Throughout the exchange with the house elf, Bella hadn’t moved. Even as she had ordered the miserable thing, she had not deigned to look at it, having used her peripheral vision to direct her hand towards the thing. She could see the smirk on her sister in law’s face and Bella practically zoned in on her, almost completely disregarding Rabastan which was exceedingly easy to do. The man was a bore, always playing second fiddle to his brother and never even once considering wrenching the bow off him and trying to garrotte him with it. That, at the very least, would have earned some form of recognition from Bella. As it was, he was a second rate wizard to her. 

“Parisian is more of my sister’s tastes than mine but if it is indeed the best you can do then so be it.” Bella replied, her gaze flickering between Jillian and Rabastan. Give him a few moments and let that sink in. 

When he suggested whiskey, Bella sighed in a rather theatrical manner and darted forward quickly, grabbing hold of Jillian, her fingers curling around the other woman’s wrist, the grip strong and sure. “Well, it sounds like the boys are going to relive the glory days they never had so, Jillian, you are coming with me and we are going to find something interesting to do in this rickety old place.” Bella smiled at the Lestrange brothers now standing together with all the sweetness of poisoned honey before she turned, tugging at Jillian’s wrist to indicate she should come with her. 

The elf had reappeared, quivering a little, as it approached Bella who promptly let go of Jillian in order to take the wine from the tray that the elf was balancing. “Please tell me in the name of Merlin that there is something exciting to do in here.” She took a sip of the wine, analysing the taste before shrugging a shoulder. It would do. 

     Jillian tilted her head a bit, her lips pulling up into a grin once more. “It’s the best my husband can do,” she said in response, not bothering to look at Rabastan. “But, by day after tomorrow, that wine cellar is going to be absolutely filled to the brim with rich Italian wine,” she said, her hands moving to the back of her hips, thumbs facing outward, as if subconsciously drawing attention to her figure. “My husband prefers Parisian blends, I myself prefer a full bodied one. By the end of the week there will be a case of Venetian reds at your disposal, should you enjoy your visit enough to come back, that is,” she said smoothly. From beside her, Rabastan looked as if he were wary of something, perhaps finding her tone displeasing, but she didn’t quite care. 

     When her sister-in-law grabbed her wrist she stepped down towards her, noticing the slight height difference between them as she properly stood beside her. When she spoke of finding something fun to do she scoffed slightly “Good luck with that in this dreary place,” she said. 

     “Hey, this place isn’t so dreary. You just aren’t used to it yet,” Rabastan defended, causing his wife to raise an eyebrow at him. 

     “I doubt I ever shall be, dearest,” she said, the name clearly a sarcastic gesture before she made to follow the older woman wherever she chose to lead her. She took the wine presented to her by the house elf before turning her attention to the other, sipping from her glass as she asked her question that dripped with hellish boredom. “Oh please,” she said, shaking her head. “The most fun thing to do in this place is snoop through the abandoned guest rooms, and even that is a bore,” she said disdainfully. 

Severus was used to these sorts of comments, having developed a thicker skin over the course of the previous years. He was still self conscious about his nose, that would not change, but he had learned to manage it better. He looked at her somewhat questioningly when she threw the barb at him, almost as though he were silently asking her; is this the best that you can do? What a pity. 

He was momentarily confused, although it did not show in his countenance, at her exclamation. As soon as she referred to a ‘sneaky son of a’ he knew who she was referring to and Severus almost wanted to turn and stalk up to Albus’ office and ask the bearded old bastard what he had done. He did not have to go though because she told him, fairly quickly and Severus’ fist clenched unseen at his side, his jaw tightening, when she explained that she had accepted a job offer. 

“It seems as though your earlier statement is in fact accurate Ms Graham. I believe then that we shall have to draw the lines, come to a form of truce for however long the bearded old bastard intends to keep you here. Dare I ask which subject you are teaching?” Severus’ voice tightened slightly at the end as he tried to keep his temper in check. He did not like where this was going. 

     He spoke of drawing lines, of boundaries, and she wanted to laugh. Him, speaking of crossing lines? Had he not crossed the boldest and darkest line ever drawn when he referred to Lily as a mudblood to humiliate her in front of others? Had he not crossed a line when he turned to people like Mulciber and Avery? Had he not joined those who became Death Eaters later on in life? She had heard rumors for years that Severus had become a Death Eater, dying to know how he could pledge himself to such a cause. Her theory had been later confirmed after the trial of Igor Karkaroff when he began listing names of Death Eaters who he believed had gone into hiding, Dumbledore confirming the fact that her old school friend had become a double agent. She glanced at his arm and wondered if she pulled it back if she would see his mark, a mark her mother tried to force her to take, a mark she knew her father would have bared if he was still alive. Cowards, all of them. 

      When he spoke of how long Albus intended on keeping her there she raised an eyebrow curiously “It's a permanent position,” she said firmly, letting him know she wasn’t just filling in for a while, that she intended to move into the castle and teach for as long as possible. And when he spoke of what class she was teaching she reached up to move her hair out of her face, a scar peeking out from behind her hair line just a touch. “History of Magic,” she said. “Albus wanted the children to learn about something other than The Goblin Wars, it's all we ever learned,” she said. 

The Temptation of Knowledge

Tom had been watching the two women from the shadows, prepared to kill Jillian on the spot, should she only display an intention to harm Nagini. As he had expected, Nagini’s approach was effective, for the very moment a human was caught off-guard, they were left with no choice but to act on their true nature, on their true thoughts and feelings, even more so when they were faced with the prospect of their own death.

For that reason, when Jillian uttered words of admiration instead of raising her wand, there was nothing naive about Tom’s positive judgment of her loyalty and character, and from Nagini’s relaxed body language, from the sparkle in her eyes, it was apparent that her assessment was the same as his.

Leaving his hidden vantage point, Tom approached Nagini and Jillian with slow, confident steps.

“Nagini is rather magnificent, is she not?” he remarked, allowing his amusement at Jillian’s immediate fondness of a snake who may have taken her life to seep into his tone.

It was rather tempting for him to keep praising the person closest to him, yet Tom refrained, recognizing that prompting Jillian to speak instead would prove to be more insightful than a mere confirmation of his own words that was given out of a desire to remain in his favor.

After all, there was no place in Tom’s inner circle for those who merely groveled at his feet and parroted anything he said.

     Jillian was almost lost staring at the snake before her, studying her every detail. The shine of the light against her scales, her coloring, her size-she was magnificent. Anyone else, even the others inside the house, would have all tried to kill the snake to save themselves or would have tried to escape out of fear. But Jillian couldn’t help how amazed she felt. She was so lost in the almost childlike wonder that she didn’t hear Tom walking out of the shadows off to the side, hadn’t even seen him out of the corner of her eye. That was dangerous in a way, but she was momentarily more distracted than she ever had been before. 

     She didn’t pull her gaze away from Nagini until she heard a familiar voice, turning her head towards it. “My Lord,” she said almost in surprise, not only at having been caught on the ground by him but also because she had never been around him without others present. Even when she had joined his ranks, Rabastan had always been by her side, as though he believed her incapable of speaking to their lord alone. She wondered how long it would take her foolish husband to realize that she was more powerful than him. 

     When he spoke about Nagini she couldn’t help looking back at her, in awe of how close she was. “She’s gorgeous,” she admitted. “I’ve never seen a snake with such pristine coloring before,” she said. “Her pattern is so specific, so unique. Like brush strokes on a canvas,” she mused. She slowly scooted back a bit and nodded her head towards the snake as if to silently tell her she was only going to stand and that she wouldn’t hurt her, slowly rising up onto her feet and brushing off her pants before looking up at the man a few feet from her. 

     His words were harsh, and part of her didn’t blame him for that. He was an innocent man who had been convicted of a crime he didn’t commit, a crime that had led to the death of their best friends, a crime that was the true fault of someone they had once considered family. She knew he must have felt pain at knowing he was blamed for it all and a large part of her felt for him in that regard. But just as strong of a part of her was enraged. Why did Remus get to be forgiven and she didn’t when Remus had believed Sirius to have betrayed them just as she did? In fact, he had believed it quicker. 

     Remus and Sirius had been at odds with each other for months before James and Lily ever even died, both of them suspicious of the other. They had been at each other’s throats worse than they ever had been in school until they were both silently accusing the other of being a traitor behind their backs, something Jillian had to try to deal with because she refused to choose sides between one of her best friends and the man she loved. He had believed Sirius to have betrayed James and Lily without a second though, where as Jillian was in denial for several months before she ever let herself admit to what had happened. Why didn’t she deserve to be forgiven but Remus did?