Written for the 20 word challenge over at Harry Potter Fan Fiction Challenges Forum. My mum chose the characters Aberforth and Bellatrix to make it harder for me; I added in Narcissa to make it a touch easier haha.

Remark

Aberforth leant against the bar, clutching his bleeding forehead with one hand while groping around for a rag with the other. The pub was dark- it was late and he had no customers. He hardly ever did, especially now that the Death Eaters had taken Hogsmeade.

He mopped at his forehead with the rag. The cut was quite deep and bleeding profusely. If it wasn't on his forehead, he would have attempted to fix it himself- but he never liked to point his wand directly in his face, so he'd have to let this one heal naturally.

He'd sustained the injury looking into that bloody mirror of Sirius'. He was looking for Potter- he knew he'd have the other half- and then suddenly he saw him- shocking green eye and vibrant red scar. He moved quickly so that Potter didn't notice him, tripped over a footstool and the edge of the mirror slashed across his forehead.

And now it was throbbing. Aberforth didn't mind the injury, but the feeling of blood trickling down his face and into his eyes made him feel sick. He pressed the rag to his forehead again to try and stem the flow.

He took a bottle of butterbeer from the side and pulled off the cap with his teeth. He drank quickly, emptying the bottle in moments.

As he put the bottle down he heard a voice from outside. He walked cautiously to the door, gripping his wand with one hand and holding the cloth to his forehead with the other.

"Narcissa-"

"No. I won't here of it, Bella. My son is in that castle and I am taking him away from there as soon as I-"

"You can't! The Dark Lord will know!"

"Bella I will curse you if I have to- I need my son!"

"You don't have a wand. And besides- what of him? Family means nothing- only blood- blood and power… He, the Dark Lord should be your only thought, your only need…"

"Family means nothing? Then why have you followed me here?"

Aberforth lowered himself to the keyhole and pressed his eye against it. The two sisters, so different in looks, where stood in the middle of the road. Narcissa, the cold blonde, was turned, facing away from the castle, toward her sister.

"We are not supposed to leave the Manor, Narcissa. You know what will happen to all of us if He finds out you escaped!"

"Then go back. Explain it was all my doing. I don't care what happens anymore- I need my son."

Bellatrix's hand twitched inside her robes, feeling, no doubt, for her wand. Aberforth wondered if she would be willing to kill her sister. If she did- he didn't want to witness it.

"Don't be a fool, Narcissa. Just come back with me."

"Why should I? I matter nothing to you, nothing to Lucius, and nothing to anybody back there, least of all Him. I matter to my son, however, so that is whom I am going to focus on now." Narcissa began to walk rapidly up to the castle; Aberforth shifted his position to the grimy window.

Bellatrix ran after her, breathless. "Your son thinks nothing of you! He told me so- in the summer. He told me he cared not if you or Lucius died at the hands of our Lord, he told me he would rather be alone, independent of so-called family bonds- he serves the Dark Lord now- you matter nothing to him."

Narcissa whipped around, her hair slapping against her face. "You dare…"

"You mean nothing to Draco, nothing!" Bellatrix yelled defiantly.

Narcissa's fist flew up, straight into Bellatrix's face. Bellatrix flew backwards to the floor, lifting a hand to her nose.

"If I had a wand, you'd be dead," Narcissa said, spitting on Bellatrix as she turned away.

Bellatrix scrambled up, blood trickling down her face as she pulled out her stolen wand. "Stupefy!" she called, and Narcissa crumpled to the floor.

Laughing, Bellatrix ran to her sister. "Little 'Cissy, little sister," she laughed, "you shouldn't tangle with me! Ha!" She levitated her sister's body and looked around. She looked around suspiciously and caught sight of Aberforth's window, and he moved quickly backwards. He hoped she hadn't seen him. Bellatrix smiled.

She moved Narcissa to the side of the road and came to the door of the pub. Aberforth held his breath.

"Old ma-an… little old man… come out, come out, wherever you are…"

Aberforth stayed silent. BANG! The door fell to the floor with a resounding crash.

Bellatrix stepped over the door, domineering in the doorway. "Little old ma-an…" she said in a sing song voice, her cold eyes scanning the pub.

His heart sank as she noticed him.

She smiled. "There you are, old man." She stepped closer to him, inching her way towards him step by step.

Aberforth trembled.

"I'd kill you, old man, if it weren't for the simple spell named priori incantatem," she said lightly. She appeared to be speaking to herself as she twiddled the wand between her fingers. "You see, I stole this wand from my master's collection… he has many… just in case… and he always checks…"

Aberforth clutched at his wand.

"You won't tell anyone, old man." Her voice was menacing- it had lost its lightness, it was deep and alarming.

Aberforth's trembling fingers dropped the blood-sodden rag he was holding to his forehead. She sniggered.

"You've hurt yourself too," she remarked, lifting a long finger to tap the congealing blood on her upper lip, and then licking it. She lifted the finger to his cut, digging inside it. Again, she licked the blood from her finger. Aberforth closed his eyes.

"I love the taste of blood…" she sniggered again. She pressed her mouth close to his ear. "You will not speak a word of this to anyone, old man. My sister is merely stunned- and you are alive and well. There will be no murders tonight- if…" She left it open.

She laughed heartily, shaking her hair wildly like the lunatic he expected her to be. "Old ma-an…"

"I-I won't tell," Aberforth stuttered.

"What did you say, old man?"

"I won't tell."

She shrieked with laughter again, before leaning into him, her mouth close to his ear once more. "Old man, you will not remark of this incident to anyone. If you do- you will find yourself- and all your loved ones- in a dark room, where I will torture you mercilessly- in all kinds of ways. Do you understand?" Her mouth brushed his earlobe as she spoke, and he felt the wet blood.

"I- I understand."

"Excellent." She shrieked with laughter again. She stepped backwards, half turned to the door. "Not a remark to anyone…"

Aberforth nodded.

Laughing, Bellatrix ran from the pub. She took her sister's floppy arm, threw it around her shoulder and gripped her tightly. She raised her wand to the sky and began to spin.

Her shrieking laughter still echoed in Aberforth's ears. Shaking, he lowered himself to the floor to pick up the rag, which he pressed to his forehead once more. After a while, he remembered the door, and charmed it back into place, but he remained slumped where he was for hours, thinking of that terrible laugh, his cowardly consent, and most frightening of all, her chilling promise.

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