Harry Potter - The Black Pearl: Chapter Five
Rating: Mature
Warning/s: Torture, Incest, Graphic Sex
Pairing: Bellatrix Lestrange/Rodolphus Lestrange
Word Count: 2,529
Summary: Bellatrix Lestrange's desperate need to have a child leads her into the ever consuming darkness of insanity. As she races towards her ultimate demise, with Voldemort's faith in her fading fast, she is forced to question everything she has dedicated her life to fighting for. The descent into madness is a dark and twisted one, but what if you discovered it had been forced upon you? (AU)
***
The crack of disapparation echoed throughout the Manor. Within an instant Rodolphus had caught Narcissa by the arm and pushed her up against the wall. Had their relationship ever been more than that of a brother and sister his intentions may have been questioned. However, it was quite clear no such thoughts crossed his mind as his grip on her arm tightened. "What the fuck were you thinking?" he growled at her.
"Unhand me," Narcissa's eyes were wide but her tone was sharp. She certainly did not appreciate being handled in such a manner. To the best of her ability she struggled to push him off her. The fact that he was at least five inches taller than her, and definitely wider, didn't help matters.
"It's taken me this long to get her to speak at all," he continued, not caring in the slightest for her discomfort. "Almost two months, Narcissa. Two months of feeding her, bathing her, dressing her, and you walk in and unravel it all in one fell swoop."
"I swear to Merlin, Rodolphus Lestrange, if you do not unhand me this instant I will castrate you and throw you into the lake!" she shot back angrily, stamping the heel of her boot down firmly on his toes.
Mention of the lake was enough to make her threat work. Of course, the prospect of castration certainly added to his immediate change of heart. He let go of her arm and moved away from her, clenching his fists as he tried to think what to do next. Bellatrix hadn't left the estate in months there was no telling where she would go or what she would do. Worse still was the thought of what someone else could do to her in her state. He turned and threw a punch at the wall, cracking the plaster and breaking the skin on his knuckles.
"Rodolphus!" Narcisa cried out, grabbing his arm.
"What were you thinking, Narcissa?" he looked at her again sharply. "What in Merlin's name made you think that waltzing in and telling her at this time was the right decision?"
"I wasn't thinking," she sighed, accepting the fact that she was in the wrong. "I didn't mean to and had I been in the right frame of mind, I assure you, I wouldn't have said anything until she was ready to hear it. I was just overwhelmed and I wanted to tell my sister the news." Unshed tears glistened in her eyes. She didn't know how she was going to fix her mistake but she knew she would have to somehow.
Rodolphus sighed heavily and moved to wrap his arms around her, hugging her firmly as she began to cry. "I know you didn't mean to," he said quietly. After a moment he pulled back and tilted her chin up. "Congratulations. You will be an excellent mother and I know Bella will say the same, when she's ready. She's just not... herself."
She nodded quickly and raised her hands to wipe away the few tears she had dared to shed. "I understand," she assured him. "It was foolish of me to come here."
"You wanted to share your excitement," he said, a hint of sadness in his eyes. He couldn't fault her that. Gently he kissed her cheeks. "I'll find her and talk to her, Cissa. We shall have a dinner to celebrate the new baby. I promise you that." He stepped away from her to grab his robes and prayed to Merlin he would find his wife quickly.
***
She wasn't entirely sure where she was. Looking around she determined her location was somewhere in the English countryside, apparently, which didn't help with her navigation at all as most of the English countryside looked exactly the same as the rest of the United Kingdom. She huffed and collapsed onto the ground, crossing her arms and legs and looking decidedly like an oversized petulant child. Not that anyone was there to notice. Not that she wanted anyone there to notice. She bit down on her lip to try and prevent the tears she knew were coming. Crying was weak. Crying was unacceptable. Most of all, crying was pointless when Rodolphus wasn't there to make her laugh or just hold her until it passed. Pulling her knees up she buried her head against them and hugged her legs tight, closing her eyes and trying to understand what was happening.
What point was there in fighting anymore? Did it truly matter what the world was like for the generations that would come after them? Her bloodline had finished with her. The Black line was finished as far as her Mother and her Aunt were concerned. Narcissa's child would be a Malfoy, and with the Malfoy's history it would likely be a boy. "Perfect little Narcissa gets to have her perfect little way again," she muttered bitterly. "I fight and will never have anything to show for it, but she..." Her words faded as she raised her head and realised she was no longer alone.
Directly in front of her stood a little girl, the spitting image of herself at a young age. She gasped and pulled back. Her hand moved for her wand but for a reason she couldn't understand she didn't raise it. How could she? The girl posed no threat and she looked so... Black. With her dark brown eyes and her jet black hair, even the angle of her nose. This is what each of her children would have looked like. Perhaps with Rodolphus' eyes or her fairer complexion but essentially their child would look like the girl standing before her.
The girl moved forward, unafraid as she approached the stranger yet still with an air of wariness about her. With her small hand she reached out and gently brushed a finger down Bellatrix' cheek. "Why are you crying?" she asked, crouching down beside her. "Are you hurt?"
Frowning, Bellatrix shook her head.
"Are you lost?" the girl continued, studying her new friend carefully.
"I don't..." she looked at the girl, those familiar brown eyes staring back at her with interest. "Where did you come from?"
"My house," the girl shrugged and turned to point to the house down the hill.
Bellatrix looked where she was pointing. Her heart constricted in her chest and she looked back at the girl. That was why she looked the way she did. That was why it seemed like she was some apparition of her younger self. "If you knew who I was, you wouldn't be staying to talk to me," she said slowly, warning her.
"If you knew who I was, you wouldn't be staying to talk to me," the girl responded with a wicked grin.
"You know who I am?" Bellatrix frowned.
"Look, I'm six," Nymphadora stated in a matter of fact tone. "And you look like my Mum. It doesn't take a genius, you know. Besides, I've seen photos."
"She keeps photos of me?" Bellatrix asked, glancing back down at the house. She remembered standing outside that house years earlier, just watching. It wasn't the middle of nowhere she had apparated to, it was her sister.
"I'm not supposed to know about them. She keeps them hidden in a box," she explained with a shrug of her shoulders. "How come you're here? Are you going to kill us?"
Bellatrix' eyes widened. "No," she said without thinking. "No, I'm not going to kill you."
"Then why are you here?"
"You're six, you wouldn't..." she stopped before she said the words she'd hated as a child. She was sure she could remember every time she had been told she wouldn't understand. Children were insignificant, their thoughts unimportant. She'd been ushered out of enough rooms as a child, screamed blue murder when she was shut out of the interesting conversations, and now she was about to do exactly that to another child. Perhaps it was a true sign she had become an adult. "Everything's falling apart and I suppose I just... wanted my sister. When we were children she always knew what to do and what to say to make it all better. She was always better at this than me. But it was alright because we worked it out together. We helped each other. If I made messes, she cleaned them up. If she got in trouble, I'd take the blame..." she took a shaky breath. It had been so long since she could say such things. The last time she had, she'd been screaming and blasting priceless heirlooms to smithereens. She wasn't supposed to think about her anymore and she'd been doing so well.
"You can't have her," Nymphadora stated simply, turning to sit beside her Aunt and looking out towards her home.
"I wasn't going to take her," she clarified, glancing down at the girl and frowning as she noticed hints of a fiery red in her hair.
"You can't have her because then I won't be allowed to have her," she tapped the side of her head, not bothering to glance at Bellatrix. "I'm not as stupid as people think I am. That's the thing about being six, if you're quiet enough people forget you're there and you hear things they don't want you to hear. So I know this stuff. My Mum had to make a choice. You know what it's like? It's like ice cream."
Bellatrix raised an eyebrow, already dreading the response she was going to get. "How do you figure that?"
"Well, you see, when you're a kid you try them all, right?" she sighed heavily as if the answer was so obvious. "You can pick and choose whatever you feel like. Pumpkin, Peppermint Chip, Honeycomb Crumble, even Orange Rind Surprise..." she leaned closer to Bellatrix and whispered, "The surprise is it's just an orange on a cone, don't pick that one."
"I'll keep that in mind," Bellatrix nodded, still not quite understanding the child's logic.
"But..." she continued, sitting up straight once more. "From what I see, when you get to be big you don't have those choices any more. You've picked your favourite and that's all there is to it. Sometimes you'll think about trying those other ones again, but you'll always pick your favourite. And your friends, and your family, aren't going to always pick the same as you."
"The rest of my family picked the same as me..."
"No," Nymphadora sighed heavily, it was like trying to explain to a three year old. Adults could be so irritating at times. "It's vary-... It's very-... It's very-nations of the same thing."
"Variations?"
"Yes," she nodded. Finally, she felt, she was getting somewhere. "You know how someone can like chocolate but their friend likes chocolate with peppermint flakes?"
"I understand what you mean," Bellatrix said with a nod, if anything just to make the child stop talking.
"Oh," Nymphadora deflated noticeably, picking at the grass in front of her. "My Mum says it like that too... when she wants me to be quiet. I talk too much and I make too much noise. And sometimes I break things because I'm clumsy. Mum gets annoyed at me a lot. Sometimes I don't think she really wants me."
There was something about the girl that truly struck Bellatrix in that moment. Perhaps it was the way she dropped her shoulders, like Narcissa would as a child when she realised her tantrum would not get her anywhere. Or it may have been that she talked of being clumsy, just as Andromeda had been at her age. Though, of course, there was the thought Bellatrix didn't wish to entertain. The girl thought her mother didn't want her, just as she had rightfully assumed in her early years. There was no reason for her to be nice to the child - half-blood and, worse, a metamorphmagus. Yet, knowing that Andromeda's child thought such a thing...
"You, more than anyone, should know your Mother wants you," she said simply, looking down at the girl just as the same dark brown eyes looked up at her.
"What do you mean?" Nymphadora asked curiously, a small frown on her brow.
"As you said, she made her choice," Bellatrix explained as she looked back towards the house, noticing movement in the garden. "She chose to abandon her family, everything she ever knew, and start over. She chose this life. She chose you..."
"She chose my Dad," the girl cut in.
Clenching her jaw, Bellatrix merely nodded. She couldn't bring herself to agree to that. Talking about her sister, to her half-blood child, she could stomach. For the moment. But she would not speak of... him. "She just doesn't know what she's doing," she continued quietly. "Our Mother didn't want us. So no matter how hard she tries, she doesn't really know how to act any other way than the pureblood way. I don't think I would know either."
"Don't you have kids?"
"No," Bellatrix shifted back into the shadows as she watched her sister moving to the edge of the garden. She was, no doubt, looking for her daughter. There would be hell to pay if she found her elder sister lurking near her home.
"Where are you going?" Nymphadora watched her scoot backwards and tried to think of something to make her stay.
"Your Mother is looking for you..."
The girl looked back towards her house, standing up and drawing her Mother's attention. She waved enthusiastically before quickly turning back to where her Aunt hid in the shadows. "She would want to see you," she reasoned.
"No, she wouldn't," the older woman responded, her eyes darkening as she pushed herself to her feet. "We both chose a path. She got everything she wanted. It's time I do the same. You should go to your Mother."
A shiver ran down the length of Nymphadora's spine. Her hair faded from black to light brown and her eyes lightened as she looked at the woman who, moments ago, had seemed to be her Mother's twin. "Where are you going to go?"
"Where I'm needed," Bellatrix muttered darkly.
"Will I see you again?" she asked hesitantly.
"If you do," Bellatrix stepped back towards the girl, leaning down to whisper in her ear, a dangerous smile playing on her lips. "I suggest you run." With a swift flick of her wand she disapparated, leaving behind the child running for their mother.
***
A whirlwind burst into the entrance hall of Lestrange Manor. Rodolphus appeared on the landing as it reached the top of the stairs and grabbed what appeared to be his wife around the waist. Her instant reaction was to fight, punching and clawing with every ounce of feeling she still had left in her. “Belle,” he held onto her tightly, trying his best to keep them both from toppling down the staircase. “Belle, love, Bellatrix... Stop! It’s me!” Her movements stopped quite suddenly at the sound of his voice, as though she had been frozen, and he fought the urge to shake her in an attempt to get her moving again.
She didn’t say anything, she didn’t make a sound.
“You scared me, and Narcissa, we’ve been looking everywhere for you,” he said in an effort to elicit some form or response. “Where were you, love? I checked your favourite places...”
She remained silent, burying her face against his chest.
“Narcissa didn’t mean to upset you, love...”
“No!” Bellatrix shrieked as she pulled out of his embrace. “Narcissa does not think of anyone but herself. I don’t wish to hear any more.” She pushed past him, heading straight for their rooms. She would get changed, polish her wand, and then she would go out. If she killed every last living creature in her path, so be it. She wanted blood and gore, there’d been enough weakness.
“Bellatrix, what are you doing?” Rodolphus asked as followed her to the bedroom, watching her change into another dress.
“I’m going out, what does it fucking look like?” she snapped at him, throwing her cloak around her shoulders and fastening it at her neck. Her back remained to him, she wasn’t prepared to meet his eye. He would talk her out of it. He’d always known just want to say to make her change her mind no matter how stubborn she was being.
“I’ll come with you...”
“No!” she yelled, turning on her heel to glare at him. Meeting his eyes finally she bit her lip and held her ground, raising her wand to him. “Step aside and leave me be, Rodolphus.”
He drew his wand on instinct, assuming a duelling stance.
Bellatrix let out an ear piercing screech as her wand moved swiftly and without hesitation. She shot six spells in quick succession, forcing him backwards even as he blocked each and every one. “Fight!” she yelled at him, her wand snapping through the air almost like a whip as she attacked him. The more he defended himself and made no other move the more frustrated she became. She wanted him to react, she needed him to react, though somewhere buried deep in her mind she knew he could easily hold out longer than she could. He was calmer than she was, always had been. Much like the old adage of horses and water, she could make him draw his wand in this state but she couldn’t make him strike. Had her aggravation not got the better of her, she could have easily provoked him. Had her mind been clearer, she would have thought to take a different approach. As it was she hastened her attack, driving him back through the doors of their bedroom onto the landing.
Moving out on to the landing was a mistake. He knew it the moment he passed through the doorway. Her eyes darted down to the threshold and with lightening speed the large double doors were slammed in his face. “Bellatrix!” he rushed forward, grabbing at the handle and barrelling back into the room just as she disapparated with a loud crack. He dropped to his knees in their empty bedroom, letting his wand slip from his fingers. She would return when she was ready, he knew that, but it did not shake the ominous feeling that festered deep in his heart. It was not his wife who would return to him, his Bellatrix was broken beyond repair making way for something much more menacing. “Merlin, help the souls that cross her path.”
Warning/s: Torture, Incest, Graphic Sex
Pairing: Bellatrix Lestrange/Rodolphus Lestrange
Word Count: 2,529
Summary: Bellatrix Lestrange's desperate need to have a child leads her into the ever consuming darkness of insanity. As she races towards her ultimate demise, with Voldemort's faith in her fading fast, she is forced to question everything she has dedicated her life to fighting for. The descent into madness is a dark and twisted one, but what if you discovered it had been forced upon you? (AU)
***
The crack of disapparation echoed throughout the Manor. Within an instant Rodolphus had caught Narcissa by the arm and pushed her up against the wall. Had their relationship ever been more than that of a brother and sister his intentions may have been questioned. However, it was quite clear no such thoughts crossed his mind as his grip on her arm tightened. "What the fuck were you thinking?" he growled at her.
"Unhand me," Narcissa's eyes were wide but her tone was sharp. She certainly did not appreciate being handled in such a manner. To the best of her ability she struggled to push him off her. The fact that he was at least five inches taller than her, and definitely wider, didn't help matters.
"It's taken me this long to get her to speak at all," he continued, not caring in the slightest for her discomfort. "Almost two months, Narcissa. Two months of feeding her, bathing her, dressing her, and you walk in and unravel it all in one fell swoop."
"I swear to Merlin, Rodolphus Lestrange, if you do not unhand me this instant I will castrate you and throw you into the lake!" she shot back angrily, stamping the heel of her boot down firmly on his toes.
Mention of the lake was enough to make her threat work. Of course, the prospect of castration certainly added to his immediate change of heart. He let go of her arm and moved away from her, clenching his fists as he tried to think what to do next. Bellatrix hadn't left the estate in months there was no telling where she would go or what she would do. Worse still was the thought of what someone else could do to her in her state. He turned and threw a punch at the wall, cracking the plaster and breaking the skin on his knuckles.
"Rodolphus!" Narcisa cried out, grabbing his arm.
"What were you thinking, Narcissa?" he looked at her again sharply. "What in Merlin's name made you think that waltzing in and telling her at this time was the right decision?"
"I wasn't thinking," she sighed, accepting the fact that she was in the wrong. "I didn't mean to and had I been in the right frame of mind, I assure you, I wouldn't have said anything until she was ready to hear it. I was just overwhelmed and I wanted to tell my sister the news." Unshed tears glistened in her eyes. She didn't know how she was going to fix her mistake but she knew she would have to somehow.
Rodolphus sighed heavily and moved to wrap his arms around her, hugging her firmly as she began to cry. "I know you didn't mean to," he said quietly. After a moment he pulled back and tilted her chin up. "Congratulations. You will be an excellent mother and I know Bella will say the same, when she's ready. She's just not... herself."
She nodded quickly and raised her hands to wipe away the few tears she had dared to shed. "I understand," she assured him. "It was foolish of me to come here."
"You wanted to share your excitement," he said, a hint of sadness in his eyes. He couldn't fault her that. Gently he kissed her cheeks. "I'll find her and talk to her, Cissa. We shall have a dinner to celebrate the new baby. I promise you that." He stepped away from her to grab his robes and prayed to Merlin he would find his wife quickly.
***
She wasn't entirely sure where she was. Looking around she determined her location was somewhere in the English countryside, apparently, which didn't help with her navigation at all as most of the English countryside looked exactly the same as the rest of the United Kingdom. She huffed and collapsed onto the ground, crossing her arms and legs and looking decidedly like an oversized petulant child. Not that anyone was there to notice. Not that she wanted anyone there to notice. She bit down on her lip to try and prevent the tears she knew were coming. Crying was weak. Crying was unacceptable. Most of all, crying was pointless when Rodolphus wasn't there to make her laugh or just hold her until it passed. Pulling her knees up she buried her head against them and hugged her legs tight, closing her eyes and trying to understand what was happening.
What point was there in fighting anymore? Did it truly matter what the world was like for the generations that would come after them? Her bloodline had finished with her. The Black line was finished as far as her Mother and her Aunt were concerned. Narcissa's child would be a Malfoy, and with the Malfoy's history it would likely be a boy. "Perfect little Narcissa gets to have her perfect little way again," she muttered bitterly. "I fight and will never have anything to show for it, but she..." Her words faded as she raised her head and realised she was no longer alone.
Directly in front of her stood a little girl, the spitting image of herself at a young age. She gasped and pulled back. Her hand moved for her wand but for a reason she couldn't understand she didn't raise it. How could she? The girl posed no threat and she looked so... Black. With her dark brown eyes and her jet black hair, even the angle of her nose. This is what each of her children would have looked like. Perhaps with Rodolphus' eyes or her fairer complexion but essentially their child would look like the girl standing before her.
The girl moved forward, unafraid as she approached the stranger yet still with an air of wariness about her. With her small hand she reached out and gently brushed a finger down Bellatrix' cheek. "Why are you crying?" she asked, crouching down beside her. "Are you hurt?"
Frowning, Bellatrix shook her head.
"Are you lost?" the girl continued, studying her new friend carefully.
"I don't..." she looked at the girl, those familiar brown eyes staring back at her with interest. "Where did you come from?"
"My house," the girl shrugged and turned to point to the house down the hill.
Bellatrix looked where she was pointing. Her heart constricted in her chest and she looked back at the girl. That was why she looked the way she did. That was why it seemed like she was some apparition of her younger self. "If you knew who I was, you wouldn't be staying to talk to me," she said slowly, warning her.
"If you knew who I was, you wouldn't be staying to talk to me," the girl responded with a wicked grin.
"You know who I am?" Bellatrix frowned.
"Look, I'm six," Nymphadora stated in a matter of fact tone. "And you look like my Mum. It doesn't take a genius, you know. Besides, I've seen photos."
"She keeps photos of me?" Bellatrix asked, glancing back down at the house. She remembered standing outside that house years earlier, just watching. It wasn't the middle of nowhere she had apparated to, it was her sister.
"I'm not supposed to know about them. She keeps them hidden in a box," she explained with a shrug of her shoulders. "How come you're here? Are you going to kill us?"
Bellatrix' eyes widened. "No," she said without thinking. "No, I'm not going to kill you."
"Then why are you here?"
"You're six, you wouldn't..." she stopped before she said the words she'd hated as a child. She was sure she could remember every time she had been told she wouldn't understand. Children were insignificant, their thoughts unimportant. She'd been ushered out of enough rooms as a child, screamed blue murder when she was shut out of the interesting conversations, and now she was about to do exactly that to another child. Perhaps it was a true sign she had become an adult. "Everything's falling apart and I suppose I just... wanted my sister. When we were children she always knew what to do and what to say to make it all better. She was always better at this than me. But it was alright because we worked it out together. We helped each other. If I made messes, she cleaned them up. If she got in trouble, I'd take the blame..." she took a shaky breath. It had been so long since she could say such things. The last time she had, she'd been screaming and blasting priceless heirlooms to smithereens. She wasn't supposed to think about her anymore and she'd been doing so well.
"You can't have her," Nymphadora stated simply, turning to sit beside her Aunt and looking out towards her home.
"I wasn't going to take her," she clarified, glancing down at the girl and frowning as she noticed hints of a fiery red in her hair.
"You can't have her because then I won't be allowed to have her," she tapped the side of her head, not bothering to glance at Bellatrix. "I'm not as stupid as people think I am. That's the thing about being six, if you're quiet enough people forget you're there and you hear things they don't want you to hear. So I know this stuff. My Mum had to make a choice. You know what it's like? It's like ice cream."
Bellatrix raised an eyebrow, already dreading the response she was going to get. "How do you figure that?"
"Well, you see, when you're a kid you try them all, right?" she sighed heavily as if the answer was so obvious. "You can pick and choose whatever you feel like. Pumpkin, Peppermint Chip, Honeycomb Crumble, even Orange Rind Surprise..." she leaned closer to Bellatrix and whispered, "The surprise is it's just an orange on a cone, don't pick that one."
"I'll keep that in mind," Bellatrix nodded, still not quite understanding the child's logic.
"But..." she continued, sitting up straight once more. "From what I see, when you get to be big you don't have those choices any more. You've picked your favourite and that's all there is to it. Sometimes you'll think about trying those other ones again, but you'll always pick your favourite. And your friends, and your family, aren't going to always pick the same as you."
"The rest of my family picked the same as me..."
"No," Nymphadora sighed heavily, it was like trying to explain to a three year old. Adults could be so irritating at times. "It's vary-... It's very-... It's very-nations of the same thing."
"Variations?"
"Yes," she nodded. Finally, she felt, she was getting somewhere. "You know how someone can like chocolate but their friend likes chocolate with peppermint flakes?"
"I understand what you mean," Bellatrix said with a nod, if anything just to make the child stop talking.
"Oh," Nymphadora deflated noticeably, picking at the grass in front of her. "My Mum says it like that too... when she wants me to be quiet. I talk too much and I make too much noise. And sometimes I break things because I'm clumsy. Mum gets annoyed at me a lot. Sometimes I don't think she really wants me."
There was something about the girl that truly struck Bellatrix in that moment. Perhaps it was the way she dropped her shoulders, like Narcissa would as a child when she realised her tantrum would not get her anywhere. Or it may have been that she talked of being clumsy, just as Andromeda had been at her age. Though, of course, there was the thought Bellatrix didn't wish to entertain. The girl thought her mother didn't want her, just as she had rightfully assumed in her early years. There was no reason for her to be nice to the child - half-blood and, worse, a metamorphmagus. Yet, knowing that Andromeda's child thought such a thing...
"You, more than anyone, should know your Mother wants you," she said simply, looking down at the girl just as the same dark brown eyes looked up at her.
"What do you mean?" Nymphadora asked curiously, a small frown on her brow.
"As you said, she made her choice," Bellatrix explained as she looked back towards the house, noticing movement in the garden. "She chose to abandon her family, everything she ever knew, and start over. She chose this life. She chose you..."
"She chose my Dad," the girl cut in.
Clenching her jaw, Bellatrix merely nodded. She couldn't bring herself to agree to that. Talking about her sister, to her half-blood child, she could stomach. For the moment. But she would not speak of... him. "She just doesn't know what she's doing," she continued quietly. "Our Mother didn't want us. So no matter how hard she tries, she doesn't really know how to act any other way than the pureblood way. I don't think I would know either."
"Don't you have kids?"
"No," Bellatrix shifted back into the shadows as she watched her sister moving to the edge of the garden. She was, no doubt, looking for her daughter. There would be hell to pay if she found her elder sister lurking near her home.
"Where are you going?" Nymphadora watched her scoot backwards and tried to think of something to make her stay.
"Your Mother is looking for you..."
The girl looked back towards her house, standing up and drawing her Mother's attention. She waved enthusiastically before quickly turning back to where her Aunt hid in the shadows. "She would want to see you," she reasoned.
"No, she wouldn't," the older woman responded, her eyes darkening as she pushed herself to her feet. "We both chose a path. She got everything she wanted. It's time I do the same. You should go to your Mother."
A shiver ran down the length of Nymphadora's spine. Her hair faded from black to light brown and her eyes lightened as she looked at the woman who, moments ago, had seemed to be her Mother's twin. "Where are you going to go?"
"Where I'm needed," Bellatrix muttered darkly.
"Will I see you again?" she asked hesitantly.
"If you do," Bellatrix stepped back towards the girl, leaning down to whisper in her ear, a dangerous smile playing on her lips. "I suggest you run." With a swift flick of her wand she disapparated, leaving behind the child running for their mother.
***
A whirlwind burst into the entrance hall of Lestrange Manor. Rodolphus appeared on the landing as it reached the top of the stairs and grabbed what appeared to be his wife around the waist. Her instant reaction was to fight, punching and clawing with every ounce of feeling she still had left in her. “Belle,” he held onto her tightly, trying his best to keep them both from toppling down the staircase. “Belle, love, Bellatrix... Stop! It’s me!” Her movements stopped quite suddenly at the sound of his voice, as though she had been frozen, and he fought the urge to shake her in an attempt to get her moving again.
She didn’t say anything, she didn’t make a sound.
“You scared me, and Narcissa, we’ve been looking everywhere for you,” he said in an effort to elicit some form or response. “Where were you, love? I checked your favourite places...”
She remained silent, burying her face against his chest.
“Narcissa didn’t mean to upset you, love...”
“No!” Bellatrix shrieked as she pulled out of his embrace. “Narcissa does not think of anyone but herself. I don’t wish to hear any more.” She pushed past him, heading straight for their rooms. She would get changed, polish her wand, and then she would go out. If she killed every last living creature in her path, so be it. She wanted blood and gore, there’d been enough weakness.
“Bellatrix, what are you doing?” Rodolphus asked as followed her to the bedroom, watching her change into another dress.
“I’m going out, what does it fucking look like?” she snapped at him, throwing her cloak around her shoulders and fastening it at her neck. Her back remained to him, she wasn’t prepared to meet his eye. He would talk her out of it. He’d always known just want to say to make her change her mind no matter how stubborn she was being.
“I’ll come with you...”
“No!” she yelled, turning on her heel to glare at him. Meeting his eyes finally she bit her lip and held her ground, raising her wand to him. “Step aside and leave me be, Rodolphus.”
He drew his wand on instinct, assuming a duelling stance.
Bellatrix let out an ear piercing screech as her wand moved swiftly and without hesitation. She shot six spells in quick succession, forcing him backwards even as he blocked each and every one. “Fight!” she yelled at him, her wand snapping through the air almost like a whip as she attacked him. The more he defended himself and made no other move the more frustrated she became. She wanted him to react, she needed him to react, though somewhere buried deep in her mind she knew he could easily hold out longer than she could. He was calmer than she was, always had been. Much like the old adage of horses and water, she could make him draw his wand in this state but she couldn’t make him strike. Had her aggravation not got the better of her, she could have easily provoked him. Had her mind been clearer, she would have thought to take a different approach. As it was she hastened her attack, driving him back through the doors of their bedroom onto the landing.
Moving out on to the landing was a mistake. He knew it the moment he passed through the doorway. Her eyes darted down to the threshold and with lightening speed the large double doors were slammed in his face. “Bellatrix!” he rushed forward, grabbing at the handle and barrelling back into the room just as she disapparated with a loud crack. He dropped to his knees in their empty bedroom, letting his wand slip from his fingers. She would return when she was ready, he knew that, but it did not shake the ominous feeling that festered deep in his heart. It was not his wife who would return to him, his Bellatrix was broken beyond repair making way for something much more menacing. “Merlin, help the souls that cross her path.”