Re-Arranging the Family Hierarchy((Closed))

[Pyro Blackfire S5]

The time was right and the night was perfect. If Pyro was to make his move, it had to be tonight. Cassandra and Lust were out of the house and Alex was sound asleep in her room. It being on the 3rd floor and the wealth of activities going to be on the 1st floor, she wouldn't be bothered. But Pyro placed a spell on her door, making it sound proof, just in case. The timing was to perfect, he didn't want to drag her into this conflict. He would end it here tonight, and it was going to go exactly according to plan. It did require quite a large sum of money to get the man to come to the house and perform a memory charm on every house elf in the house, and to pay for the man's silence. Pyro had had to use his entire fortune from his account. It didn't matter, he could go with being poor for a few months. The reward was much greater than the sacrifice. After all the house elf's memory's had been altered and the house elfs had been rendered unconscious the darkly cloaked man made his leaf, with a rather fat wallet at his side. Pyro watched him go, his services had been required. Pyro feared that he wouldn't have been strong enough to perform the charm perfectly on all of the elfs and still have enough energy to do what he needed to do.

All the tools were ready. PYro had left his own wand behind in his room. He couldn't risk the temptation of using it. Instead he had stolen one of his fathers many spare wands. One thing about being a family shrouded in darkness, you made lots of enemies. His father was always paranoid of an attack so he kept many spare wands just in case. Pyro moved down the hall toward his destination, dragging an unconscious elf behind him by the collar. "Sorry Nova, but your going to have to be my scapegoat." Pyro did not envy the elf, or what he was about to go through, but sacrifices were necessary for the greater good. Finally they reached their destination, Charles' study. Pyro propped Nova against the wall and slowly opened the door and entered the study. Pulling out his wand he quickly did a spell on the door, making it both sound proofed, and locked from both the inside and the outside. The spell could not be undone by anything. One simply had to wait for the time to expire before the door could be opened once again.

Pyro sighed, clearing the nerves out of his body and slowly began to move deeper into the study, by passing the many rows of book shelves on his way. Soon he reached the heart, the soul of the study, his father, Charles Blackfire. His back was to Pyro, he could finish it right here with just one spell, no blood, no mess, but Pyro couldn't do that, he was more honorable than that. He wouldn't strike somebody down without them knowing who it was. "Hello Father." Pyro said. Charles snapped the book shut that he was reading and slowly turned about. "Pyro? I didn't hear you kno...." His sentence died away as he spied the wand in his son's hands. Understanding flooded his face, "Must we really do this now?" Asked his father.

Wordlessly Pyro lifted his wand. "Stupefy" He yelled and watched as the spell fired off his wand and flew at his father. The old bookworm moved faster than even Pyro knew he could and quickly dodged to the side and behind a book shelf. The spell hit the wall, causing a great chip of it to blow away. Pyro broke into a run and ran to the next aisle of shelf but quickly had to duck away as his fathers own spell flew by his head. Pyro growled and spun to the front of the shelf and pointed his wand at it. "Reducto!" He cried and watched as the spell hit the shelf and sent it falling over. He grinned as he heard his fathers cry of surprise and quickly ran on top of the fallen shelf to catch his father unaware.

Pyro couldn't help but feel overjoyed as he saw the image of his father kneeling on the ground, coughing up dust and dirt. He leapt off the shelf and landed behind his father, wand pointed at his back. "It ends here!" Pyro said in victory. He could see one of his fathers hands, propped on the ground with the wand useless in that hand. Yet a grin spread over his fathers face. "You sure of that? Reducto!" Pyro's eyes went wide in surprise as his fathers kept flew up, revealing his other hand, and his other wand pointed directly at Pyro's chest. Pyro went flying away head over heels to connect painfully with a book shelf many feet away. He heard many sickenly Cracking sounds and knew that not all of them came from the shelf. The shock of his connection sent the shelf falling over and before Pyro knew it he was buried under books.

Pyro coughed, he could feel warmth spreading throughout his back and running down one of his legs and knew it to be his own blood. It was also starting to drift down his cheek and the back of his head. He coughed again and heard the approaching footsteps of his father. "Pyro, Pyro, Pyro." His father said in a 'to bad' tone. "It almost pains me to do this. You were my one and only heir. But such disobedience I cannot allow!" Pyro could see his father approaching slowly, both wands pointed ahead of him. "I suppose I'll have to make that Cassandra my heir now." Teased his father. Pyro's eyes snapped opened, his father had said the wrong thing. With energy Pyro thought he didn't posses he sat up, pulling himself from the pile of books and wood. He pulled something out of his pocket, something he had thought he would never see again.

Holding it above his head he grinned at his fathers confused expression and quickly smashed it into the ground. Almost immediately smoke began to filter out of the small vial Pyro had smashed and it enveloped him, blocking him from sight. "Stupefy! Stupefy!" Charles quickly yelled and watched his spells enter the cloud, but from the sound alone he could tell that it struck nothing human. Growling he whipped his wand and blew the cloud away. Pyro had disappeared. "You can't beat me boy!" He yelled to the study. "You're to young to be able to pull this off!"

Pyro was only a few aisles down, leaning his back against the shelf and breathing deeply, trying to regain his composure. He cursed himself, how could he have not expected his fathers spare wands, he was using one of them himself! He growled, he couldn't waste time sitting her like this. Suddenly an idea came to him and he climbed painfully to his feet, than steadily began to climb up to the book shelf.

Charles moved steadily from one aisle to another. He knew Pyro was wounded and couldn't have moved far. Something caught his eye at the end of a particular aisle. Moving to it he examined the spot and grinned. He knew that this pool of blood was Pyro's. He stood slowly, wands out in front of him. Where could his son have gone to? Suddenly something dripped onto his wrist. "Hmm?" He looked at it curiously, it was blood. Suddenly it all came to him and he quickly brought his wands up. It was to late. Pyro's knee, with the weight of a falling Pyro behind it, connected with Charles' face. He felt his nose disintegrate and felt blood enter his mouth. He stumbled back.

Pyro landed on his feet and did not relent. He moved with his stumbling father and layed a full barrage of kicks and punches at him. Pressing his only advantage, hand to hand combat. Pyro brought his foot up in a finishing kick that connected square with Charle's jaw and sent him flying. He crashed heavily onto his back with a painful oof! He opened his eyes and found himself looking down the length of his son's wand. He noticed that he had dropped one of his wands during his son's attacks and looked up as Pyro steadily approached. Growling with determination Charles lifted his wand "Avada Kedavra". Pyro's eyes went wide with shock, how could his father still muster up that much energy. Quickly diving to the side Pyro watched the green light fly past and strike the wall. "Expelliarmus" He shouted and watched his fathers wand fly away.

Pyro looked down at his fallen, and now wandless, father. Saw the defeat in the mans eyes and grinned. He felt no remorse, no regret, and not an ounce of guilt as he lifted his wand and pointed at a piece of wood from one of the destroyed bookshelfs. The piece floated into the air and rotated so that the jagged piece pointed at Charles.

With the last of his energy Pyro swung his arm and sent the piece of wood flying at his father. Charles managed one squeek of surprise before the piece of wood struck him and tore through his chest. Charles' eyes moved to Pyro, wide eyed with shock that Pyro had actually managed this. Than, with one last blood filled cough, the body of Charles Blackfire fell limp and the light of life left his eyes.

Pyro's arm dropped and he swooned. Growling he caught himself, he couldn't pass out now. There was still things to do. Moving back to the door he reached it just in time and heard a small Click come from the locking mechanism. Opening the door he grabbed Nova and dragged him to where his father lay. Dropping the unconscious elf onto the ground he placed his wand in Nova's hands.

In a few hours the place would be swarming with Ministry officials. They would find this scene and quickly begin to investigate. First impression would be that Nova and his father had battled it out. Father had managed to render Nova unconscious, but not before Nova made the finishing blow. When questioned Nova would break down and confess, helped by his altered memory's. The house Elfs would all say how weird Nova had been acting as of late. Pyro grinned, aside from some injury's, it had all gone according to plan. Nova would take the fall, and Charles had lost the Blackfire family. Pyro wasn't of age so he couldn't rightfully accept the family. So many cousins would come out of the woodworks and stake claim. A large legal and court battle would ensue and it will look like the Blackfire name would crash and burn in the battle. Than it would happen, Pyro would turn 17 and become the rightful heir and stop the legal battle. He would be the new leader of the family and he would seem like a hero within the family. Saving the Blackfire name from destruction.

He had made it to his room without even realizing it. Waving his wand he made some bandages fly from his closet and quickly covered his wounds. With another flick he removed the blood from his body and dropped into his bed. he would have to be awake in a few hours when the Ministry arrived. Better get his rest while he could.

[Pyro Blackfire S5]

Pyro slept in darkness for a long time. Every inch of his body ached and he hardly moved as he slept. Suddenly a ringing entered his ear and his eyes snapped open. He had been waiting on this ring for a while now, the perimeter alarm. Leaping into a standing position, and wincing at the pain in his muscles, Pyro quickly changed into some night clothes. Picking up his wand he gave it a wave and watched as the bandages on him became skin colored. Sighing he exited his room and made his way downstairs and reached the door just as the loud knock rang through the building.

Ripping the door open angrily Pyro glared at the cloaked figure standing in the doorway. “What is the meaning of this? Have you no idea what time it is?” Pyro barked at the man but was immediately staring into the badge the man thrust into his face. Pyro could already hear the tell tale pop from outside signaling more ministry officials making their appearance. With a disgusted sigh Pyro moved aside and allowed the man to enter. Almost immediately the doorway was flooded with more figures that entered the house and began to fan out.

Pyro watched this all and managed to keep up his façade. “Hey! You may be the ministry but you have no right to just en….” Pyro’s sentence was cut short as the man thrust a notice into his face. Before Pyro could read it though the mans gruff voice came out of the cloaks hood. “We have been giving permission to search the premises due to the suspicion of an unforgivable curse being cast on the grounds.” Pyro arched his eyebrow at this. “An unforgivable curse? Here? That’s absurd.”

Pyro thrust the notice back into the ministry official’s hands and sighed once again. “We will see what my father has to say about this!” The official seemed to take interest in this new subject. “Could you please show me the way to your father?” Pyro eyed the official dangerously for a moment but than snorted. “Fine, he’s probably in his study like always.” Pyro had to fight back the smile that threatened to spread on his face. The officials were actually buying it.

The walk back to his fathers study felt weird. Officials roamed the halls, poking their noses into dark corners. Soon they came upon the study. Pyro’s eyes crinkled in confusing, why was the door open? He had closed the door, had he? Pyro turned the corner and looked at the disaster inside, just how he had left it, except for a new subject. Cass lay unconscious on the floor a few feet away from the body of his father and Nova. “Cass!” Pyro yelled and ran into the room, sliding on his knees and stopping by her side.

What was she doing there? How long had she been there? How much did she know? Pyro had no idea, but he needed to find out. Shaking her gently on the shoulder. “Cass? Cass wake up.” He said. He felt the presence of more officials enter and move past him. He knew what they were moving to, but he needed to act like he had never seen it before. He slowly turned and followed them with his eyes and spotted the body of his father. “Dad!” He yelled and jumped up but was immediately blocked.

He backed up a step from the line of people blocking him. “What’s going?” He questioned. “We are sorry, but we can not allow you to go near the body.” Pyro’s eyes widened. “Body? Are you trying to tell me he’s?” Pyro dropped to his knees, a look of utter shock on his face. Again he had to fight back his grin when the officials moved away and began to inspect the body. Pyro slowly turned back to Cass and began to shake her once again. “Cass, hey. Cass.”

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

It all began so simply.

"Lust, I will go and get it." Cassandra, pulling her sweater even closer against the chill, jumped out of the limo and headed back into the mansion. An impromptu shopping trip suggested by Lust had prompted the Blackfire women to head to Diagon Alley. Cass watched as the huge mansion disappeared in the distance as the car pulled onto the main road. The house seemed so eerie at night; almost like something out of a muggle horror movie. Still, it was home, and the only monster's that resided there was the actual family itself. Mysterious things always occurred around the family. In fact, if you looked at Ministry records, Blackfire's had a penchant for trouble. It seemed that in almost every generation someone had been murdered, driven insane, or downright vanished from sight. Cass was even the progeny of one of those Blackfire's who had disappeared. Unlike most of the elusive family members, Daniel Blackfire had not been the victim of foul play. He had been scared away by his own fear.

"Cassandra, I forgot my sweater," Lust said to the driver through the dark window. The limousine soon slowed to a stop, turned around in an empty lot, and then began driving back towards home. The women were silent on the trip back home. Cass couldn't stand the silence. She was a chatty girl, and silences like this grated on her nerves. A few moments later, they made their way back up the curvy driveway to the front of the house. It looked like no one was home since all the lights were out. Cass noted this since it was odd that they were out. There was normally at least one light on in the huge house since there was at least a house elf working in the kitchen. Eager to get out of the car, Cass volunteered to get her Aunt's sweater. She hated confined spaces with Alex and Lust almost as much as she hated quiet spaces.

Letting herself in the door, she turned the light on in the foyer. "Nova!" Cass called the house elf in the hopes that he would fetch the sweater for her. She could never keep up with her Aunt's stuff since she had a tendency to lay her things everywhere. "Nova! Where are you?" Cass snorted. "Pyro? Pyro? Are you here?" No answer. "Figures." He had probably left the house as soon as they had gone. In the pursuit of a house elf, Cass went into the kitchen that was off the entrance. She had a new appreciation of house elves since many of them could locate any item in the house. It had come in handy several times during the summer when a couple of her books had gone missing.

With no house elf in sight, Cass left the kitchen. Unfortunately for her, she was going to have to go ask her Uncle if he knew about the missing sweater. Cass' stomach lurched as she approached his study. A light shining out from under the door signified that Charles was in the room. It had only been a few days before when Cass had confronted her Uncle about some of her conclusions on the night of her mother's death. She had avoided him since that day, and she didn't relish the idea of having to see him now.

Trying to get this over quickly, Cass tapped and opened the door at the same time. "Uncle Cha- Ahhhhh!" The scream exited her mouth as she fell to the floor.

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"Cass, hey. Cass." She felt herself being shaken awaken. No, I can't deal with this again. I just can't do it. Why now? I was just getting comfortable. Cass refused to open her eyes. Still, her cousin's gentle hands were on her arms trying to wake her up. Please, don't let it be true. Please, don't let it be true. Opening her eyes, she saw her cousin, Pyro, in front of her. Men in Ministry coats walked around the teenagers. "No, no...," Cass muttered quietly. "Noooo!" She wailed this time, garnering the attention of the adults in the room. "I've been through this before!" She remained lax in her cousin's arms. "Nooo! Pyro, don't let this happen again! Don't let this happen again!" Cass was in hysterics. She was still crying and screaming gibberish when two medi-wizards scrambled to the obviously ailing girl. One of the medics yelled, "Don't let her see! Don't let her see!"

It was to late though. Cass had already seen her Uncle dead on the floor of his study. The two medi-wizards restrained the thrashing girl. "Poor girl. So much trauma in such a short time. She has probably finally cracked." They took her out of the arms of her shocked cousin. Cass went slack as she passed out from the shock.

[alexandra]

Have you ever had one of those days? Where you feel like being completely lazy all day? Just to lounge about, eating what you want, doing nothing at all, being a "couch potato" as the Muggles say? Well, Alexandra Ricci had never had one of those days. She was constantly caught up in the drama that was her life, always felt like she was stuck in a horrible Muggle movie, staring the many woes of Alexandra Ricci. However, that was about to change. This particular morning, Alexandra awoke late in the day, having fallen into bed rather late, and didn't feel like getting up just yet. She wanted to relax. To just sit in bed, for awhile have her breakfast sent up. So she called one of the house elves to her room and requested her favorite breakfast, snuggling back into her covers, a serene smile on her face.

Oh how the day can change.

Her "lazy day," as she called it, consisted mainly of a very long bubble bath, wearing sweat pants and a t-shirt all day, and eating all sorts of snacks while she serenely read in each of the libraries. During one of her veggie-reads in one of the smaller libraries, a house elf came in, saying that Lust wanted to go shopping. Alexandra yawned, feeling a nap was necessary at that time, declined and made her way to her room, where she fell into bed yet again, snuggled up, and fell asleep.

Then she heard it.

There was a noise, wasn't too loud, of course, but Alexandra instantly jolted awake. Her eyes snapped open and she looked around, fearful for some reason. She took a deep breath, laying a hand on her chest hoping to calm her racing heart. What had made that noise? Confusion and curiosity arose in the fifth year as she stumbled from her bed, caused by the darkness of her and Cass' room. Opening the door, she jumped, a surprised shout coming from her lips. A man stood in the doorway, ministry official. Before she could even ask who he was or why he was there, she was shoved aside and three men entered her bedroom, shuffling through her things.

If she was confused before, that was nothing compared to her puzzlement now. She ran from her bedroom, practically falling down the stairs to where the main chaos was. Five or six ministry officials crowded around Charles' study. Alexandra felt her heart beat quicken. What was going on? She felt herself slow down as she descended the stairs. Her worries began to wander, including everyone in the house. Did something happen to Lust or Charles? What about Cass? Is her and Pyro alright? She pushed past men, finding herself in Charles' study.

The room was in ruins compared to it's usual neatness, books were scattered about, large chunks of wood, seeming to come from a fallen book case. Alexandra felt her eyes widen as she saw Pyro and Cass on the floor, Cass and Pyro seeming upset. Ministry officials mumbled things here and there. The body... cause of death... we don't know any more... Charles Blackfire... A gasp escaped her lips as it dawned on her. Was Charles... A scream echoed through the room as Cass' sadness reached it's peak.

"Nooo! Pyro, don't let this happen again! Don't let this happen again!"

Tears welled in Alexandra's eyes as the medics made sure no one saw anything. She approached her boyfriend and Cass, shock causing her to remain silent. She touched Pyro's arm, her eyes questioning.

[Pyro Blackfire S5]

Pyro looked down at Cass, this was bad. She wasn't suppose to be here, she wasn't suppose to see this. There were to many people floating around now, this could compromise his entire plan. He had to play it cool though, had to act as confused about everything as everyone else. Slowly Cass's eyes opened and Pyro looked down at her. He watched her eyes carefully, watched her scan the official's around her. He could see her begin to add 1 and 2 together in her mind and already saw the panic welling up in her eyes. "Cass! Cass no! Calm down." He said quickly trying to get into her before her panic welled up but it was to late. She began to scream and thrash in his arms. Pyro attempted to keep a firm hold on her, tried to control her to some extent, but she had snapped and lost it. Before he knew it some officials had joined his side and slipped Cass out of his grasp as they took up the fight to restrain her. It was in vain though for she passed out once again immediately after.

"Lets get her out of here." Stated one of the officials as they lifted Cass up and began to carry her from the room. Pyro stood up and watched them go. The weariness that Pyro had felt immediately after the battle entered his body once more and he felt his muscle begin to droop. Just than someone touched his arm and Pyro jumped and whirled around and spotted the one face he didn't ever want to see here tonight. "Alex." He exclaimed in surprise. How much had she seen already? If something like this had done what it did to Cass, what would it do to Alex. "You shouldn't be here." He said taking her by the shoulder, wincing slightly at a pain in his own shoulder. He lead her from the room and away from the brutal scene.

He pulled her from the room and out of site of the scene within the study. He looked at her. "Are you alright?"

[alexandra]

Alexandra stared at the limp body of Cass and the tears flowed. Was Charles really dead? Pyro seemed tense as he pulled her away from the room, concern etched on his face. He questioned her, but she couldn't concentrate. She needed to know. She looked back at the crowd, her eyes glistening with unshed tears and shock written in every feature. She felt confused and the noise of all the people was making her light headed. She looked about the room, confusion causing her to panic. She couldn't catch her breath, her chest moving up and down rapidly. She felt her legs weaken and the room began to spin. She found a chair and lowered herself into it, cradling her throbbing head. She felt the tears come faster as she knew. Charles was really dead.

"Pyro!" She reached out to her boyfriend, tears staining her pale cheeks, "What happened?" She sniffed, trying to stop her crying, but only causing more tears, "Is Charles? Is... What hap- happened!" Her panic and tears were suddenly mixed with more confusion and she gave up on speaking and instead let the tears fall, gripping Pyro's arm.

[Pyro Blackfire S5]

Pyro could see that Alex was starting to loose it also, just like Cass had. He needed to keep her attention focused on him though, had to keep her calm. She turned back to look into the room but Pyro wouldn't let her. Grabbing her chin he gently pulled her gaze back to him. "Look at my eyes Alex. Don't look away." He could see the tears welling up in her eyes, could feel her body grow weak. She seemed to find a chair and sat down in it. Pyro kneeled down in front of her, keeping their eyes at the same level. She began to loose it than too, luckily not as heavily as Cass had. Pyro took her hands and helped support her as she began to fire off question after panic filled question. He sighed and looked away, back toward the study, than brought his gaze back to her.

"I'm not really sure. The details are kind of fuzzy at the moment. As far as I can tell. Nova, he.....He revolted and attacked my father." Pyro's voice dropped and he bit his lip, should he really tell her? Would she be able to handle it? He had to tell her, she was going to find out one way or another. "Yes, my father was killed." He said and prepared for the worst. He knew it was a lie, but he couldn't tell Alex the truth, not right now. With so many unwanted ears around them. He had to let her hysteria play out, had to let her move past what was happening. Than, when the time was right, he could reveal the truth to her. Just not right now.

[alexandra]

The panic was too much. She felt her eyes trying to look everywhere at once, but Pyro was there to bring her back. Her tears were staining her cheeks, but that was no matter. Pyro tried his best to keep her attention on him. He turned her face and Alexandra felt herself look into his eyes, tears falling. He told her to keep looking at him, to not look back at the room, but she just cried. It was too much. A dead man? It didn't matter that he wasn't a good or nice person, but he was a living person, who was now dead. She didn't like death, Alexandra. She hated hearing of people dying and when it happened in the same house where she was sleeping, soundly, made her skin crawl in a panicking way.

Pyro tried to answer her questions, but Alexandra couldn't' take it in. She took a deep breath, calming her heart only a bit. When Pyro said the words that Charles had been killed, Alexandra stared at him, her brown eyes wide and full of tears. Her breath caught and she found she was holding her breath. He was killed. Within walking distance of where she was. She finally took a breath in, which calmed her a bit more. She swallowed hard as more tears fell and she felt her panic descend into soft sobs. She wrapped her arms around Pyro and cried quite a bit softer than before.