Chapter 78: Inside the Spider's Web
"We really should get out of here," Bramble said.
"Listen to the elf. He's in charge," Grindelwald quipped with a grin as Bramble scowled at him. "Why don't we finish this conversation at ours?" Gellert added.
Bellatrix scowled, feeling suspicious. "The therapy bit or the Skeeter bit?" It would be interesting to see the inside of the famous Zabini Black Widow's web, though, she had to admit.
Grindelwald chuckled. "Both."
With that said, Bramble Apparated them all to the Zabini family library. At least, Bellatrix assumed that was where it was. It was a large room with bookcases lining the walls and Gellert had just mentioned going to his, so it stood to reason. Odd that Blaise and his man still lived with the parents, though. She and Rod were very happy to have their own place. They'd invited Rabastan to come along because he was still unmarried and the three liked to party together. Then everything had gone to hell.
Bellatrix forced her mind back to the now. She opened her mouth to ask why Grindelwald was going to therapy as he'd brought it up, but Bramble spoke first.
"Bramble would like to share what he saw while studying Skeeter using her quill."
Gellert gestured for everyone to seat themselves. "Please do," he told the elf eagerly.
He and Blaise settled on one end of a long-ish sofa and Rabastan took the other end. Rodolphus flopped down into an overstuffed armchair and Bellatrix sat herself on his lap. He wound his arms around her waist, and sighing with contentment she snuggled her back against his warm, solid chest. It felt nice and the two hadn't had time to sit together in that way for far too long. The Zabini elf perched on the edge of a straight backed ebony wood chair with a huge spider carved into its high back.
"When Bramble watched her writing with her quill, he observed something rather strange," he began slowly. "Because it is strange, it shall also be difficult to describe."
Grindelwald nodded, giving him an encouraging smile.
Bramble continued, a frown of concentration on his face. "It was as though the quill, or rather the act of using the quill, opened something in Rita Skeeter that allowed her to in turn...open something else, or perhaps access something else. Unfortunately, Bramble could not see that something, but perhaps it is linked to the same method that she sensed in her dreams?"
Gellert nodded. "Likely. Thank you, Bramble." As he spoke, the blonde wizard was already drawing the quill out of his robe. As everyone watched, he began to perform magical detections on it. Likely the same ones he'd used on the Lestranges to detect the fact they'd been tampered with, Bellatrix thought. It didn't take him long to lower the quill and shake his head. "No. Nothing special in this thing at all," he said with disappointment. "It was only a weapon when in her hand and she was only a weapon when holding it. A twisted combination but powerless alone."
"Guess it shall just be another souvenir along with all our glasses," Rabastan said and Grindelwald nodded. "I suppose so."
"At least her reign of defacing and enraging others is over now," Bellatrix said grimly.
"Hopefully she won't be replaced with anyone else by Delphini or whoever was using her," Rod said.
"I should think not," Gellert said, thoughtful as he stared into space. "If fuel is added to the fire that we forced her to abandon, it shall probably wear another guise and serve a different function that we may not even recognize. If one thing doesn't work, another can always be tested out, after all. It is the way of war."
He would know, Bellatrix thought with an inner sigh of weariness. They would all know to a degree, but Grindelwald more than most as his had been fought the longest before he was taken down. She was tired of war, but since they all were, she didn't bother to say so?
The door to the library suddenly opened and a woman of average height and a willowy build entered beside a short stocky man with dark hair and skin. The woman's far lighter skin and blonde hair made her appear as ice beside him. Bellatrix could see both of them in the haughty features of the tall Blaise Zabini.
"How did it go, boys," the ice queen asked.
"You got back rather quicker than I expected," Blaise's father chimed in, voice thick with a heavy Italian accent.
"As they literally drowned her, I suppose one could say it went swimmingly," Blaise drawled.
His father laughed, shaking his head. "I can't say she didn't deserve it. Good riddance to bad journalism!"
"Bad writing in general, Geo, don't forget her books," the black widow reminded. As she spoke, she sauntered over to another high backed chair and slid into it.
"Mum's right," Grindelwald said with a laugh. "She had more plot holes than London has Muggles."
The blonde witch chuckled before turning to the Lestranges. "How interesting... A room full of Dark wizard rogues, just unwinding after a murder," she observed. "And for once I was no part of it."
"You probably got bored after killing me all those times," Geo said with a grin.
Perhaps it was that they were still on a torture high, but for Bellatrix, the particular group of wizards and witches all gathered cozily together did feel a bit surreal. All of them infamous, but in starkly different ways, made it beautiful in the best and most twisted of examples of Dark Art.
"Did she admit to working for Delphini, then," Mrs. Zabini asked.
Bellatrix shook her head. "No. And if she was, she was unaware."
"Oh?" Mrs. Zabini arched her brows.
Grindelwald filled the parents in as Bellatrix slowly felt her adrenaline crashing.
The evening had come to a close far too soon. Had this not been a delicate situation, they could've dragged it out for hours. It was an art for them as well as playtime and she hoped the Ministry would require someone to be questioned and killed again soon. Someone who wasn't so key so they could afford to have fun rather than working the situation for magical angles and traps.
"It certainly is a quandary, isn't it," Sabra Zabini said with a perplexed frown. "I just wish we knew more about what Bramble saw."
"That would be nice, but the important fact is that it's stopped. We have stopped her, and that's a big win for us," Gellert said, blue eyes flashing briefly in triumph.
"One challenge down, many more to go before Delphini is gone," Blaise said grimly and Gellert nodded.
"But look at us! We're all brilliant and amazing. Each of us has our specialties and we will persevere. We always do. Though Delphini may hate it, she is her father's daughter... or at least his creation. As such, I have a feeling she may be more like him than she likes. This means she will also have his flaws and weaknesses. If we are careful, we can catch and destroy her."
For an instant, Bellatrix was distracted by the mental horror Grindelwald's words had conjured of Voldemort creating a person without having to shag by the fact he'd just complimented them again. Go Lestranges!