You Raise Me Up

I know that some of you are upset over Strix's bond to the baby...I hope this chappie will clarify a little...

Also, there's a nice interesting bit at the end of this chapter. Enjoy! ^_^
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Bellatrix tried to get the foolish Auror see reason in his decision. If he gave up Orion, he would not have to pay child support supplement. He would have no responsibility to the child, and would be without cumbrance to one day have a planned child with a witch of his choosing.

But when that didn’t work, she did something desperate that mortified both Percy and Tonks. She begged. She dropped down to her knees beside the Auror and begged for him to sign the papers. He looked down his nose at her, and sneered.

“You shouldn’t beg, witch, it doesn’t suit you…” he said. He leaned down, his face close to hers. “Although, you look so natural on your knees…” he said. He wasn’t, of course, quiet when he made the remark, and Nymphadora gasped softly. What a rude comment! Bellatrix stared at him for a moment, before standing to her feet silently. Coldly, she turned her back on the Auror, and started to walk back to where Severus stood, Orion having been transferred to his hands. She paused mid-step, and then whirled around on the Auror. Her fist was quick as lightning, and it connected with his face with a sickening crack to his nose. He cried out, and his hands went to his face.

“Fucking hell!” he hissed, blood spurting down his face. He turned his yellow eyes to Percy. “Di’ you see tha’?” he hissed, holding his face. Percy looked at Nymphadora, who shrugged.

“I saw nothing.” He said, much to the dismay of Strix.

Bellatrix retrieved her son from Severus’ arms, and without another word to anybody she stood near the door waiting for Percy to escort them out. Percy unwarded the door with a flick of his wand, and Bellatrix and Severus left the room. Percy left behind them, and beckoned for Nymphadora to follow them. Percy closed the door to the visiting room, and set the wards back up. Nymphadora raised a pink eyebrow questioningly.

“I’ll send a medi-guard up here to take care of him. In the meantime, he can…er…think about what he’s done…” Percy said. Nymphadora smirked. But the smirk faded when she heard a short sob from Bellatrix. She watched, slightly surprised, as the dark witch buried her face against Severus, whose arms wrapped loosely around her and Orion.

“Isn’t there anything that she can do legally?” Nymphadora asked. Percy’s eyebrows knitted together slightly.

“Unfortunately, the Ministry laws that deal with the rights of women are rather…archaic. I’m fighting to remedy that, of course, but it’s being met with resistance….from the men... Her position is not uncommon, but very difficult. She will have no problem keeping the child. She’s about to enter marriage with Snape, and that will give her a steady home in which to keep the child. She will keep him for quite the majority of the time, but since Strix won’t give up full custody, he will be allowed to see the boy. He would have to be proven completely incompetent, or die for her to be able to have Snape adopt the child now.” He said. “It’s a hard situation…” Percy said, sighing softly.

Nymphadora was quiet, and they watched as Bellatrix slowly regained her composure. Nymphadora looked at Percy. “Is lunch with mum and dad still on?” she asked. He smiled.

“Of course. I wouldn’t miss a chance to have dinner with your folks. They are….interesting…” he said. He looked at Bellatrix, and then at Nymphadora. He suddenly started, as if someone had struck him. “Wait a moment…aren’t you two related?” he asked, his gaze falling back on Nymphadora.

“Uh….yeah….she’s my aunt…” she said, slightly uncomfortable with the topic.

“That would make Andromeda her….sister…” he said, watching with new-found fascination as Bellatrix readjusted Orion’s blanket. “Of course! I knew it at the back of my mind, but I had forgotten…” he murmured, more to himself than anyone else. “Do you think your parents would mind if they joined us for lunch? I daresay that she wouldn’t contact Andromeda on her own accord…but there should be no problems if your parents aren’t averse…” he addressed Nymphadora. She looked surprised by the request, and then sort of antsy.

“I don’t know…you know my mum and her sisters don’t have a very good history…and my dad…you know…he’s muggleborn…” she said.

“So is Hermione Grang…er….Malfoy. Hermione Malfoy…” he said, stumbling slightly on the name himself. “It would be totally different if you yourself had any…qualms about a lunch of this caliber.” Percy said gently. Nymphadora shrugged.

“Aside from her trying to kill me a couple of times…I don’t really know her. She seems different. I’ve never really been a grudge-holder. I suppose If Hermione can let go of the past, then I can to. Would you like me to phone mum up and tell her? I think it would be wise to give them a bit of warning…”Nymphadora said, and Percy nodded.

Nymphadora pulled a small pink phone from the pockets of her Auror robes, and pressed a few buttons. Percy watched, unfamiliar with the object. He could hear a few muffled sounds as Nymphadora pressed the phone to her ear.

“What is that?” he whispered, slightly surprised when she began to talk into the mouthpiece.

“Cell phone…” came the answer of two voices behind him. He looked at Severus and Bellatrix.

“Cell phone? I’ve used a telephone, but not a cell phone…” he said, watching as Nymphadora moved the phone away from her ear as a particularly loud sound came over the ear piece.

“She’s surprised…” Nymphadora said to the bemused Minister. “Oi! If you yell in my ear one more time I’m hanging up and you get no say in it!” she said, pressing her head back to the phone. There was obviously a quick conversation, because then Nymphadora closed the phone and placed it back in her pocket. “It’s all right. Just took her by surprise.” She said.

Percy nodded, and turned to the others. “Would you two…er…three… like to join us for lunch?” he asked, trying to place an innocent expression on his face.

Bellatrix raised a dark eyebrow. “What are you planning, you vociferous goat?” she asked. He laughed in earnest.

“Nothing but a lunch between friends. We can be friends, yes?” he asked, gesturing to the entirety of the group in the hallway. Bellatrix’s dark eyes rested on the niece that she had not ever accepted. Nymphadora, brave Auror or not, shifted slightly under the gaze.

“Stop squirming, child, I’m not going to eat you….all that pink hair might give me indigestion…” she said. Nymphadora looked slightly insulted for a moment, but when she caught the look on her aunt’s face, she grinned openly. “Of course we’ll join you for lunch, Minister. It looks like someone is going to have to make you eat. You look like you’re starving…” she said, and they began the trek out of the prison.

Severus made a small mental note to ask Nymphadora how her cell phone had been able to work inside the wizard prison.

“You sound like my mother!” Percy teased, adjusting his robes slightly.

“She’s a wise woman, then!” Bellatrix retorted, once again adjusting Orion’s blanket as they passed through the door of the prison, the cool air striking them.

~~

To say that the long-overdue meeting of the sisters was awkward would have been the understatement of the millennium. Both Andromeda and Ted seemed convinced that the two darklings would suddenly draw their wands and hex them. But Andromeda’s fears abated significantly when Orion cooed loudly.

“Is this little darling yours?” she asked, peering down into the face of the infant.

“Yes. This is Orion.” She said, adjusting the blanket so that Orion’s face was more visible.

“Ooh! He’s precious! May I hold him?” she asked, her delight over the child evident to all. Bellatrix transferred the baby to her sister’s arms, smiling softly as the child took to his other aunt immediately.

Ted still looked very uncomfortable, but he seemed slightly mollified that his wife had warmed up to her sister. He tried to start a polite conversation with Severus.

“So, what about that Quidditch match last week, eh? I thought the Cannons were done for…” he said. Severus raised a thick dark eyebrow.

“I hate Quidditch.” He said simply. Ted drew in a shaky breath.

“Of course…” he murmured. He was distracted momentarily when Ted’s phone gave a melodic beep, and Ted reached for it. Andromeda’s face turned from the baby in her arms to her husband.

“Ted Tonks! I told you to turn off that bloody phone when we go out! Off!” she hissed. Ted fumbled with the phone, mumbling something along the lines of ‘crazy women and their sodding mood swings.’ He pressed a button on the phone, scowling slightly when Severus chuckled.

The rest of the meal went off rather well, and Bellatrix reacquainted herself with her sister, and caught up with what she had missed. Andromeda had enough common sense not to press into any of the Dark times in her sister’s past, but instead focused on how things were going with her ‘lessons.’

“Well, I know that Nymphadora here called you on a cell phone, but I can’t for the life of me figure out how…” she said. “Muggle technology isn’t supposed to work in the Magic world…especially some remote dump like Azkaban…” she said. Andromeda grinned.

“Well, a few wizards figured out that if they dipped the antennae of their phones into what they’ve dubbed Tendo, or Extending Potion, they can make them work in the magic world. They’re trying to make it work for other stuff too. The potion is top secret, and they are making a killing off of the Half-bloods and Muggleborns who want to keep in touch with their non-magical relations.” Nymphadora supplied the answer.

“And for a few of us purebloods who have betrayed our lineage to ‘mingle with the commoners…’” Andromeda quipped. Bellatrix raised an eyebrow.

“Well…we’ll just have to overlook that ‘unsavory’ little detail, won’t we?” she said, bending her fingers to accentuate the sarcasm on the one word.

Severus smirked. “Besides, Lucius and Narcissa have had a fancy to acquire a set of them, and we were just wondering how they worked…”
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What do you think? Yes, no, maybe so? So-so? No-no? Come one, my emotions are on a yo-yo!

Hee hee...I'm so lame...

Anyway, feel free to comment. Review if the notion so hits you. The bunnies are starting to run low on fuel...they need nourishment...they are growing bunnies for Ra's sake...^_^