Chapter 6
Severus’ arms wrap around you as strangled sobs rip through your chest, pulling you into his lap and rocking slightly back and forth. Your head reels as you frantically try to think of a plan, your hands reaching to clutch at Severus’ shirt as his chest rises and falls quickly.
“Who would do this?” You sob, looking up at him through wet eyelashes.
He shakes his head, wiping the back of his hand across his cheek to dry a tear as it slips from his dark eyes.
“I don’t know.” He answers hoarsely, running his thumb along your cheeks to wipe at your tears before a new round spills over.
You hear the sounds of chaos just outside the window as the school examines the wreckage from the explosions, but you can’t bring yourself to care about much more than the tragedy within your own quarters. You stand slowly, feeling Severus’ eyes trail behind you as you walk over to where Kneti’s body lies stiffly on the ground.
You pull a blanket from the bed before kneeling beside her, closing her eyes gently with your fingertips before covering her small form with the blanket. Anger fills your chest as you tuck the blanket over her head, hiding her from view.
“Only one witch would do something like this.” You say under your breath, your eyes trailing back to the empty crib. “Bellatrix.”
Severus stands, walking behind you and reaching a hand down towards you. You take it, letting him pull you up.
“Let’s go then.” He says, fury burning behind his eyes.
You look back to the blanket on the floor in front of you, shaking your head.
“We can’t just leave her here.” You whisper, looking back at Severus as tears sting in your eyes again.
He nods, reaching down and picking her body up gently, cradling her against his chest.
“We’ll take her to the kitchen.” He says softly. “Her family is there.”
You nod too, following him to the fireplace. He carries her through the halls, and you trail close behind. No one stops to look at you as you pass, everyone being wrapped in their own fear and panic.
You open the door to the kitchen as Severus walks in, and the house elves all stop what they’re doing as he carries the small, wrapped body to a group of elves near the fireplace. An older, woman elf looks up at him, tears instantly filling her eyes as he kneels on the ground before her, setting the blanket on the ground.
“I’m so sorry.” He whispers, looking into the woman elf’s eyes. “She died as a hero.”
The elves stand around her small body, placing their hands on it as they cry, nodding at Severus as they acknowledge his statement. He thanks them quietly before standing back up, apologizing, and taking your hand to leave.
“She was wonderful.” You say quietly, swallowing back a new wave of tears. “Thank you for sharing her with us, with our daughter.”
Your voice breaks as you think about Nova, and you grab onto Severus more tightly before he hurries you out of the kitchen. He leads you out of the front door, and you walk off the grounds together.
“Ready?” He asks, looking at you as you leave the boundaries of the school.
You nod, squeezing his hand tighter. He squeezes your hand back, and you close your eyes as you apparate. When your eyes reopen, you find yourself outside of the entrance of Azkaban, it’s dark towers stretching to the sky before you.
Severus takes a step in front of you, shielding you as he leads you to the large double doors. A dark set of eyes peers through a slat in the door, and a man in a gruff voice speaks through the hole.
“State your business.” He says, glaring at you both.
Severus keeps you half hidden by his body as he steps slightly closer.
“Severus and (Y/N) Snape to see Bellatrix Lestrange.” He answers, his tone flat and unbothered.
The man chuckles bitterly, closing the slat in the door before the doors swing open. Severus pulls you close, walking in front of you as a Dementor floats before him, leading you down the large hallway.
The air is cold and damp as you walk down the dimly lit corridor. Inmates scream and yell vulgar things at you as you walk past them, and you cringe closer to Severus as you walk.
Don’t listen to them. He murmurs into your mind. Listen to me.
He hums a gentle melody through the fog, and you focus to the deep resonance of his voice, drowning out the screams as you walk up a set of dirty stairs in the back of the hallway. The air gets even colder as you step onto a quiet floor, and more Dementors float at the end of the room.
A cackling laugh breaks through the silence as you step closer, finally looking through the bars of Bellatrix’s cell.
“Well, well, well.” She says with a coy smile. “If it isn’t my most favorite couple.”
Severus glares at her, and you don’t move, simply staring at her from behind Severus’ shoulder.
“What’ve you done, Bellatrix?” Severus asks, his voice deep and level as he speaks.
She laughs again, her eyes flitting between you and Severus with amusement.
“Oh darling.” She says, her smile not wavering as she speaks. “I’ve been quite locked up, or have you forgotten? You tripled my security.”
She gestures to the Dementors around her.
“And if I dare touch the bars?” She says, reaching forward and placing her fingertip along the metal.
Her entire body recoils immediately, as though she’d been burned. Her smile drops now as she looks at Severus, her eyebrows raising.
“Pleased?” She says, shifting her weight to look past him to you. “Quite the catch you’ve got here, he’s got some twisted ideas.”
She winks at you, and you simply stare back, your heart beating slightly quicker.
“And you.” She says, pointing in your direction. “You haven’t gotten the slightest idea who took your little baby?”
The word falls from her lips like poison as she keeps her black eyes locked on yours.
“How did you know?” You ask, stepping past Severus. “If you weren’t involved.”
She laughs again, looking you up and down once.
“News travels fast.” She says with a smile. “Even in here.”
You step closer still, stepping in front of Severus to look into the cell.
“If you truly didn’t do it, then I haven’t the slightest.” You tell her, your voice softer now.
She smiles even wider before shooting you a mock frown.
“If only your mummy were here to help.” She says in a sing-song voice. “Or your dear old daddy.”
Anger boils within your blood as you stare at her, and Severus pulls at your hand, trying to lead you away from the cell.
“Come on, let’s go.” He murmurs. “She won’t be much help.”
You reluctantly turn, following him as he steps back towards the stairs.
“Odd, isn’t it?” She says, calling at you down the hall. “How they never found your mums body?”
You stop in your tracks, your blood running cold.
“Ignore her.” Severus whispers, pulling at your hand.
She laughs again, the shrill sound echoing down the hall.
“Daddy’s body was just sitting there in the rubble.” Bellatrix continues, and you turn on your heels, slowly stepping back towards her cell. “Preserved as he was, hit by a simple killing curse.”
Images of Kneti’s body fill your mind as you stand before the bars of her cell, looking back into her dark eyes.
“But all that was left of poor mummy was a ring. Sitting there in the rubble.” She says, tilting her head to the side with a small grin. “Rather suspicious. Blasted to smithereens by a killing curse.”
You think of the small gold ring with the ruby in the center, currently sitting in Molly’s jewelry box back at the Burrow.
“Are you saying she’s alive?” You ask, looking into Bellatrix’s eyes.
She laughs, cocking her eyebrow at you.
“I’m saying they never found a body.” She says, biting her lip. “And I’m rather tired of this conversation.”
You step closer to the bars.
“I’m not.” You tell her, your voice harsh and powerful. “Where is she?”
Bellatrix just laughs again, putting a finger to her lips and shushing between giggles.
“Fine.” You say, smiling just as she does. “We can do it your way.”
Her eyes widen as you reach through the fog in your mind to hers, finding it to be as cold and as dark as her cell.
“Get out of my head!” She shrieks, but you just push deeper.
You pass the low, weak walls of her mind before searching through her memories, following the trace of your mother. You find yourself watching that night through her eyes, holding her wand in your hand as the words fall from your lips.
“Avada Kedavra!”
A green light blasts through your wand, hitting the man before you as his wife watches behind him. Tears streak down her cheeks as she puts her hands in the air.
“Let me live.” She begs. “I’ll follow you.”
You consider it, smiling as you step over the man’s body, reaching for the woman’s hand. She sets her hand in yours, and you pull her ring off her finger, dropping it into the smoldering ruins of her home before disapparating with her at your side.
You’re shoved out of her head with a start, and you stagger backwards, falling against the stone wall behind you as you look at Bellatrix with wide eyes.
“Where did you take her?” You ask, your voice hardly more than a whisper.
Bellatrix just laughs, spitting onto the ground beside her as she glares at you with fiery eyes.
“Not telling.” She says angerly. “Now leave!”
Severus grabs your hand, and this time, you let him pull you down the corridor and into the stairwell, leading you out of the prison. His gentle hum fills your head again as you almost run down the hall, and finally explode out into the sunlight outside of the jail.
“She’s alive.” You breathe, looking up at Severus as he puts his hands on your shoulders, looking down at you with a worried expression. “My mother, she’s alive. And I think she took Nova.”
He takes a deep breath, nodding as does.
“Let’s go to Dumbledore.” He says quietly, pulling you into a tight embrace. “He’ll know what to do, where to find her.”
You nod now, and he kisses the top of your head gently as you apparate again.