✓ WE NEVER SLEEP, draco malfoy

F O R T Y - F I V E

"And where will I wander when I love and don't come back?"

— unknown

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"How long until dinner is ready?" asked Rowan as she lounged in one of the hard couches in the drawing room. The fire was crackling although it was warm outside. It was the beginning of fall where things were still hot and humid, the trees still vibrant greens but you could tell things were on the cusp of changing.

"Cissy loves taking her time," muttered Bellatrix as she did her usual evening stroll about the castle. She'd stop in here where Rowan would often lie with a book and pick through what she was doing. It had begun a game of cat and mouse, where Rowan would lay and wait to be caught. "Heard it's going to be something warm."

"Isn't it always?"

"Well, yes, unfortunately."

Rowan laid her book against her chest. She never fully read anything when she was in here, it was just an excuse to pass the time. "Rather it be cold? Cold soup? Cold ham?"

"Cold," she spat. "Salad, ice cream, those silly little candies from Hogsmeade."

"Perhaps we can take a trip there one day soon," said Rowan as she crossed her legs at the ankles, propping them up on the armrest. "We can finally satisfy your sweet tooth."

"I must look into something in my vault, then perhaps after you can treat me to something delicious."

Rowan nodded and ran her fingers over the leather couch. "Going to pick up gold for this endevour?"

Bellatrix shook her head, her messy curls bouncing with every step she took. Even when she'd raise her arm to pull at a book on the shelves and scowl, her hair would move. "It's something for the lord, actually."

"Ooh," cooed Rowan, hoping she seemed just as nonchalant as she felt, "a secret request, is it?"

"Something like that."

"Do tell."

"I'm in possession of something rather...unique," she ended up saying when she spun around to face the girl. She had her back pressed against the shelf and the firelight danced over her pale expression, casting shadows on her jagged bone structure. She was beautiful but the madness in her eyes told a greater story of vengeance and evil. "Well, more than one thing."

"Like what?" asked Rowan. "Surely it can't be anything better than all the gold you've been acquiring?"

Bellatrix smiled. "One is pointy."

"A knife? A fork? What?"

"A sword."

Rowan sat up with a smile. "You have the sword of Gryffindor?"

She nodded with a horrible grin. "Dumbledore must be rolling in his grave knowing I have it now."

"He very well might be," said Rowan with a low chuckle. It was good to know where the sword was but did Rowan really trust the fact that it was real? Snape must've had it after Dumbledore was killed since he became headmaster. It was the only logical theory, that Snape replaced the sword and given it to Bellatrix so he could hide the real one. "But I thought Snape had it?"

"He gave it to me," she said with a smile. "It was too risky leaving it in his office knowing all those pesky Potter supporters are in the castle again once term starts. Why?" She narrowed her eyes. "You want a peek at it, too?"