“BOMBARDA! ”
Splinters of wood crashed around the duo.
“Are you better now, love?”
“Yes… no… just— agh !” Weiss sputtered angrily, before wordlessly casting diffindo at another trunk. She took pleasure in the slow, theatrical descent of the ancient pine and the boom it made as it fell to the earth. “Better now, I think. Sorry, Blake.”
Blake rushed over and enveloped Weiss in a strong hug. “You don’t need to apologize, Weiss. Whatever is going on won’t last forever.”
Oh, Blake… you have no idea what’s really going on.
A kiss on her lips followed. “I love you; you know that. You’d allow me the same outlet if I needed one.”
Weiss found herself back on Blake’s lips, cherishing the moment of clarity in the hellish landscape her life had become. The pair fell to the forest floor beneath them, Blake’s head nestled neatly on top of Weiss’ shoulder.
Calmed from her rage, Weiss realized the extent of the damage she had just caused to the forest. Ancient trunks that had stood tall for centuries, most likely having seen the birth of Hogwarts herself now lay scattered in a newly forged grove. Dumbledore would have her hide for such an infraction. Weiss supposed if she was worried about even attending next year, such a thought would horrify her.
Some part of her deep down wished her cousin were here instead of her partner. Draco at least understood her plight and distress, and every lie told to Blake ate even further at her soul.
“You’re attractive when you let go, by the way,” Blake said, softly breaking the silence.
Weiss laughed at that. “I suppose you’d want me to be even more high-strung then. Give you an even greater show next week?”
Blake’s hand tightened around Weiss’, and let out a sigh. “While I admit that would be a treat,” she started, “I think it would just make me more worried for you, Weiss. I don’t think this is about your father anymore.”
Her damnable partner was always too perceptive. If Weiss hadn’t been trained so hard in the ways of Occlumency she would assume her to be a natural Legilimens.
“Of course it’s about my father, Blake. The bastard thinks himself a natural Schnee and has been bossing moth—”
“Love, please. I trust you enough to accept that you have a reason to lie, but at least give me the common courtesy to tell me that you are.” She moved off of Weiss’ shoulder and looked towards the ground. “I’ve been going through my own struggles as well, you know. We could always talk about them if you’d like…”
Weiss went to reach for Blake’s shoulder, but retracted her arm, placing her hands neatly on her lap. “What’s been bothering you, love?”
Blake chuckled, still turned to face the ground. “Only if you tell me what’s been bothering you, Weiss, or if you can actually tell me that you’re lying.”
“I’m not…” Weiss sighed, “okay fine, I’ve been lying to you, Blake. But I sincerely can’t tell you about it.”
Blake turned to face Weiss, the promise of tears fresh in the corners of her eyes. “Why can’t you, Weiss? What have you done that warrants this?”
Weiss finally moved to take Blake’s hand. “I can’t tell you that either, Blake.” She responded dejectedly.
Blake's eyes bore a hole into her own, Weiss trusting her partner enough to not invade her mind. A slow tear fell down Blake’s cheek. Her forearm burned in guilt.
“What have you done, Weiss?” She breathed.
Weiss’ eyes betrayed her too, a tear escaping her eye, and rubbed her forearm. “Can we just forget about this?”
Blake’s eyes widened as she caught the motion. “Not you too…”
“Blake, please, let’s just go back to our dorms. Please .” Weiss implored, desperately trying to throw Blake off her incoming revelation.
But Blake merely stood up at the comment, and Weiss caught the tip of her wand poking past the cuffs of her robe. “Show me your forearm, Weiss.”
Weiss stood up, body on edge and wand fully back in the palm of her hand. “What do you want me to do here, Blake?” Weiss spoke with an edge to your voice.
“I want to make sure you haven’t done something remarkably stupid. Monumentally stupid by your standards.”
“I could always just obliviate you, you know.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
Blake’s wand was now fully revealed, her fingers red from the tight grip she held it in.
“What do you even care, Blake, if what you’re implying is true?” Weiss questioned.
“What do I— What do you mean what do I care?” Blake returned with an edge. “I care very much if my own girlfriend is cohorting with Death Eaters!”
“We’re in Slytherin, Blake! My cousin’s father is in Azkaban for being one! We cohort with them every day!” Weiss shifted her grip on her wand to prepare for the worst, noticing Blake’s slow shift into a defensive dueling stance.
“But you’re supposed to keep me safe, Weiss. I suddenly feel a lot less safe considering you haven’t even denied anything.”
“Safe?” Weiss sputtered. “You’re no less safe now.” Fuck it. “In fact, you’re probably safer now since you’re in the damned know!” A blast of scarlet light flew past Weiss’ face as she finished her sentence.
“Safer ?” Blake shouted. “Oh no, you’ve practically signed my death warrant!”
Weiss returned Blake’s spell with another Expelliarmus, which Blake promptly shielded. “Blake, love, I know your family is actively trying to avoid any conflict right now, but please, you’ll be absolutely safe with me. I promise.”
“And then what? You’ll show me to your Lord after this year is up? No, I don’t think I’ll be absolutely safe with you, Weiss.” Another Disarming Charm was released from Blake’s wand, blasting against Weiss’ quickly cast protego.
“We are not against you, Blake!”
“So you admit it!”
“OF COURSE I ADMIT IT!” Weiss screamed, sending a blasting curse purposefully at a tree near Blake. “Blake, the Schnees are one of the most influential families in the Wizengamot, our wealth only being rivaled by the Malfoys. Of course we stand with him!”
Weiss barely finished her sentence before Blake threw a diffindo directly at her, a sharp pain radiating from her shoulder, followed by an expelliarmus that ripped her wand from her hands.
“Then we’re over, Weiss. Don’t approach me after tonight unless you want me to run to Dumbledore himself.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that your Lord would never let a damned mudblood like me anywhere near one of the Sacred Twenty-Nine like you!” Blake screamed.
Weiss’ heart dropped. “Blake?”
Blake’s eyes were wide, wand pointed directly at Weiss, shaking from adrenaline. “What do you think I wanted to tell you, Weiss?” She spoke softly. “I was horrified at the prospect of telling you but I can’t bear to keep secrets from you, Weiss! I love you!”
“What do you mean ‘you’re a mudblood?’”
“I mean exactly what I mean! Mother couldn’t conceive, and I was found abandoned in a muggle orphanage. The Belladonnas took me in, raised me to be the perfect pureblood heiress they so needed.” Blake laughed maniacally. “They treat me like a charity case, but I love them nonetheless.”
Fuck. Fucking Merlin’s beard this is bad.
Weiss went to move towards Blake, but a Bombarda hit the earth beneath her, a dangerous glint in Blake’s eyes. “Don’t take a step closer, Weiss Schnee.”
“So the mudblood only has the courage to tell me this after she has my wand?”
“You know that’s not what this is about, Weiss.”
“Don’t you dare speak my name, you lying pig!”
Blake gripped her wand tighter, eyes struggling to stay open as she focused on Weiss’ form.
Do it, please, Blake.
Weiss seethed in pain as a diffindo slashed across her thigh, quickly falling to the earth as Blake followed with a petrificus totalus. Weiss could hear Blake’s heels approach her body even through the soil. Her wand fell on her chest as Blake released it. Their eyes met as Blake now stood, looming over her.
“I thought I knew you, Weiss. I was horrified that you might actually be working with Him. But… now you know why we can’t be together.” Blake cried over Weiss’ body. “Now I know why we can’t be together. And I respect you too damned much to even obliviate you! You can make my life a living hell with what I just said, but I can’t even bring myself to do it!”
Blake knelt down and gave a small kiss to Weiss’ head. “The curse should wear off in a few hours, don’t worry.” Blake left Weiss’ vision, but she could still sense her presence close by. “Do with what your new information as you please. But I will not hesitate to inform Dumbledore and the Ministry of the Schnee’s place in His circle.”
And then her presence was gone, leaving Weiss alone and unmoving in the Forbidden Forest. Tears slowly leaked from her frozen face, as her one true anchor left her for good.