Bianca flounced out of her bedroom and into the living room, striking a pose as her new dress robes floated around her.
"What do you think?" she said, eying her brother carefully. Thomas Vaisey lifted his head from his book and Bianca delighted in the look of surprise on his face.
"You're not allowed to wear that!" he let out, and she laughed.
"It is not
provocative, Tom," she said, spinning toward the mirror. The robes were
beautiful, she would be the absolute star of the Christmas party and would take great joy in rubbing in the price of the robes to the other girls who would surely be doing the same.
"No," her brother started, standing, "but I don't wish to have boys
mesmerized by my little sister at a party with no adult supervision!" Bianca laughed, knowing that Thomas was only half-serious with his concerns. She batted her eyes in a funny way, and pushed her brother in the arm.
"I can defend myself," she said, recalling the few date-defense tricks she and Mirabelle had discovered. Bianca pulled out her wand, pointing it lazily at her brother, "You could use some retail therapy, brother, you look as if you haven't slept in days."
She watched Thomas' face fall at her words, and Bianca worried that she'd offended him in some manner as he turned away. As much as it was
true, Thomas looked ill and not nearly as happy as Bianca had always known him to be, Bianca did feel guilty that she'd upset him. Tom was the only person she was ever completely honest with, and if she'd hurt him in some way that would never settle in her stomach.
"Sorry," she said, dropping her hands to her side, "You're probably just working a lot--"
"It's not---" her brother started. Bianca's ears perked as she realized he wanted to explain. She was always a good listener, and had been the keeper of many of Thomas' secrets.
Like the fact that his wife was about a month pregnant! They were waiting just a bit longer before telling the rest of the family, but Thomas had hurriedly come to spill the news to her the moment they'd found out---Bianca knew that she did not have to announce that she would keep whatever he had to say
now a secret, her brother would know.
"What's the matter?" she said, "Is Luisa all right?"
"No, she's---fine, she's perfect, the baby's---fine," Thomas said, unable to settle in one spot and jumping out of his seat to the window. Bianca's eyebrows furrowed in confusion; her brother was never jumpy. "Bianca, remember---when I told you about those men, who came into my shop--"
She let out a breath, "They haven't come back, have they?" Bianca knew that her family was an old pureblood name, but they were no where near the ranks of the Blacks or the Lestranges, they'd always kept very neutral with their war stance, so when Thomas came to her with a black eye and a bloody lip because of some cloaked
men who wished to use his book store as a hideout---"Thomas, you need to call the authorities!"
"I can't!" he said, "They'll hurt Luisa and the baby if I do, they'll hurt
you, Bianca and I can't---" She watched her brother slump into the chair he had just left, and Bianca crossed the room, "They won't stop, I've been getting owls and packages and---"
"And---what do they
want? Close the store if you have to!" Bianca let out, feeling the nerves in her stomach build and build. What could his shop have that the men--the
death eaters wanted so bad? How could Thomas not have told her that the problem had become so severe? "Just close it, say---you went out of business!"
"They want
me, Bianca!"
She stiffened, feeling like she had received a bludger to the gut. They wanted Thomas? They wanted---what, for---"They want you to join?"
He nodded, his face still miserably sitting in his hands. Bianca blinked furiously, a rush of great panic coming over her. No, no, no, her brother was a good man, he would not join the Dark Lord's army because he did not
hate muggles and muggleborns, he did not
hate anything, he was good---he was the best brother anyone could ever wish for---
"And you've told them no?" she asked weakly.
Again, her brother nodded, and Bianca felt relieved but for only a second. She realized that if things had been as simple as declining the invitation to become a death eater, her brother would not look as ill and sickly as he did right then. "And they won't take no for an answer?"
She sucked in a breath when he nodded again, and Bianca dropped to the arm of the chair. "What are you going to do?" What
was there to do? Run away? Hope that they didn't attack his family in retribution? Bianca put her hand to her brother's back to try and comfort him, but a sharp, hard knock at their front door jolted her to her feet.
"Don't answer it!" Thomas let out quickly, pulling Bianca back. Bianca stared up at him, eyes wide as she saw the anger and fear in her brother's eyes. No, it couldn't be
them, they wouldn't---The knocking persisted and Bianca was sure that they were going to throw the door off the hinges.
"What are we going to do!" she yelped as Thomas began to pull her across the room. He threw open the closet door and shoved her inside---no, no---no, "Thomas!"
He put his finger to his lips to silence her, "Just be quiet, Bianca, please, if anything happened to you---"
"Don't--!"
The sound of the front door being slammed off its frame and into the house, knocking over vases and mirrors, crashing to the ground forced the two siblings to jump away from each other. Bianca covered her mouth to stop her scream, tears pouring from her eyes as Thomas shut the closet door in her face. Her breathing became heavy and she fell into the wall of the closet, trying to hear everything that was going on outside of it, hoping that Thomas would just disapparate and
leave. They would not find her here, she would be
safe. Bianca's eyes dropped to the floor of the closet, watching the shadows move and the jets of color bouncing around. She heard the shouts, she heard the spells, but she did not hear----she
saw----
---the green flash of light poured out from under the door of the closet. Bianca let out a scream as a second later the sound of a body hitting the ground filled her ears and she burst out of the closet.
The shriek she let out at the sight of her brother's fallen form, of his
eyes staring up at the ceiling but not really staring at all----Bianca screamed again and with blurry vision and hitching chest she hurled toward the cloaked figure all the spells she could recall. Anything to hurt the man that had killed her brother, anything that would make him suffer---
Bianca felt a sharp pain in her shoulder and the second she wasted to bend over in pain was enough for the death eater to round on her. He grabbed her hair roughly, pulling her straight up and nearly pressing his mask to her face. She could see the blue of his eyes and was certain that he was going to kill her then.
"Your brother was a
coward," he spat before thrusting her to the ground. Bianca stared up tearfully as the death eater pulled his cloak around and swept out of the house. The trail of destruction he had brought in his whirlwind entrance stopped at her brother's still feet, and Bianca crawled toward Thomas with the last ounce of energy she could muster before collapsing on top of her brother's cold body.
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