Chapter 18

All canon characters belong to JKR.

Thanks to June for being my wonderful beta and helping me make this story legible.

Chapter 18

As Draco Apparated to Hogwarts, Lucius was entering the cell in which Bellatrix had been keeping Severus. Lucius stepped in behind Bellatrix. He looked at Severus' body lying still on the ground. He swallowed hard, hoping to whatever god there was in heaven that his friend was alive.

"What have you done to him?" he asked. She laughed.

"I started with a Cruciatus Curse, then a Slicing Hex, then Cruciatus, then another Slicing Hex, and, oh, a few more bouts of Cruciatus." She sounded almost bored, but Lucius knew that she had a powerful and fearsome hand with these spells; he remembered what she did to the Longbottoms with just the Cruciatus Curse. She walked to Severus and lifted his head. He moaned slightly, as she threw his head back down in disgust. When she turned to face Lucius again, she found his wand in her face.

"Lucius, dear. Have you been so domesticated that you have forgotten how to aim properly? Get your wand out of my face," she said.

"My aim is perfectly fine, Bella." He kept his wand pointed at her as he moved around her and slowly walked towards Severus, who was now struggling to sit up. As he reached Severus, a voice from the doorway yelled out.

"Expelliarmus!"

Lucius' wand immediately fell from his hands and towards Bellatrix. Lucius looked toward the door and saw Peter standing there with his own wand pointed at Lucius. Peter stood at the door, laughing.

Bellatrix immediately grabbed Lucius' wand and threw it to the corner of the room, then drew her own wand towards him.

"I should have known, you bastard!" she screamed. "How could you, Lucius? How could you? You were the cruelest of us all! I should kill you right now!"

Lucius got to his knees and leaned down to help Severus sit up.

"He is a traitor! And so are you! Why, Lucius, why?" Bellatrix was shaking with anger. She had trusted Lucius. Of all the Death Eaters she had ever known, she thought Lucius would understand and help her. And now he was in front of her, on his knees. Lucius Malfoy, the most revered aristocrat among the Death Eaters, proud beyond belief, was on his knees helping a traitor.

"He is my friend, Bella. I would not expect for you to understand things such as love and friendship. They are too pure a concept for your warped mind. You know nothing of caring for anyone while expecting nothing in return but friendship." As Lucius finished his sentence, Bella cast her first curse towards him.

"Crucio."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Draco had arrived at Hogwarts. He immediately took Raven to the hospital wing, accompanied by a teary-eyed Odette. Once there, he flooed Hermione, who was there in a blink of an eye, followed by Ginny. She rushed towards her son's bed and began raining kisses on his face.

"Raven, my baby." Hermione caressed his cheeks, and lovingly pushed the hair that had fallen onto his face.

"He's got a broken rib and a sprained ankle, but he's going to be fine, Hermione," said Draco from behind her, as he stood beside the bed, with his arm around Odette's shoulder. "Poppy gave him some Dreamless Sleep potion, so he'll be asleep for a while."

Hermione turned around and looked at Odette, who was crying.

"It's all my fault he's hurt. That horrible woman was touching my shoulder, and she was going to hurt me, so he yelled at her to stay away from me." Odette began sobbing uncontrollably.

Hermione approached her and lifted her chin. "Don't blame yourself, Odette. He was protecting you. He's just like his father; he can't stand to see anyone hurt someone he loves."

Odette smiled as Hermione hugged her.

"Thank you, Draco," said Hermione.

"No thanks necessary." Draco took her hand and kissed it, just like his father had done earlier, with his promise to get them all back. "Father and the others should be here soon."

"Did you see Severus, Draco?" asked Ginny, as she approached Draco and put her arm around his waist.

"No" Draco shook his head. "I saw my father walking with Bella towards his cell, I think. Harry followed them, but I had to get the kids out of there." Draco saw the worried look on the women's faces. "Don't worry, they'll be fine." As he said the words, he prayed to all the gods he could remember that he was right.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Back at Bella's house, Lucius was getting another round of the Cruciatus Curse, courtesy of Bellatrix. She had had been taking turns between him and Snape, and she was becoming angered by the fact that the two men seemed to be resisting her curses quite well.

"I'm quite surprised. It has been so very long since you two were in the midst of any sort of battle, yet you are resisting my curses quite formidably."

Lucius laughed, as did Severus.

"Curses? Is that what you are doing to us? I've had pedicures more painful than this," said Lucius, as both men broke out into fits, albeit weak fits, of laughter.

This only furthered Bellatrix's fury towards them. She raised her wand towards Severus, deciding she'd had enough of both men.

"Avada..."

"Expelliarmus!" shouted Harry from the far side of the cell.

Bellatrix's wand fell from her hand as she turned towards Harry. At the same time, Peter took the opportunity to change himself once again, and scurried out of the cell. Knowing Harry would be too preoccupied with keeping Bellatrix from escaping, the small rodent ran up a small passage leading out of the house and to his freedom.

As Peter scurried out onto the grass, he was spotted.

"There he is, Crooks!" Osiris shot from the low branch he had been perched on and flew toward the retreating Animagus rat. As he swooped down, he pounced on Peter and pinned him to the ground. He whispered a spell long forgotten and rarely used, as he dug his talons into Peter's back. Osiris had remembered it from his summers spent with Severus in their youth. It was a blood spell. When the words were spoken, the other person ... whose blood was drawn from your hand ... could hear your thoughts, and you could hear theirs. No knowledge or skill of Legilimency was needed.

"I know you can hear me, so pay attention," Osiris warned.

"What? Wh...who are you?" asked Peter, as his body trembled in fear.

"I will tell you in a moment who I am," answered Osiris, as he dug his claws deeper into Peter's back. "You thought you would get away again, didn't you? Yes, I know who you are, and what you have done. How many times have you run away, Peter? This is becoming a habit for you. Tell me, how did it feel to turn your two friends over to the hands of a murdering maniac? Were you there when he killed Harry's parents? Were you watching through the window while that bastard killed Harry's mother? Had you hoped to watch him do the same to a baby? You know of whom I speak, don't you?"

"Please, I didn't want to do it, but I'm weak, I admit it. Please don't kill me, anything but that," begged Peter.

"Please?" Osiris laughed, then dug his talons deeper, "Is that what Harry's mother said as she blocked her son's body with her own, as she begged that fucking sick perverted piece of filth not to kill her child?!"

"I wasn't there, I swear!"

"No, of course you weren't. Too weak to fight, too weak to watch. What good are you, then?"

"Please, I beg of you, don't kill me." Peter began crying. He lifted his rat head and saw a large orange cat approach.

"Beg all you like." Osiris lifted his head slightly and saw Crookshanks. "I see my friend has arrived."

"Wait, no, please!"

"There's that word again. What should I do with you, Peter? Should I snap your neck and kill you instantly, or should I just feed you to my little lion?"

"Who are you?" asked Peter once more.

"My name is Osiris Dominicus Snape. My cousin is Severus Snape, spy and war hero. I have lived in this world half my life as the creature above you. I am no mere bird. Are you acquainted with Egyptian mythology, Peter? I think I shall somewhat live up to my name now, and usher you into that realm you should have been thrown into a long time ago. Say hello to your master when you see him." Osiris bit down on Peter's spine, making sure the rat would not be able to run away. He then withdrew and looked to Crookshanks. "Have at him, Crooks."

At that, Crookshanks pounced on Peter, who was now twitching violently on the ground. Crookshanks bit down on Peter's back and heard him squeal in pain. Osiris muttered another spell and broke his telepathic connection with the rat now being demolished by Crookshanks.

"That's it, my friend. Tear him apart, so that there is nothing left of him to rot," Osiris said, and then silently watched with a gleam in his eye, as his best friend went to work tearing apart the body of the rat once known as Peter Pettigrew, Wormtail, and Scabbers. There would be no coming back from the dead for Peter this time, by any name.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A fitting end to Peter Pettigrew, don't you think?

I'll have another chapter up tomorrow.