𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘂𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗼𝗻

Chapter 22:The Night We Burn

The sky above Hogwarts was fire.

Smoke curled through the turrets, and spells tore the night open like wounds that would never close. The cries of students, Aurors, Death Eaters, giants, centaurs — it all bled together into one unholy noise.

And in the heart of it all, Vivienne fought.

Her hair was matted with sweat, her robe torn at the shoulder, blood on her cheek — not hers, not all of it. She'd already taken down Travers and stunned Rabastan Lestrange twice. The second time she hadn't even said a word.

But none of it mattered.

Because she hadn't seen her yet.

Bellatrix moved like smoke through the chaos — silent, lethal, searching.

She'd come with the others. Voldemort had expected her to kill. And she had. Or at least made it look like she did.

But her real goal had nothing to do with the boy.

It was her.

Vivienne.

And Bellatrix's hand tightened around the Portkey still hidden in her sleeve — unused, burning like a wound against her skin.

She'd almost used it.

Twice.

But she hadn't.

Because she needed to see Vivienne choose.

Then, like fate playing its final card, she saw it happen.

She had ducked into a shattered corridor, where two portraits once hung. Now there was only smoke — and Severus Snape, whispering into the silver strands of a glowing patronus.

She knew the shape of it. His.

A doe.

His words, low but clear:

"Minerva... I believe the plan has failed. Bellatrix has not turned. Vivienne's proximity did nothing. She's still his."

The patronus darted away like a secret escaping the flesh.

Bellatrix stood frozen.

She understood in a second.

The truth hit harder than a curse.

Vivienne never came back for me.
She came back to end me.

She found her ten minutes later, in the northern courtyard.

Vivienne was locked in a duel with a Death Eater twice her size, holding her own like a tempest.

Bellatrix didn't announce herself.

She hexed the man in the back without mercy.

Vivienne turned, breathing hard, wand raised.

And then she saw her.

Bellatrix's face was unreadable. The ash on her cheeks made her look carved from war.

"I heard your plan," she said, cold.

Vivienne didn't move. "Bellatrix—"

"You played me."

"No."

"Don't lie to me!" she screamed, and the force of it sent a shockwave through the air. "You wanted me to turn — to break — and when I didn't, you ran to your little friends and told them I was already lost."

"I didn't say you were lost," Vivienne said quietly. "I said you were still yours."

Bellatrix hesitated.