FONTAINE MANOR

Sage Fontaine-Black woke up with a start to find herself alone in her bed.

Her eyebrows furrowed; Sirius was a heavy sleeper, and ever since the last time she'd woken up from a nightmare, he rarely left her alone while she slept. He wouldn't have left their bed without waking her up first.

She was on guard as she climbed out of bed and crept into the hallway, listening for footsteps, voices, or breathing. She'd been alert enough to grab her wand from under her pillow, where it rested whenever she was asleep or in bed—she never knew when she'd need it.

"Lumos." She whispered under her breath. An orb of light glinted at the tip of her wand.

Other than the gentle creak of her own feet on the hardwood floors, there was silence. And out of the silence came laughter, manic and cruel and so horrifyingly familiar that Sage froze in place.

She was thankful Harry and Madeleine were safe at Hogwarts and not in this house. She forced herself to move, placed her feet on the floorboards she knew wouldn't creak, and cast a barrier charm on the door to Anna-Lee and Noah's bedroom. If there was going to be a fight that night, her dearest American friend and her husband wouldn't be a part of it.

"Sagey baby." A woman's voice, harsh and grating but also lilting with a sort of ageless grace, called from the staircase down the hall. "It's been far too long, Sage, darling. We need to catch up!"

I was right, Sage thought bitterly. She's come after me after all.

She forced down the bile that rose in her throat. She hadn't practiced defensive or offensive magic in over a decade, so if it came down to a battle of spells instead of a battle of wits, Sage Fontaine-Black would be severely overpowered.

Once Voldemort's greatest assassin, she was now a mother, housewife, and, at best, the wizarding version of a cop stuck on desk-duty. She hated herself for growing rusty and getting soft.

"Lestrange, do I have to threaten you with a shotgun to get you to leave? Or do I have to Obliviate you again?" Sage managed to spit out, cringing at how defensive she sounded.

It seemed that Bellatrix picked up on that cagey sound in Sage's voice, for she shrieked with laughter. "You've gotten too gentle, Sagey. What happened to the Slytherin girl I used to know? The one who only cared about herself? Come on, Fontaine. You used to be so cuthroat. Has Harry Potter changed you that much?"

"You don't get to bring him up." Sage seethed, almost launching herself around the corner, where Bellatrix was halfway up the stairs. "Now, are you going to keep talking or are you going to stop stalling and do what you came here to do?"

Bellatrix grinned, showing off cracked and rotting teeth.

Apparently, Azkaban didn't have good dental care. All in all, she looked sickly, thinner than she'd ever been, aged well past her thirty six years. She looked even more deranged than she had before she'd been sent away.

"Oh, my darling Sage. Motherhood looks wonderful on you." Bellatrix said, a compliment that sounded insulting on her unclean tongue. "Tell me, Sage—is he here? I'd love to meet the boy you've raised."

Sage's stomach rolled. "Stupefy!" She pointed her wand at Bellatrix's chest, and the stunning spell hit the escapee right in the sternum.

The smile that spread on Sage's face when Bellatrix tumbled backwards down the stairs was nothing short of malicious.

"You bitch!" Bellatrix shrieked. She cast a wordless spell in Sage's direction, some sort of curse that was an angry jet of red magic.

Sage ducked to avoid it. "Why, after all these years, do you still want me dead?" She said through gritted teeth.

Bellatrix went running. "You killed Lawson! I'm here to repay a debt." She called over her shoulder.

Summers spent at the Fontaine Estate in their adolescence made Bellatrix keenly aware of the layout of the house, and it seemed like decades away hadn't impared her memory; she booked it towards the kitchen and to the back door, casting a spell that blew the door off its hinges. She ran through it and out into the pouring rain outside.

Every sensible part of Sage's brain told her to slam the door shut, lock it, and put up the wards she'd used religiously during the first war. But she didn't know where Sirius was, or if he was in the house at all. She wasn't about to lock him out of the house in the rain with a deranged criminal.

But Sage wasn't feeling particularly sensible. She had made a promise to Harry that she would protect him through anything, and if murdering Bellatrix Lestrange meant they'd be safe, even if only for a few weeks, months, or years, she'd do whatever it took. She'd kill a thousand men and women if it meant Harry didn't have to worry about his safety.

So Sage followed her former friend out into the pouring rain.

Raindrops pelted her like tiny bullets, soaking her clothes and hair in mere moments.

"We used to be friends, you know." Bellatrix shouted over the echoing thunder. "We told each other everything. We were family. You, me, Rowan, Maia, Charlotte. And then you all abandoned me because of one bad decision. They took your side. I was friendless and alone and you had everything you'd ever wanted.

"I deserved that. I deserved friends, and a boyfriend that loved me for more than my status and title, and happiness. You never bothered to ask if I was happy, or alright at all. I have had nothing but misery since the day you decided I wasn't worth friendship." She finished, pointing her wand at Sage.

Sage looked dumbfounded. "You've come to kill me because I didn't want to be friends with you anymore?" She asked incredulously.

Bellatrix's eyes showed the deep extent of her madness, and she cocked her head. "Oh, I haven't come to kill you. When I said I wanted revenge for Lawson, did you think I'd just give you the easy way out and let you die?"

"So you've come to torture me, then?" Sage asked as a sense of understanding hit her. "Well, hurry up, then. I'm sure you want to go back to Voldemort and tell him that you've finally taken down his favorite assassin from back in the day."

Smiling wickedly, Bellatrix pointed her wand straight at Sage's forehead. "I'm glad you're smarter than you used to be."

And then she drew a breath. "Carpe Retractum."

Ropes shot out of her wand and flew towards Sage, wrapping her in what felt like barbed wire that dug into her skin.

Blood soaked through Sage's clothes, and rivulets of crimson ran down her bare arms and legs.

She opened her mouth to reply, but Bellatrix shot another spell at her, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head.

She was already unconscious by the time she hit the ground.