COUP ďÉtat

Cassiopeia's wish

They all returned back to the Peverall castle.

Barty had a goofy grin on his face. As soon as they entered the hall where everyone was, he shouted- "We did it. You are talking to the new Lord Crouch."

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose and said- "Yes Barty, as if sporting that god forbidden grin was not enough to tell everyone, you imbecile." "Now Severus, let's not be too hard on him. I am sure his limited brain capacity would not be able to handle the sass of the Lord of Prince and sarcasm." Said Cassiopeia and moved away. Severus smirked and followed her.

Barty stood there trying to process what had been said. He turned to the others and asked- "What did she mean? She was trying to defend me from Severus, wasn't she?"

"Yes, she was." Sirius and Bellatrix answered together and then clambered back looking at each other. They then looked at others and then pointedly ignored any eye contacts.

Hermione stood up and called out to Bellatrix- "Would you like to have a duel with me Bella? I have always wondered who would win if di duel." Bellatrix readily agreed. "Could someone referee over the duel? It will be duel till loosing your wand."

Theo Nott stood to referee over the duel. He was one of the most observant of the Shadows and an amazing strategist.

"I will do it. Rules of the duel- No killing or permanent maiming. Anything else is permissible. Come to the centre."

In the center of the hall, Cassiopeia had built a dueling platform. Both Hermione and Bellatrix took their places on the ends of the platform. They bowed to each other.
Nott called out- "Begin."

Spells started flowing at a huge speed. Bellatrix started using very dark spells, twirling around in her spot. Bone breaker curse, bone vanishing cure, entrails expulsion curse all made their way to Hermione.

But the brunette was not for nothing regarded as the brightest witch of age for nothing. She used various shields to stop the curses. She could see that why the Blacks were known for their dueling abilities. Well, she was also born a Black, and there was no way she was going to lose to Bellatrix.

Hermione upped her attack. She figured out that woman in front had a flair of dramatics. She started using curses that looked huge and shiny.
Bellatrix faltered for a second, not expecting what she thought were high power curses. In return she also started shooting high power curses.

"What is she doing?" Draco asked worried. "Those curses would not do anything to Aunt Bella."

"Oh sweet itty bitty Draco does not remember his aunt's dueling style. But it seems your wife does. Well, we did fight against her and had watched her. Severus, can you guess what is happening?" Severus, who was standing beside her, looked at the dueling pair and said- "The future Lady Malfoy is leading her on. Bellatrix lost the duel when she thought that they were high power curses. She will run out of her strength."

Draco realized it when he heard what Severus said. And sure enough, it was clear that Bellatrix was becoming tired. Forty five minutes of using such high stamina curses were slowing her down. It was then that Hermione seized her opportunity. She fired hexes, curses and spells in a fast succession. The last spell caught Bellatrix on the nick of her finger. Usually, it would not have affected the master dueler but Hermione's curse had been overpowered. She was stupefied and fell to the ground.

Hermione walked up to her and just plucked her wand out of her clenched fingers. She looked at Theo who came up to them and enervated the fallen witch.

Bellatrix came to her senses. She was shocked. Very rarely had anyone ever beaten her. She was impressed. She vowed to herself that she would make Gemini an even better dueler than her other timeline counterpart.
"The was really good. Even if I lost, it was a really nice experience."

Hermione smiled and said- "Yes. It was very nice. The why you were so feared in our time was clearly seen. You were a legend in our times, even if a scary one."

"Now that the duel is over, and so is the celebration day. People will start searching for the death eaters from tomorrow. You people will be first on their list. I have only covered the marks of the elites, inner circle and middle circle. The outer will be caught and incriminated, but they will not be able to take your name. hide as many of them as you can. Go, inform your comrades about the mark, lest they worry, and lead on your normal life. Let them apprehend you. You will not speak anything that could land you in Azkaban. Sirius Black will be caught. Lord Father, now your name is Regulus, as your magic will be telling you. You will come at the ministry the day it is proclaimed that Sirius Black has been found and sentenced to Azkaban. Arrange for an interview where you tell the truth. Then release Pettigew. Severus, would like to spy? I am asking you because you were an excellent one." Asked Cassiopeia.

Severus nodded and then asked- "What will I have to do?"

"Tell Dumbledore that you donot want the Dark Lord to rise back. You are not sure about your partner being a death eater, but are sure if he was then it was because of pressure. So you are willing to help him. You will join the school the year your daughter and Lilith join school."

"Ok."

"Also, can someone get me these ingredients. I need them for a ritual."

Before anyone else could take it, Neville snatched it away. He looked at the ingredients and then at Cassiopeia. "What are these for Cassi. These are not the ingredients that we need to for the ritual to go back. This is something you have invented. So I ask again. What is the ritual for?"

"Nothing. Its just something I want to leave with the little Cassi."

Hermione looked at her startled. "Its that ritual, isn't it? That we read a month ago. The one which copy all your memories and there was something else too. I can't seem to remember. What was it Cassiopeia?"

"That is none of your concern Hermione. I can do whatever I want. And it is really for the best. You need to understand." Cassiopeia said.

Hermione stepped forward to say something but was stopped by Neville. He raised his hand and then turned to his godsister. "If you say that it is for the best then I shall believe you. But before performing it you will have to tell us what it completely entails. No wait Cassi, do not interrupt. What I want to say is if it is truly necessary and not doing it shall somehow harm the world then none of us will even attempt to stop you. You have to trust us in that. So tell when you are ready. Let her be Hermione."

Cassiopeia nodded to her brother in all but blood and then swept out of the hall.

Hermione was left baffled but listened to Neville. She knew that Cassiopeia would keep her promise.

Cassiopeia entered the bathroom. She shed of her clothes and got into the tub. It was a huge tub or rather a small pool. She leaned back and closed her eyes. She thought about the ritual. It could give her what she wanted. It would give her the feeling of being loved, cherished and wanted for once in her life. If things went the way she wanted them to, that is. She would be content in that one time. After all growing up the way she had she had never gotten used to affection that much and a little bit was enough for her. She wanted that. But rituals were tricky things. In order to gain something from it you had to sacrifice something. And the price for this ritual was high, really high. She didn't know how would she disclose the price to her friends.
But she would do this.
At any cost.

She was the Dark Lady Morgana.

If she wanted something, she would bloody well have it.