Ash and Banshee Hair

Disclaimer: Except for OCs, the characters here and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of JK Rowling and her assigns.

A/N: The violence in this chapter is a bit cartoonish in my mind, but I can see it being a bit disturbing for some. It is certainly more violent than what I usually write, so I wanted to alert my readers.

Katherine sat at the breakfast table and pondered the next move. They couldn't go to the French Ministry. Silvia would be expecting them to do that. The same was true of the Italian Ministry. Somehow she knew what the branches of the family tree were, and she knew which pieces Katherine was missing. Clearly the Auror had availed herself of the Ministry Archives before Katherine had done so, and also clearly, the ex-Auror had the resources to watch the places the Snapes might look for information.

"How did she get those sorts of resources? I thought she was trying to marry rich; someone is involved who already has a fair amount of money."

"There is the Weatherfield family. We know Gustav is definitely involved, and your uncle seems to think his mother, Agnes, is trying to keep an old vendetta running."

"I don't understand what that old bat Agnes is trying to do. She can't expect to gain anything, herself, from the Prince Legacy."

"Some of the old families really want to see the future generations well cared for." Severus chose his next words carefully. "Then again, there seems to be a vendetta between Agnes and Sonny. He seems to think she would derive particular pleasure in hurting him through you."

"I can't believe anyone thinks I'm important. It's hardly happened in thirty-seven years that anyone has thought much about me one way or another. Meanwhile, how are we to get the missing branch of this family tree filled in?"

Severus watched her fret and finally set an object next to her plate. She picked it up. It was the cork from the bottle of Elf-made wine they had shared the night he invited her to Hogwarts. She didn't really look at the cork as she touched it. She just turned it in her fingers as she remembered the case she was working on at that time. Severus was reminding her that she had solved that case; she would solve this one too.

Then as the writing on the side of the cork came into focus, she realized what Severus was pointing out to her. The proprietor's name burned into the side of the cork was "Luc Malfoy." It was the last name she had on the French branch of the family tree. She gasped and looked him in the eye.

"You brilliant man." She got up and walked around the small table to kiss her husband. He met her part way, and the kiss they shared made them glad that the bed was just a few steps into the next room. Within hours they would take a rental car into the country with a picnic basket, like any couple hoping for a tour of the countryside. For the moment, however, they enjoyed a few moments of married bliss.

The basket of edibles was stowed carefully in the car that the concierge helped them obtain. Severus drove carefully out of town. They spent the morning driving through countryside and stopped along the way to have a picnic from the contents of their basket. An hour later, he parked at the remains of a church that was considered important to Muggle historians. The Snapes locked the car and then Severus held the cork out to his wife. He had made arrangements with the friend of a friend. As soon as she touched it, the Portkey activated and they were transported.

They found themselves in a room that looked very much like the atrium of a fine restaurant. That was, in fact, where they turned out to be. A fussy gentleman hurried up to them, spewed a mixture of what they assumed was English with what they knew was French, and showed them to a table overlooking the vineyard.

"Wow," said Katherine. "And Lucius owns most of this?"

"He loves the wine so much that he wanted to make sure he had a steady supply. It would seem that this is the missing French branch of the family, as well. When Luc had financial troubles, Lucius stepped in and made an arrangement that suited both quite well."

"I can understand why they came here." She sighed and shook her head in admiration of the view. "It sure is beautiful."

The waiter spoke much better English than the Maître 'd. "We have everyone start off with the classic red." He placed glasses on the table and Severus watched him carefully as he described the options for the various courses. He slid his hands over his wife's and held them on the table. The diners at the other tables oohed to themselves at how loving a husband he was.

The waiter took their orders and left. Severus quickly took his wand and vanished the contents of Katherine's glasses. "I was looking forward to that!" she hissed.

"I don't like the look of him, and if someone tried to poison you here, it would not be the first time, would it?"

"What am I to drink, then?" She couldn't help sounding waspish just then.

With an Evanesco, he cleaned her glass. Then he inspected it and sniffed it. Deciding it was clean, he said, "Aguamenti!" and filled it will clear, cold water. She sipped it gratefully.

"That's fine, but what about dinner? The cheese and bread we ate for lunch was a while ago, and not that filling."

"It is a problem," he said as the meal appeared at their places. "Perhaps it will help if you consider that someone wants to kill our child and you in the bargain."

Katherine looked at her plate. Suddenly she felt ill. She was used to being wary whenever she entered a situation, but her husband had made an art out of suspecting everyone and everything. A year ago she would have scoffed at such concerns, but at the moment his caution was warranted.

"Wait a minute," she said. "If this is the branch of the family tree that was missing, and if Lucius knew them all along, why couldn't he fill it in for us, himself?"

"Did he ever get a good look at the scroll on which you outlined the genealogy? He was also expecting you to go through official records. Even the records in this house would be more accurate than family lore."

The waiter returned in a fit of pique. "Madame does not like the chicken?" Katherine shrugged apologetically. "Well, then perhaps Madame would like a tour of the vineyard." The waiter took her arm and Disapparated.

Severus swore and stood to scan the arbors just below him. She was not close to the buildings, but there seemed to be a commotion in the distance. He closed his eyes and concentrated as he turned.

"...will not be quiet. There's no reason to hurt me whatsoever. Just let me go home, and we can pretend it never happened."

He heard his wife's voice and knew he had come near to the correct spot. He turned carefully and peered between some foliage. There she was; he had arrived exactly where he intended.

The rows of vines went on interminably. He would have to blast through them to get to her, but that would announce his presence. Instead, he would wait. She could be crafty when she needed to be, and her wand was still where she could get at it.

The waiter shook her arm. "You will be quiet." He spoke a spell and shook his wand. A puff of gray smoke came out.

"Not hardly. Am I supposed to make it easy for you? It's not like anyone's going to hear me." She twisted and struggled, but Severus thought she might be holding back.

"Quiet, now. I'm trying to concentrate." The oaf shook her again and Katherine shrieked at him. This time he managed to say the spell correctly and a stream of light went back toward the buildings. The wizard now trained his wand on Katherine's face and she became warily quiet.

There were four pops of Apparition and Severus saw three people come into view. A voice next to his own ear said, "How is she doing?"

He turned with his wand in his hand, a deadly curse of his own making on his lips, and found himself face-to-face with Sonny. "How did you know to come here?"

"I figured you would be here eventually, so I've been staying at the inn. It happens to have a view of this part of the estate. Do you recognize the others?"

Severus looked through the vines again and saw that Gustav Weatherfield was circling Katherine, along with Silvia. The third person was an older witch, who stood back and smiled. Severus had never seen her before. "Is that the infamous Agnes?"

Sonny peered out and swore. "Bloody hell, she is in this. I should have killed her years ago."

Katherine was still struggling and finally stamped on the instep of her captor, who let her go and howled. She turned to run, but Gustav caught her hair and pulled her close. Sonny swore and slid his wand between fronds of grape vine. He whispered a third-year Stinging Jinx at the man standing with his back to him. Gustav screamed when his arm was broken.

As Sonny pulled his hand back, Severus grabbed his arm and looked at the wand. "You have it."

"Of course I do. I wasn't going to let it go to just anyone."

Severus's mind started working through various events. "Have you had it all along? Were you the one who shot spells at us that night?" He thought of all the things that wand had done and became angry.

The older wizard's face turned dark. "Are you accusing me of that? I suppose you also think I would have hurt her, my own flesh and blood, and left her to die in Paris like that?"

"Of course not." Severus shook his head. "So you obtained it later..." He thought some more. "... at the cemetery in Venice!"

"Yes. Actually, one of my associates obtained it for me there."

"And then you sent payment for it to Ollivander?"

"I wanted to harness its full power."

"You realize that the core will cause any spell to develop deadly force."

"I just need to control it better. But what are we talking about? Katherine is in danger." He blasted a hole through the vines, which shriveled at their feet.

Katherine had likewise blasted a hole through some of the vines and was running away from the other four. Slivia followed. The waiter had done all he was paid to do and used the confusion to Disapparate. Gustav took several minutes to tie up his arm, but then followed along with Silvia. Agnes walked behind at a slower pace.

Unfortunately, Katherine didn't know her husband was so close and had gone in the other direction with the others following. As they chased her with spells, she blasted her way through the next row of vines and moved further in the other direction. As they got closer, she did the same thing again.

Silvia solved that by sending a stream of Fiendfyre to the row of vines beyond Katherine. She was forced back in their direction. Severus decided that hiding was unnecessary at this point and Apparated to the row where his wife was running. She swerved to avoid him, but when she realized it was him, she moved closer. The curses that had been following Katherine stopped abruptly.

"They want me alive," he said. Stay as close as you can." He ensured it by sliding an arm around her.

Silvia came closer and aimed her wand at Katherine's middle. "Incarcerous!" was shouted from a nearby vine. Ropes strangled a vine near Severus.

"Didn't I tell you that it won't work on me?"

"Not anymore," answered the other voice calmly. "The Ministry terminated your employment. Incarcerous!" Ropes extended from the wand to tie the witch tightly, but they did their job too well. Silvia screamed and struggled, as blood was drawn by the ropes encircling her arms and legs. They seemed to pull tighter and tighter as they enveloped her. When she realized what was happening, Katherine tried to sever some of them, using her wand to cut through the strands. There were too many of the ropes, and they worked too quickly. Silvia was soon strangled, and her body sank to the ground.

For a minute, only the fire could be heard. They could make out the sounds of many people yelling as they came down from the offices and restaurant to put the fire out. Katherine was suddenly tired and leaned into her husband. Neither took their eyes from their enemies.

Gustav came toward them, glowering and holding his arm. His mother glided up, seemingly unperturbed. "So this is Sonny's heir? I don't understand how you've had so much trouble, Gustav. She seems quite ordinary. It shouldn't take much of a curse." With a flick of her wrist, Agnes cast a spell at Katherine. It hit the jeweled key she was wearing. The rebound caused the elderly witch to fall to the ground, losing her grip on her wand as she did. With a shout of rage, Sonny blasted his way through the vines and stood over the witch.

"You won't do it again!" He stood over her with his wand held out. Any spell he uttered would end her life at this range.

"Uncle Sonny, you can't," said Katherine. Now that she could see it without inhibition, she recognized the wand in his hand.

"You have no idea what she's done," he answered.

"I did nothing, you fool. You did it all yourself," said the older witch.

"But you'll be put in Azkaban this time, unless they decide to send you to a French prison. Please think of little Corinne. She'll want to know you."

"She won't be safe with this madwoman in the world."

"She won't be safe anyway. We'll have to hide her until Lucius inherits the money and everyone forgets. We have the means to do that, but we don't have the means to replace you." There were sounds of Aurors Apparating to the scene. "Let the authorities have her, Uncle Sonny. You can't use that wand."

"She sounds like her mother, Sonny, just another foolish Hufflepuff. Or was she one of Dumbledore's precious Gryffindors?"

He pointed the wand at a spot where the fire was coming near. "Aguamenti!" A three-foot wall of water headed down the row of vines, toward the flames. "I just need to learn to control it better, Katherine."

"It was a mistake with Silvia, Uncle Sonny; this wouldn't be. Don't do it."

"She kept me from helping your mother, Katherine. She did everything she could to keep us apart, and after she succeeded in doing that, she pushed Corinne out of the Wizarding world. If I hadn't interceded, you wouldn't have gotten to Hogwarts."

"But I did get to Hogwarts, and now there's little Corinne. We can all be happy now."

He shook his head. "I'm sure she hounded your poor mother to her death, too, after you left and I was...away."

The Aurors were casually making their way to where Sonny stood over Agnes. Severus, however, didn't take his eyes from Gustav, who was watching everything very carefully. That wizard was a bit too casual. Suddenly he raised his wand and pointed it at Katherine. Severus raised his own wand, a spell of his own ready, but Sonny had been watching him too.

"Impedimenta!"

The wizard was blasted backwards into a bit of the fencing that held up the grape vines. As the others watched, he slumped down to the ground. His head came to rest at an impossible angle to the rest of him.

Katherine risked going to her uncle. "You can't use that wand any longer. You have wonderful control over it, but you have to see, it's beyond anyone. The core...it should never have been used."

"I chased across the Continent to get this wand."

"Silvia had it, didn't she? She was the one who kept trying to kill me. That was the real reason you spent so much time with her, wasn't it?"

"Oh, that's rich. Sonny chasing the wrong witch, again."

Severus aimed his wand at Agnes. "I have half a mind to kill you myself."

Sonny answered Katherine. "Yes. Silvia was using me to get close to you, but I was using her to get this wand. I was also keeping an eye on you, of course."

Katherine rolled her eyes. "It's evil, Uncle Sonny. You can't use that wand. No one can."

He sighed and watched the Aurors help Agnes to her feet. Another Auror was speaking with Severus as a third took the wand Katherine had caught after the other witch had lost it. Over in another section of the vineyard, other wizards and witches were monitoring the fire that was now under control.

He took the wand in his two hands and stared at it. He had worked hard to find this wand, which he had planned to use in exacting revenge upon various people. He looked at Katherine again. She smiled in a way that reminded him of her mother, and his heart turned over.

He took a breath and snapped the wand in half. As the banshee-hair core broke, a stream of black smoke rose into the air with an ear-piercing shriek. The sound died away, leaving two lifeless pieces of wood in his hands. The black ash on the ground blew away in the breeze and mingled with the smoke from the fire.

A/N: Once again, dear readers, thank you for your kind attention. Thanks especially to Trickie Woo, who's gone through this with me and discovered a major problem with an earlier draft of this chapter.