Chapter 58. Sweet Revenge
As soon as the last of the four hit the ground, with a clear imprint from the katana's hilt stamped into his forehead, Severus finally pulled off his mask and returned to his usual face, looking perfectly calm and relaxed once more, as if nothing had happened at all.
"Somehow that was all too easy, do not you think?" he said with a smile, shifting his gaze to gloomy Bella as she stepped out from behind a tree.
"What are you going to do with them?"
"Are you worried about them? Do you really love your fiance after all?" he asked, lightly tapping the katana against the forehead of the unconscious Rodolphus.
"Do not talk nonsense. I do not care whether you kill them all or not, but my lord still needs these two alive," Bella answered coldly. She stared at the brothers with irritation rising in her chest. To lose this easily to a wizard who had not even finished school yet, even if he was talented, was simply unforgivable. And these were not just any Death Eaters, they were close to the Dark Lord, the kind you could count on one hand.
"I see. Well, that is not surprising. The Lestranges are a very rich family, and losing such hefty moneybags would be quite a shame."
"What do you want for their lives?"
"And you do not need the others, am I right?"
"No. You can do whatever you want with them."
"Then." A merciless smirk flashed across Severus's face, and goosebumps ran down Bella's skin at the sight of it. "I will take them, both of them. I just need test subjects for my potions. Nellie."
A house-elf in a plain white dress appeared beside him, watching him anxiously, as if she wanted to shrink into the ground.
"What can I do for Master?" she asked timidly, shrinking under Black's slightly surprised gaze.
"Here." He tossed her a small box. "Two wizards are lying nearby. Put them in the box. You know what to do next, and then return home."
"Y-yes, Master!" She clutched the box, and in the same instant she vanished.
"Did you free your house-elf?"
"No. I just did not want a half-naked house-elf flashing in front of my eyes, so I ordered her to learn sewing and make herself some clothes. Proper clothes, not scraps. You have to admit, it is much better this way?" At the same time, Severus did not stop rapping the younger Lestrange on the forehead, as if checking how sturdy it was.
"I see. perhaps you are right," Bella said, trying very hard to pretend she had not noticed what he was doing.
"Wow. Miss Black agreed with me. It must be going to snow today!"
"Tch!"
"My little Bella, I hope you enjoyed the show?" Without a hint of fear, he stepped close and caught a lock of her dark hair between his fingers, looking straight into her eyes.
"You did not show all your strength, did you?" She asked it bluntly, not reacting to his touch.
"Who knows. but if you become my wife, I will be willing to reveal some of my secrets to you."
"So I am worth only some secrets?"
His hand slid up to her cheek.
"No, of course. You are worth much more." he whispered, drawing close to her plump, cherry-colored lips. "And as soon as I am sure you will not stick a dagger in my back, I will tell you the rest."
Bella still did not react, unless you counted the wand she had been prodding into his stomach for about thirty seconds, and the look in her eyes where a real, hellish flame burned. Severus paid none of it any mind, and with a playful smile he kept gently stroking her cheek, slow and unhurried.
"Are you just going to keep staring at me?"
"Are you that impatient?"
"You already know the answer. Why are you asking such stupid questions?" Bella snorted, a little irritated, already ready for a kiss, but he simply let her go. He did it so abruptly it made her blink, and bewilderment flickered across her face.
"I do not want to. Too boring," Severus chuckled, shifting his gaze to the two bodies. "You know, those two wanted to kill me. If I just let them go without proper punishment, they will not understand, and they will even call me soft."
"What are you going to do with them?" Bella asked, suddenly alert, not taking her eyes off him.
"I have an idea." Grinning, he winked at her, and a stream of flame burst from his wand, wrapping the two figures on the ground from head to toe. Bella froze in shock. Then, as soon as the fire vanished, her cheeks went faintly pink, and she quickly looked away from the two naked wizards, as if the sight had burned her eyes.
"W-what did you.?"
"Mhm. self-esteem up to the sky, but in their pants, such a tiny pod."
"Why did you strip them?!"
"Hm. it is punishment. Tell me, do your fountains have pointed spikes?" Severus asked casually, and for a moment Bella looked genuinely baffled.
"I think so, yes. but why do you need that?"
"Oh. how innocent you are about these things, my little Bella."
"Do not call me little Bella!"
"You do not like it?"
"No!"
"Baby?"
"No!"
"Bunny?"
"No!"
"Kitten?"
"You are doing this on purpose to provoke me, are not you?"
"Yes, kitten. You know, ears and a tail would suit you." Severus said calmly, dodging the nonverbal Stupefy Bella sent at him. Smiling and winking at her, he lowered his gaze to the two bodies. "All right, I should finish this. A conversation between two lovers next to two naked men is not the most beautiful picture."
"Who here is in love?!"
"Why drag it out? I even wrote a plan for our life together, and mind you: I want a girl, and a boy can be second."
"Maybe you should stop mocking me. You do understand I cannot seriously hurt you."
"And if you could?"
"You would not be talking anymore," Black spat, each word bitten off in an icy voice.
"My little maniac, that is exactly what I like about you," Severus said with a cheerful wink. Bella shot him a look so sharp it could have killed, and he would have been dead since their first meeting.
Lowering his eyes to the two bodies, he lifted them with telekinesis. Then, taking the surprised Bella by the hand, he vanished with her.
A few seconds later, the four of them stepped out of the void onto the roof of the mansion next door to the one hosting the ball. Bella yanked her hand free at once and glared at him, as if ready to hex him on the spot.
"The traces of our fight in the park will be cleaned up by my people, so you do not need to worry about that," Severus said with an easy smile. He looked toward the Black mansion, then down at the two bodies, grinned, pointed his wand at them, and flicked it. Both disappeared.
"Where are they?" Black asked anxiously, trying to sense them with magic.
"One second." Severus made a few more casual wand movements, purely for show, muttered something unintelligible, and a screen appeared before them. On it was an image of two fountains, and hanging from them, like Christmas ornaments, were the Lestrange brothers.
Bella's eyes almost popped out of her head at the sight. This was far worse than death: disgrace for the whole family, right in front of almost all the magical aristocracy of Britain. It was too cruel, even by her standards.
"And they call me insane." she muttered with a crooked smile, giving Severus a very strange look. "You do realize they will never forget this. They will definitely come for revenge. The Lestranges have more than money, they have connections."
"Are you worried about me?"
"Hmph. I do not care about you, even if you die, but the Dark Lord will not forgive this. You did not touch ordinary Death Eaters, you touched the ones close to him."
"Kitten, you are thinking too narrowly."
"I am going to shove my wand in your eye."
"Of course, kitten, of course." Severus dodged easily and shifted his gaze from her icy face back to the screen. People had already gathered around the fountains and were trying to pull the brothers down, but no spell worked. Wizards had to climb into the water and then up the ten-meter fountain itself, and even that was not easy, because the Lestranges were stuck in too deep. "All right. kitten, it is already pretty late. How about a date next weekend?"
"Since when have we become so close?" Turning away, Bella waved a hand and headed for the edge of the roof. "I am leaving. Do not annoy me anymore."
"You were assigned to watch me and, if possible, establish contact. So I am offering you exactly that, just in a more pleasant setting. And I will answer some of your questions. Maybe I will even introduce you to my teacher. The Dark Lord is interested in who is behind me, is not he?" At those words, Bella froze. "So what do you say: Saturday at eleven, at Gringotts? You can even tell Voldemort about it. I think he will happily send you on this dangerous mission himself, pick out a dress, and even do your makeup."
"I will think about it," she said, and without another word she turned into a dark cloud and slipped through the barrier into the mansion grounds.
So she agrees. but I should think through a plan as well. Severus disappeared too, without any special effects.
On the Black estate, Walburga was raging. The day that should have included the announcement of Bellatrix's marriage to Rodolphus had been ruined. Worse than that, it was a catastrophe, a disgrace people would talk about for decades.
Regulus, suspecting exactly who could have abused the Lestrange brothers so viciously, and knowing who had a motive, tried to blend into the wall so he would not draw his mother's special attention while she ranted and raved and chased servants and workers through the house.
Oh Merlin, I hope it was not him. Please, let it be someone else.
"REGULUS!" At his mother's furious roar, Regulus, shedding a miserly tear, shuffled toward her on cotton legs, cursing him, that self-styled Archmage, and the culprit behind all this bacchanalia.
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