Rewritten History

Chapter 12

"Standing is boring."

"And it's tiring for the legs," the blonde added.

Running footsteps, and Lucius landed on his father's stomach. Abraxas yelped, then shrieked as snow was pushed on his bare stomach.

"Lucius!"

The boy laughed as he ran away, then gave out a shriek similar to his father as Abraxas started chasing him. Astus only sighed, continuing his staring up at the sky even as snow began to fall. It seemed like it was going to be a very snowy winter.

Shouts and laughter told him Abraxas had joined the snowball-fight. He sat up and looked over. Nathaniel and Abraxas' backs were turned to him. Unsuspecting an attack from behind. Perhaps they were thinking he was not up for a little game.

Astus grinned.

The children broke down in laughter as the two were bathed in snow, screaming at the coldness. They whipped around and Astus tried his innocent face, finishing it up with cocking his head and said:

"Oh my. It appears the snow fell thicker than I imagined."

"You!" Nathaniel screamed.

"Yes?"

"You little-!" Abraxas shouted, pointing at him.

"Yeees?" There was a sickly sweet tone in his voice, and his grin was no longer looking so innocent. More like a predator looking at his prey. Or perhaps a deranged Dark Lord. Whichever worked just fine.

The two ran towards him in a rage. Astus brought his hands up, snow flying from the ground and right on the men's faces, making them tumble down onto the ground.

Snowball-fights were always funnier when magic was involved.

-o-

Bellatrix found Astus in early December in the library, sneaking through the rows with books and sat down opposite of him, her book bag in her lap. He looked up at her.

"What is it?" he asked, seeing her eyes.

"My parents sent me a letter," she said. "They are going to make me meet the Dark Lord on the holidays. I can't go there."

"What about your aunt and uncle?" Astus asked as he came to sit next to her. "Can't you be with them?"

"Walburga support the Dark Lord. Says the Mudbloods deserve to die, creating a pure world for her children to grow up in," she spat out. "She's nutty. My uncle… I don't know, he doesn't say much about anything."

"Alright," he breathed out. "Alright, we'll fix it. You won't go home."

"But I can't stay here! They'll figure it out, and they'll come and get me." Bellatrix did not want to see Voldemort. She did not want to meet her parents. She knew her sisters were alright; they were too small to meet the Dark Lord and would therefore safe from harm. But she wasn't.

"You won't be here either," he said, and she looked into Astus' deep eyes. They bore no lies to her. "They won't know where you are, because I'm not going to let them find out."

-o-

Having NEWTs along with getting the shelter ready for the children who needed somewhere to be under Christmas to avoid their parents was not all that easy. However, Astus had no choice but doing both. Luckily it was only Transfiguration and Charms in NEWTs but it still left him exhausted at the end of it, and still he had to go and make sure the manor was up to the task of supporting the kids.