Betrayal of the Black

thirty-six

Celestia remembered the story well. Montague had been apart of Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad, and on his first morning break on his first day as a member, he tried to take House points from Fred and George Weasley, but the twins had shoved him into the Vanishing Cabinet before he could finish speaking.

Montague had told them all the story again and again, especially the Quidditch team as he'd been apart of them until that year. Celestia had never given the cabinet a second thought, especially not as a way to travel in and out of Hogwarts. Having said that, clearly her cousin had been smarter than her in this case.

"Very good," murmured Dumbledore. "So the Death Eaters were able to pass from Borgin and Burkes into the school to help you... A clever plan, a very clever plan"

"Yeah," said Draco, who bizarrely seemed to draw courage and comfort from Dumbledore's praise. "Yeah, it was!"

She had to fight the urge to look at her cousin. He was a mess. She'd never seen him like this before.

His hair was mussed, the top buttons of his shirt undone, dark bags under his eyes contrasting his pale skin. Next to her hand, his wand shook faintly as they both continued to point their wands at their headmaster.

Dumbledore's feet slipped slightly, almost as if he could no longer hold himself upright. Celestia narrowed her eyes at the motion. There was another yell from below, rather louder than the last.

"There is little time," said Dumbledore. "So why don't we discuss our options?"

"Our options? To me, it looks like you're about to die, so what options could you possibly have?" Celestia said.

Dumbledore shook his head, and it looked like it took him a great deal of effort to do so. "Years ago, I knew two children who made all the wrong choices. Don't let this be another one of those. Please, let me help you."

"Wrong choices? I fail to see what wrong choices you may be talking about," she said. "Are you talking about second year, when I cursed the Gryffindors for calling me a slag? I think I had every right. Or are we talking about third year, when I was beat like a filthy muggle until I was black and blue, so I threw them down the Grand Staircase? I don't think I was in the wrong there either."

"You're no killer, Celestia," stated Dumbledore.

She shrugged. "Give a person a good enough of a target, and anyone becomes a killer."

"I have to disagree. I know what happened that night at the Ministry. You had your father at wand-point, you had the opportunity to kill him. You didn't," he said.

"Sirius had just told me he preferred his godson to his daughter, and called me a punishment, and abominable. Forgive a girl if she was a little emotional." She cocked her head to the side and raised her wand higher.

There was a bang and shouts from below, louder than ever; it sounded as though people were fighting on the actual staircase that led to where they stood.

"Come over to the right side, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. What is more, I can send members of the Order to Narcissa tonight to hide her likewise. The Order can protect all of you... you are no killer."

There was a small thread inside of her that snapped; that had her lowering her wand to pull up the sleeves of her cloak. It revealed the Dark Mark marring her skin, but that was not what she was showing him.

"You think I could possibly join the Order after they had me chained up and tortured for ten days straight? That I could willingly bow to a boy who nearly killed me earlier this month?" she seethed.