*So I have decided to give this story a go. I'm going to stick with Heir of Regulus (now changed to "A Newfound Legacy") but I've wanted to write this one for quite some time and only now have the ideas to move forward with it. I enjoy writing more than one story at a time as it helps me renew my interest when I get bored with one of them.*

PROLOGUE

"My most loyal servants have been given the honor of accompanying me on a most...delightful... mission tonight," Voldemort's lips twisted into a crude smile.

"An honor, my lord," Barty Crouch tilted his head.

Bellatrix, tilting her head in suit, peered up at her master.

"And the Department of Magical Games and Sports, my lord? Should I not -"

Voldemort lifted his hand for silence, his other still caressing Nagini.

"That endeavor will have to be neglected until further notice, Bella. However, your eagerness will soon be satiated. Some rather disturbing news has come to my attention."

Standing from his chair, he began pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace of the Malfoy library, his hands clasped behind his back.

"With our recent victories over the aurors, Dumbledore has gone to great lengths to hide many of his valued supporters. Fortunately, our sniveling little rodent, wormtail, has been kind enough to divulge the whereabouts of perhaps his most valued. The Potters."

Bellatrix's eyes shot up.

"Let me revenge them for you master! Their death would be a pleasure to -"

Voldemort lifted his hand for silence, yet again.

"Your loyalty is applauded, Bella. However, your presence is not to exact my revenge, but to ensure it. Nor will I risk either of you to the Potters. They have defied your lord on three separate occasions, there will not be a fourth! You will witness the power of your Lord Voldemort soon enough."

Without missing a beat, Barty Crouch spoke up before Bellatrix could issue a response.

"Your word is our law, master. How may we be of service?"

Facing the flames and turning his back on his death eaters, he raised his head upwards and inhaled the sweet aroma of the pine scented fire.

"The Potter's were recently placed under an ancient protection, the Fidelius charm...I admit, I am not experienced with this magic. Once we enter the boundaries of the charm, I cannot anticipate what might happen. If Dumbledore and the aurors arrive, I must have the time to eliminate James Potter, including his child. You will be there to ensure that time is afforded to me."

"And what of the mudblood?" Bellatrix blurted as she took a step forward.

"Do not test my leniency with you again, Bellatrix!" Voldemort's nostrils flared. "Her fate has been decided as well."

Nodding in satisfaction, Bellatrix retraced her step to stand aside Barty once more.

"Good. We leave at eight! Come Nagini!" Voldemort turned on his heel and left the room without another word.

BREAK

"Avada Kad-"

"Silence!" Voldemort hissed before she could bring her wand forward and finish the incantation.

"I have decided to spare this one, Bellatrix."

Relishing in the anticipation of cold murder, Bellatrix's wand shook at the tips of her trembling fingers - her tongue running the lower lip of her crude smile and tasting a thick layer of crimson make up as if it were the fresh spilt blood she was lusting for.

"Out of my way girl," Voldemort flicked his wand, motioning for her to step aside. "Lord Voldemort has decided to be generous and spare your worthless existence."

"Please!" Lilly Potter began, clutching the crib behind her with white knuckles. "Not Harry! Please!"

"I told you girl...I wish to spare you. Now remove yourself!" Voldemort ordered, his quick temper now surfacing in each word.

Bellatrix peered to the side at Barty Crouch Jr. with one eye, her nose wrinkled as if she just whiffed the decaying corpse of a muggle.

Barty, returning a glance of mutual confusion, only shrugged.

"Take me!" Lilly's cries continued. "Please! Not Harry!"

"Very well," Voldemort sighed. "I haven't any time for the pleas of a mudblood. Avada Kadavra!"

Lilly Potter's body fell to the hardwood, her sprawled body limp and motionless.

With a casual flick of Bellatrix's wand, Lilly's body was sent flying to the other side of the room until she crashed against an antique dresser, allowing her master to step forward towards Harry Potter as Nagini circled the corpse.

"Little Harry..." Voldemort mused as he touched the tip of his wand to Harry's forehead. "Such a shame, such a waste of precious... magical blood."

Voldemort peered into the boy's eyes for a moment, looking as though he were searching for something smaller than a speck of dust in the air.

"Unfortunate," he concluded. "You'll be with your traitorous parent's soon. Look into the light, boy."

With a quick flourish of his wand, he whispered, "Avada Kadavra!"

Voldemort, who had kept a thin lipped smile throughout his engagement with the boy, hadn't even the time to wrinkle his brow before the green light came careening back at him - hitting him square in the chest.

Bellatrix let out a shrill as Barty jumped backwards, both watching Voldemort collapse to the ground with the toddler crying in the background, only a stream of trickling blood upon his forehead left from the curse.

Just as Voldemort hit the floor, however, he vanished into thin air. It looked as though he had fallen right through the hardwood floor.

"Where...where d-did he-" Barty stuttered before leaping forward to inspect the ground where his master should have landed. Upon his knees, he began searching with trembling hands, appearing as if they were sifting through sand and expecting to find something.

Bellatrix, on the other hand, remained nailed to the ground. Her face had contorted as her lower jaw jutted forward by a half inch, looking as though she were either on the verge of tears or rage.

Gripping her wand as though she wanted to crush it into splinters, she walked forward towards the crib, the thump of her knee high leather boots now the only sound in the room other than the cries of her next victim.

Inching near Harry, she drew her wand backwards and squinted her eyes into slivers of fury.

"Avada Kadav-"

"Enough!" she heard raspy croak call out behind her. "The boy is to be unharmed!"

Barty's voice could have been mistaken for a man on his deathbed were Bellatrix not there to witness it. Bringing his head around in a circle as if to crack his neck and warping his face into an expression that looked as though he had just swallowed a roach, he stood up and faced Bellatrix.

"Oh shutup!" she spat, disregarding the man's odd behavior and turning back towards Harry.

"Nagini!" Barty called for his familiar in parseltongue. "Protect the boy!"

Nagini, who had been in the corner circling Lilly Potter's body like a vulture waiting for permission to eat, raced towards the crib to wrap itself around the infant. The moment the cool leathery scales grazed his skin, the boy's cry settled into a smile of playful curiosity as he reached out to touch the giant serpent.

Too mesmerized to bother with the boy's reaction, Bellatrix twirled around fast enough for her cape to fly in the air.

"Master!?" her excitement swelled in her voice. "How...What happened?"

"Tisk, tisk...Bella," Voldemort began with a head shake of disappointment, "You know better than anyone that I have taken steps to ensure my survival."

"Yes! Of course master! But the boy -"

Voldemort held his hand up.

"Silence!" Voldemort's raspy holler filled the air, peering at Harry and Nagini out of the corner of Barty's eyes. "The circumstances of the boy's survival is unknown to me. For now, I am using a willing vessel in Mr. Crouch until I am strong enough to restore myself to my own physical entity. You were too valuable to use for such a function. Now we must return to the Malfoy manor before Dumbledore and the aurors arrive."

Swallowing a knot in her throat, Bellatrix nodded.

"Yes master. And what would...would you have me do with the boy?"

"My orders are that he is to be unharmed, Bella. He is coming with us so that I may decide his fate."

Bellatrix bit her lower lip and nodded, resisting her urge for a retort.

"Nagini!"

Voldemort picked up his wand before he held out his hand for Nagini and apparated out of Godric's Hollow.

Letting out a sigh, Bellatrix followed her orders and took Harry into her arms, apparating with contemplation etched into her features.

Within the next second, she was staring into the cold blue eyes of Lucius Malfoy.