Harshing had moved quite comfortably back into his old office and had also extended it to several rooms so he had an entire living quarters within Hogwarts. His large oak desk was positioned next to a roaring fire. He sat on his high back red chair, looking down his reading glasses onto several papers below. He was in his smoking jackett and swigged from a whiskey flask every few minutes. His wand was in his belt, as always -ready to come to his hand in a moment's notice.

Knock.

"Come in Miss Lestrange."

Flame opened the door and glanced around the room. it had changed quite a bit since she was last in here. Eyes took in every tiny detail- she had to have an escape route planned should she need one. She still had that powerful look around her, brought on by the powerr she'd suddenly found. She looked at Harshing and said nothing, closing the door behind her. Where's Scone? she asked herself silently. She remained stood in the doorway, not sure what to do.

Harshing spent the next minute or so writing on several documents, pretending Flame wasn't there - a sign of power, she would wait until he was ready. Then he put down his quill and looked at her through his cold blue eyes which began to tint red like they always did when Harshing had bouts of passionate emotion. He stood up, no longer so tall as he once was - at 58 years old you couldn't expect to stand tall very often.

Milo Scone entered without knocking and sat down.

Harshing surveyed them both, a smug half-smile on his dragonesk face. He was about to prey on both of them, not for morality, not for arrogance but for pure pleasure.

"Both of you, I would like to speak on behalf of the Grand Sentinus. I have spoken with him through the floor network about today's mishap and I hope to resolve it by showing you where I and the grand sentinus stand on this matter."

Flame remained stod by the door, grey eyes fixed on the monstrous man with hatred and mistrust. Black curtains of silk hid the chalky scenery of her face so that should any emotion pass over it would go unnoticed. She was in her essence in the silence of the room, with only the scratching on the beast's quill on parchment to break it, though even that was soon to stop. She liked the quiet- it was easier to think in it's depths and worries were easier to forget. Flame could not help but wander if Harshing was trying to convey a message by making her wait when, in fact, it made her feel more comfortable.

Harshing stood and stared at her with cold blue eyes. If it had just been Flame she'd have backed off, but the power did not. It handled it with a calmness Flame would not have. The red tint in his eyes was sadistic.

The silence between them, however, was not to last long. There was no warning knowck, just the sounds of the door opening, someone entering and the door closing behind them. The man walked across the room and took a seat, ignoring Flame. She was glad of it. If they had spoken only venom would have escaped her with the cold intention of penetrating it's victim.

She did not move from the place where she stood by the door, where she felt more secure, for is she needed to escape the route she would need was not blocked off. He seemed to examine the pair before speaking. Commanded by the power nothing was said in reply- Flame just shifted her weight and pushed hair from her face and looked mildly interested. What was her master's view? Would she be landed with all the blame for the earlier incident, or would it be dished between them? A question she wanted an answer to, though she was more than willing to wait a time for it. She seemed calm and colected on the outside but, on the inside, her heart was thudding and voices screamed within the confines on her mind.

Hopefully it would all be over soon.

He looked at Scone, "In the matter of your authority The Master grants me supreme power over Hogwarts even though you shall keep the title of Headmaster. He does not think you are competent enough to run a tap, let alone an industry of education."

He smiled for a moment. "Flame - your behaviour earlier was below satisfactory. While in Hogwarts you must conform to the Hogwarts power system over Family power. Even though The Master sends his regards to you he has given Scone and myself authority over you to ensure your education is complete."

Harshing moved around and leaned on his desk. "He is both upset and angered with both of you. The Family is about companionship - not petty bickering and childish fights. Flame, you were punished earlier... Scone."

He looked him in the eye and his eyes went blood-red. "Hold out your hands."

-------

Scone looked at him. Punished? Surely not.

----

"You could always choose death?" Harshing smiled when Scone held out his hands. Harshing dealt twenty hard blows, the blood from his hands splatting over his face. After he had finished he wiped a cloth over his face and placed the bloody handkerchief into his pocket.

"Its a magical cane - they heal like muggle wounds."

Scone charged from the room. Harshing basked in the fire light for a moment. Then he focussed on Flame.

"You have had sexual relations with the Grand Sentinus."

Flame's eyes flicked between Harshing and Scone, cold and untrusting. Tongue passed over lips to wet them. She was preparing herself for whatever was to come, for she expected something bad. She looked at the floor, then stared fully at Harshing as finally he began to speak.

So Harshing was in charge, eh? That wasn't great, but better than Scone she guessed. Still, Harshing hated her and she didn't exactly like him, so though he would make a better headmaster than Scone she was sure life would not be easy for her.

"Yes, I understand that." she said, already boring of the man, and the whole thing. Had he brought her here just to give her a lecture? How annoying.

But it seemed Harshing saw she was boring, though she knew that was not the reason the discussion went down the path it did and sick smile twisted across her pale face. Pain, how fun it was to watch. To see another suffer, it was great.

After his punishment Scone ran out of the room and Flame frowned. Could she go now? But Harshing's eyes turned on her and she felt a need to turn away, leave the room as Scone had yet had a feeling that it would only cause her more trouble.

His statement was lay down and Flame was more than happy to reply it. "Yes, I have. Is there a problem with that?"

Harshing shook his head in a patronizing fashion and sat down, his hand on the bridge of his nose. "You stupid girl. You moronic little whore!"

Pause.

He pushed his desk over, it smashed on the floor. His wand was out and he was already destroying things with magic in temper. Pretty soon the nice office was a total wreck. He heaved as he warmed his hands near the fire.

"Perhaps you should be sent to a brothel where you can hone your skills," Harshing hissed. "Yet I do not think you know the severity of what you have done."

He walked into the fire but instead of burning it turned blue around him. He turned to face her,flames still licking his body all over.

The flames twisted into the image of a baby. "The Sentinus will want to impregnate as many pure bloods as possible. His children will rule when he is gone for he is not immortal. He has sampled you, testing your blood and power while he was..."

"Yes. The sentinus knows all about you know and will probably want to impregnate you now."

His words made her cringe- every little thing inside her filled with shock, horror and upset. The look in her eyes changed drastically from calm and collected to wild, hating. The words had struck through her outer shell, pushed into her true feelings. She shook her head, and kept herself under control only with immense effort.

Then he went mad. Another change in moods, another change in looks. Fear; a wish to run, yet knowing it would be stupid. even pointless. Desk was pushed over and smashed on the floor and wand was destroying things. Flame stood still, hoping he would not turn on her. But his sudden stop shocked her and she frowned before once again managing to return to calm, collect.

"Don't say that." she muttered, looking at the floor, avoiding setting eyes on him even once. Then he continued. Severity? What was severe about what she had done? She had improved her own ststus, was that really bad? She shook her head, said nothing, she knew he would carry on.

Harshing stepped into the flames of the fire and she stepped forwards, as if to stop him. Was that care? Had there been a reason that she'd done that?

"Sampled me?" she was not letting herself laugh sarcastically as she usually would, Harshing sounded serious. "You mean..." even as she said it Harshing answered her question. Sentinus wanted her pregnant. She was still young herself, hadn't had a good childhood, how could she raise a child?

"No." she couldn't hold it in- how she truely felt about the situation she had put herself in.

"Yes!" He roared over the top of her, coming out of the fireplace but with the flames still curling around him. "He will watch your dog's belly grow, let your happiness prosper then when you give birth he will rip that child away from you and give you another baby. That will be your life then - one baby after another, giving birth to more and more b*****ds of Sentinus."

The fire around him vanished. "I expect he will want to fertilize you soon with his devil-seeds. When he has you must return here at once so I can destroy it."

Harshing closed his eyes, turned and wiped away a single tear. "Yes, you must not have that baby, I fear he will use strong magic on you to ensure that no one intervenes..."

It was horrific. The rush of emotion, the knowledge that Harshing was enjoying every last moment of her torment, the words he said. Everything about the scene made her feel worse and worse. And worst, she now thought there was nothing that she could do.

"This can't happen. I can't let that happen to me." the words were quiet, but she wanted to shout them, her mind spun with horrible images. He was creating a vivid image of happiness and sorrow, the destroying of who she really was.

Then came the saving words. Harshing could destroy the child, rid her of that future. Tears had been freely flowing down her pale features, and she had turned so he could not see it- she hadn't wanted him to see her pain. But now she wiped away the salty pearls and looked at him, nodding her head. "I will, of course I will. Just help me, please." she was practically begging him but she felt she had to, only he could save her now.

Harshing looked at her with no pity or remorse. The deed was to save his own bloodline from becoming dirtied by the likes of Sentinus. He didn't care about her... or did he? Was there an invisible bond of blood over Flame? Was he doing this out of love? His mind said no but there was a funny feeling. Harshing loved no one. Frost Angel was infallible. His daughter - she was nothing more than a b*****d child.

Yet....

"However if I destroy it he will become suspicious. Perhaps if we REPLACE his baby with another? That way he will be born yet it wont be his. Oh - and it will only take a week, Sentinus will speed up the birth process... we must act quickly."

Care between blood relatives shows itself in funny ways. Noone would expect the pair to care for one another, it was a well-known fact that they had been enemies for a long time. Yet surely enough here it was- setting it's place between the two quite clearly. Flame had felt it minutes ago, when she had stepped forwards to try and stop the man from stepping into the fire. Plus, he was offering to help her... Didn't that mean he cared at least a little?

"Which baby would you suggest? Whose? As far as I recall, I'm not exactly a liked person in this school."