoreline. Ginny thought she could smell fish. Leaning in closely, Bellatrix tapped her wand twice on the upper left corner of the image and the view dove in sickeningly close, as though they were soaring over the island. Out of the corner of her eye, Ginny saw Draco clap a hand to his mouth. He looked a sickly shade of green. Feeling like she was peering out of a window in the sky, the red-haired girl squinted at what looked like a cluster of houses, perhaps even a small village.

“Llanfairpwllgwyngyll,” said Bellatrix as the view continued to swoop downward like a drunken Leprechaun.

“Bless you,” said Draco, swallowing in a distinctly queasy manner.

“It is the name of the village, you insolent brat.”

“Well, obviously,” he retorted snarkily.

“Oh, pull yourself together, Draco,” snapped Ginny.

“Trouble in paradise?” inquired Blaise sweetly as he slipped back into the room.

“If any of you were to be remotely intrigued by the matter,” drawled Bellatrix in a distinctly bored tone of voice, “this village is the location of our mission tonight.”

A palpable and markedly uncomfortable silence filled the dusty room.

“Ah, so you really do care. How sweet of you. Now that I have your undivided attention, be so kind as to listen.”

The traveling window came to a sudden halt above one of the more secluded houses. It was large, but highly dilapidated. One could guess that the neat, well-ordered village and the people who dwelt therein were only too happy that the ramshackle house was so isolated. It breathed chaos and good-natured anarchy, and it reminded Ginny strongly of the Burrow.

“The Vances,” said Bellatrix, gazing at the crystal-clear image hungrily. “A family of the most notorious rebels in the country. We have it from our sources that they have hidden in this house a... an object,” she finished smoothly. If she hadn’t been listening for it, Ginny would never have noticed the slight pause as Bellatrix changed what had been about to say. A quick glance at Draco proved that he hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. Ginny was surprised. Merlin, was he actually as dim as Bella and Blaise seemed to think he was?

She had underestimated him. Despite his unchanging face, Draco was listening intently to his aunt’s words, and his mind was racing. A what, damn it! What were they after? He tried to think and let Bella’s voice wash over him like a boring professor’s, but her words seemed to slice their way into his brain like a Melt Charm through butter.

“After we have incapacitated the rebels, Blaise and I will locate the object while you two secure an escape route. Is that all perfectly clear? Any questions at all?” she inquired sharply, waving her wand and Banishing the image of the house from the stone wall.

“When are we leaving?” asked Ginny swiftly, not wanting to seem scared of the upcoming mission.

“My, aren’t we eager all the sudden. Two hours before sundown. The rebels have watchers on the Floo network, and as none of you except Blaise can Apparate....”

“We’re not going to walk, are we?” blurted Draco in horror. “It’s more than a hundred miles to Wales....!”

“Yes, Draco, she’s going to make us walk a hundred miles to get to a mission we have to carry out tonight. What a brilliant conclusion, Professor Malfoy,” said Blaise with a look of contrived awe and wonder on his face.

“We can’t risk anyone being able to track us through Prior Incantato or through any of our spells. We’ll be flying, and I sincerely hope all of you are up for it. Draco, kindly supply Miss Weasley with a broom before we depart.” Bellatrix’s tone didn’t allow for argument.

“Certainly,” muttered Draco. “Your wish is my command.”

ooooooooooo

“Um, which one are you using?” Ginny could feeling Draco’s eyes boring into her back and it was making her nervous. The musty broom shed was dark, save for a slice of cold winter sunlight slipping in through the slightly open door. She froze as she felt his fingers lightly brush her neck and gather up the strands of her hair that had escaped the pony tail she had thoughtlessly pulled it into.

“Can’t you think of anything better to talk about?” he asked softly, amused.

Trying desperately to ignore the sudden pounding of blood in her body and her quickened breath, she stepped away from him, farther into the shed. Even with their contact broken, she could feel him stiffen with anger... hurt?

“What’s your problem?” he demanded. “What the blazes has gotten into you?”

“Maybe you didn’t hear me properly last night,” she said, attempting to control the tremble she could feel trying to worm its way into her throat. “I’m through with you. You’ve been playing with me from the beginning, and I don’t know why I ever thought there was anything else.” There. She’d said it.

“Maybe,” he drawled slowly, anger withdrawn to somewhere just below the surface, “you didn’t heard what I said. What’s to make you think I’m done with you?”

“Bastard!” she breathed, and spun away from him again. But he was standing in front of the door and there was nowhere to go but farther into the darkness of the broomshed.

“You seemed warm enough... afterwards,” said Draco in a reasonable tone of voice. “What’s changed since then?”

“I forgot,” The venom and anger in her voice were mixed inextricably with self-loathing.

“Forgot what, you crazy harpy?” A long pause followed his irate words. And then Ginny turned slowly around, the dying light catching in her eyes and making them glint with mad fury... or was it tears?

“ ‘Oh, did you think he was interested in you for your looks, little girl? Did you think he loved you?’ ” she spat, quoting Bellatrix with icy precision. “I know how you really feel, Malfoy.” She was almost shouting now, the anguish no longer hidden. “I’m just a stupid, gullible little girl to you, aren’t I, someone you could trick for fun. Well, it worked, all right? So just drop the act. I’m not here because of you. I’m here because it’s the right thing to do,” she finished, her voice ending on a crack as the tears rose up and choked her. Silence filled the shed again.

“You really don’t understand, do you?” he said quietly.

“Understand what?” she whispered desperately, trying to muffle her sobs in her sleeve.

“What you’re doing to me.” The bitterness in his voice cut her to the bone, shocked her tears away. She stared at him, uncomprehending.

Draco writhed inside, fuming and angry. Her sobs were killing him. He wanted to take her face in his hands and brush away the tears, kiss her till she moaned, not in anguish, but in lust. He cared, damn it, and it was killing him. Hate and a sick desire to protect her from the pain he himself was causing battled within him. Though he clung desperately to the hate, knowing it for his own, the desire wouldn’t leave. It filled him and he suddenly despised her all the more for it. And he couldn’t tell her, couldn’t put it into words. It was just too much.

“Come on, Weasley, pick a broom,” he said roughly. “We don’t have all day.”

ooooooooooo

As Emmeline Vance gently carried her son into his own room and put him back to bed, she could hear his peaceful breath. All was well and the night was quiet. Still, before she went back to the warmth of her husband and their bed, she peered out of the window into the icy darkness for a long moment. She had no doubt that Jack had taken a child’s fright at the wind in the bare branches or the passing of an owl, but it never hurt to be careful. More than 15 years in the Order had taught her that at least.

Nothing stirred in the shadows.

Nothing that she saw, at any rate.

But the danger is never in what you see.

Trusting the other three to follow her in the darkness, Bella slid slowly along the outside wall, careful to remain out off sight from the windows. Looking back, she momentarily and silently cursed the bright heads of the “lovebirds”, as Blaise had so blatantly christened them. The moonlight reflected sharply off their hair and illuminated them like warning beacons for any spy to see. Why the little fools hadn’t pulled up their hoods like herself and Blaise.... Bella gestured sharply at them; for a moment they merely blinked at her in confusion. Then Blaise reached out and swiftly yanked Ginny’s hood up over her head, hard. Draco quickly followed suite and the Death Eater paused only one more moment, assessing their conspicuousness and finding it to her satisfaction, before resuming their stealthy trek around the house. It was guarded heavily but with gaps obvious to any magical housebreaker, as though the defenses had been thrown up in a hurry and were depending on their caliber to deter any who wished to gain unlawful entry. Bellatrix was confident in Blaise’s ability to circumvent the flawed wards and let them in without too much fuss or warning.

She smiled. All was indeed well, and tonight would most surely be a night to remember, if it continued according to plan.

But then again, things rarely do.

ooooooooooo

Ginny could feel her heart pounding wildly as they stood, hastily concealed in the shadow of the quiet house, watching as Blaise contemplated the wards in a serene manner. From looking at him, one would think they had all night. She fidgeted nervously for a moment before Bellatrix’s warning look quelled her movements. Obviously, the artistry of her pet was not to be hurried. Rolling her eyes slightly, Ginny slumped back against the wall. This mixture of anticipation and boredom was killing her. Get a move on, Zabini! she begged silently, her eyes boring a hole in the back of his head.

Blaise froze. Bellatrix was instantly at his side. He hissed something venomous into her ear, then collapsed completely onto her shoulder, as though he couldn’t hold himself up. Supporting his weight with ease, Bella turned and eyed Ginny with an unfathomable expression in her eyes.

“If you can’t suppress your impatience, girl, I suggest you take it elsewhere!” she hissed, soft but furious. Ginny gasped at the unfairness. What had she done to be reprimanded? Surely Blaise’s reaction couldn’t be her fault! Could it? “Draco. Get her out of here. Now. I’ll signal you when all is ready. And for Grindelwald’s sake, stay out of trouble.” As Bella turned back to the seemingly unconscious Blaise, her eyes flicked back to Ginny and through her shock, Ginny saw something glinting in their depths. Not anger, not scorn, but... triumph? Ginny had no time no consider it, for Draco was pulling her away, around the corner of house, into the moonlight and shadow-strewn garden.

“What the blazes what that?” he demanded quietly once they were out of sight, releasing his death grip on her arm so fast that she tumbled into a half-pruned rosebush.

“What was what?” she replied calmly, too dazed by the suddenness of everything to mind the stinging of the thorns on her skin or the anger in his voice. She leaned back and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath of the cool night air, scented with the dead and rotting leaves of the garden. She could only remember feeling this free and happy once, when she had agreed to become a Death Eater. The world was luminous and spinning, just as it had been on that occasion. She wondered distantly if she was in shock. But no, her mind was clear and the moonlight was so bright, almost like sunlight....

“Don’t play coy, Ginny!” he snarled, shaking her shoulder and jerking her out of her trance as the thorns scored her skin again. “What did you just do to Blaise?” She opened her eyes and tranquilly met his panicked gaze. Funny, she mused, how their positions seemed to have shifted.

Draco recoiled violently from her. The memory of another moonlit night reared violently in his mind. Shadows and light battled in her eyes, but now something even more frightening underlay it all: power. Unadulterated, unexplainable, uncontrolled and uncontrollable power.

They lay staring at each other for a long moment. Draco’s harsh breathing was the only sound to break the still night. Then, like a bird’s wing brushing against her mind, Ginny heard Bella’s voice.

We’re ready. Come.

Rising swiftly, she grinned gleefully down at Draco. “No time for a nap just now, Malfoy. There’s work to be done.” And she turned and began to slink swiftly back toward the house. He stared after her hooded figure as it disappeared into the darkness, then hurriedly followed her, thoughts running frantically through his brain.

Bellatrix was right. She really does have the power. She can control people with a thought, with a touch, with a word.

And she’s just as mad as the rest of them.

ooooooooooo

“My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But, ah, my foes, and, oh, my friends-
It gives a lovely light.”
-Edna St. Vincent Millay, A Few Figs from Thistles