It was a humid summer night not unlike many others. Alice and Frank Longbottom were both tired after an excruciatingly long week in the office. They were both working long hours as Aurors, tracking down the last few Death Eaters who remained free since the fall of Voldemort. In an attempt to keep their personal life somewhat normal, the two of them insisted on sitting at the dinner table and sharing a meal with their two young sons, Benjamin and Neville, every evening.
On this particular night, Alice trod around the kitchen in her pink bunny slippers and silk robe, whipping up dinner. A slight breeze was blowing through the open windows, causing her robe to flutter softly against her thighs. As she cooked, she hummed to herself while keeping track of her knife magically chopping vegetables. Happy to be away from work, she swayed to the melody.
In the dining room, her oldest son, Benjamin, dutifully set the table and cared for his baby brother, Neville. His tiny hands lifted one ceramic plate after another, carried them to each place setting, and clanked them down against the thick mahogany wood where they would soon be eating. Neville fussed in his chair once or twice, but Benjamin distracted him with small displays of magic. Once everything was set, he sat patiently at the table beside his baby brother and waited for his father to come down stairs. So many exciting things had happened that morning and he couldn't wait to tell him all about it.
The smell of the Steak and Kidney pie wafting through the house brought Frank down the stairs. Saliva filled his mouth as he inhaled the scent of the steaming meal. He kissed his wife on her cheek and thanked her for the lovely dinner. Sitting down across from Benjamin, he began spooning out portions of pie and salad. A smile covered his face as Benjamin cleaned his plate of everything, including his vegetables. It was nice not having a picky child, he thought.
Over dinner, Frank listened to Benjamin's excitement over the trick he had learned earlier in the day. To demonstrate, the small boy picked up a carrot, laid it flat on his hand, and concentrated on it with all his might. Everyone was surprised to see the carrot levitate a few inches from his palm and rotate in circles. Frank was incredibly proud to see that even at the tender age of five, Benjamin showed incredible magical promise, much more than other boys his age.
The scene looked much like the many other families sitting at their own dinner tables across England, except for the shadowy figures looming a few feet away from their dining room window. They stood on the sidewalk, partially hidden by a large tree in the front yard. Black cloaks were wrapped tightly around them causing them to blend in to the night sky and steel shrouded their faces, preventing passer bys from being able to identify them in case they were spotted. It seemed that they were intently watching the Longbottom family as if their dinner routine might provide some answer to a perplexing question.
As Alice began to clear the plates, the shadowy figures quickly crept towards the house, robes blowing up around them as the breeze picked up slightly. They paused at the front porch, knowing that as soon as they stepped onto the wood, their footsteps would be heard.
"Ready?" whispered the tallest of the three. The other two nodded silently. They sped up the stairs as the smallest of the three yelled "Alohamora". The front door slammed open and the three of them were through before anyone knew what was going on.
Frank heard the slamming of the door and whipped around quickly, wand in hand, ready to engage in a fight to protect his family, but a perfectly timed stunning spell hit him square in the chest. The wand he had clutched so tightly clattered to the floor and rolled several feet away. His body followed seconds later, crumpling into a large, uesless heap and his head made a sickening sound as it connected with a nearby book shelf.
Alice heard the noise and panicked. With her children's safety being the only thing she could think of, she sprinted into the room and quickly engaged the intruders. She fought valiantly, shooting spells in every direction.
"Benjamin, take your brother and run. Do it now!" The moment Alice took to instruct her son would be her downfall. As the last words left her lips, she was hit with a stunning spell and fell backwards over the table, smashing into a chair as she crashed down.
Benjamin tried to do as his mother said, but lifting Neville out of his chair was proving impossible for the five year old. He struggled over and over again, trying desperately to lift the plump baby. Fear filled his tiny heart and froze his limbs as the three intruders stepped forward. Benjamin bit his lip as they passed by him, walking to where his parents lay unconscious on the floor. He watched as one of them kicked his father over. He wanted to scream at them to stop, but terror had caused the words to dry up in his mouth.
"Rodolphous…take their wands."
The hood of the first intruder fell back onto her shoulders. Benjamin was surprised to see that she was a woman. Long, dark black, curly hair fell just past her shoulders and her face was plastered with a maniacal expression. Her long, elegant fingers were wrapped tightly around a short, stubby wand. He watched in horror as the woman waved the wand and lifted his parents to two chairs with their backs facing each other.
"Incarcerous" she shrieked and out of nowhere ropes flew towards them, binding them to their places. For a moment, the woman studied their faces as if they were works of art. It was an oddly tender moment for all the violence that would soon occur.
"What fools!" she spat. "They were so confident in their secret keeper that they didn't even bother using other protective spells. They should've known that anyone can be broken."
Benjamin watched with trepidation as the witch woke his parents up. He could see the sheer terror in his mothers eyes when she realized her two children had not escaped. Training be damned. She was a mother first. Turning to face her attacker, she pleaded "Please Bellatrix, let my sons go. Whatever is about to happen here, they've seen enough."
A cruel smile slid across Bellatrix's face and a dry cackle burst from her throat. "Is ickle Alice worried about her wittle babies? Don't worry. I have no plans to hurt them as long as you answer my questions. Too bad I can't say the same for you." She paused long enough to let her words sink in before screaming "Crucio"
Alice felt as if soldering irons were being slid across her skin and bamboo rods were being shoved under her nails. It was as if every single fiber of her being was engulfed in flame. She fought to maintain control, her Auror training kicking in. Knowing her children were only a few feet away, she fought to maintain her composure, but it only served to enrage Bellatrix all the more.
Frank couldn't see his wife, but he could feel her body convulse as wave after wave of pain hit her. They had trained for this scenario many times, but now faced with the reality of what was happening, he didn't think he could take it.
"Please." He begged "Torture me instead. My wife knows nothing about whatever it is you want."
For a moment the torture of Alice stopped as Bellatrix stepped directly in front of Frank. She bent towards him, gently placing a single finger across his lips and spoke as if speaking to a lover in the middle of the night. "Now, now Frank. Your time will come. You mustn't be impatient. The fun has just begun."
"Please. Tell me what it is you want."
Bellatrix paused. "What do we want? We want to know where our master is."
A huge shot of adrenaline coursed through Frank's veins. How could he possibly tell her where her master was when her master had died? It was then that he knew she was insane. Forcing himself to calm down, Frank locked eyes with the horrific woman standing before him. They were pitch black and full of malice, but he refused to look away. "Voldemort is dead."
The composure that Belletrix held snapped. "Lies!" she screamed "The Dark Lord is too great to be vanquished! Crucio!"
It was Frank's turn to suffer. He had been subjected to the Cruciatus Curse during Auror training, but it had been nothing like this. The people casting the spell in training didn't really hate him, but she certainly did. The fury with which her spell hit, felt like a tsunami ripping and smashing a town to pieces. He fought to stay calm just as wife had done, but the longer the pain continued the harder it was. Just when he thought he could bear no more, it stopped.
"I'll ask you again. Where is The Dark Lord?"
Frank was gasping for air, so Alice answered for him. "My husband tells the truth. Voldemort is dead. Harry Potter defeated him."
Rage contorted Bellatrix's mouth into a twisted, ugly snarl. "Do you think me a fool? How could a tiny baby defeat the greatest wizard of all time? I know you're lying! Now tell me where he is!"
Alice and Frank suffered wave after wave of the Cruciatus Curse, but worse than the physical pain was the psychological effect of listening to the other tortured and above all the fact that their sons were witnessing it as well. Tears were streaming down Alice's face and blood trickled down her chin as she begged Bellatrix for mercy on her children. "Bellatrix, please, let my children go. Torture us both endlessly if you like, but please, they don't need to see anymore of this."
Bellatrix watched their pain and suffering with amusement. She drank it all in like an elixir that would keep her alive. Truthfully, she felt no instinct to protect the children or shield them from what was happening. In fact, she felt that it was just as well that they died. If either Alice or Frank didn't break soon, she imagined torturing their children in front of them might loosen their lips.
Returning her focus to Alice, Bellatrix asked again "Where is the Dark Lord?"
Desperation filled Alice. "I keep telling you that he's dead! I can't tell you where he is if he doesn't exist anymore!"
Once again she was filled with gut-wrenching, bone-jarring pain. She could no longer contain her agony, screaming as if her lungs were filled with Fiendfyre. Snot ran from her nose and tears cascaded across her cheeks. Words burst from her mouth, but she couldn't comprehend at all what she was saying. The only thing she knew for certain was that she couldn't last much longer.
Benjamin watched from a few feet away. He was too young to understand who the Dark Lord was, but not too young to understand his mother's pain. Slowly, his young brain realized that they were going to die and a foolish courage swelled inside of him. He charged forward with all his might, slamming his tiny body into the woman causing his mother's agony. The sudden force caused her to lose her balance and stagger sideways. Rays of magic exploded from Benjamin, raising books from their shelves and slamming chairs across the room. The shutters on the window banged back and forth. The walls shook and the ground moved. Instead of fighting to control it, he let it explode from his every pore.
Frank looked at his son, the miniature of himself, filled with bravery, and furiously attempted to escape. His hands clawed at the ropes that held him to the chair. He knew that this moment of distraction would last no longer than a few seconds before the Death Eaters regained composure. If he wasn't free by then it would mean certain death for them all.
One of the knots in Frank's restraints had just come loose when a green flash filled the room. The bright flash hit Benjamin square in the chest and suddenly the room was silent. Frank could hear a loud ringing in his ears and even though he saw his young son's body fall, he couldn't wrap his brain around what had actually happened.
"Benjamin, get up. Run." Frank screamed. Hot, acidic bile was bubbling up in the back of his throat. When Benjamin didn't respond to his cries, his world flipped upside down. Nothing from that point on ever made sense to Frank again.
Alice sat stock still in her chair. Any fight she had left died with her eldest son. Her eyes were fixated on his young body sprawled across the carpet as if he were sleeping. As she stared, she could vaguely hear a baby crying. Her head snapped up, scanning the room for Neville. In the chaos, his chair had been knocked over sideways and he lay in a heap a few meters away. He was the only purpose left in her life. She resolved in that moment to survive for him.
Bellatrix approached Alice one last time, eyes full of hatred. She had long since realized that neither Alice nor Frank knew where The Dark Lord was, but there was something satisfying about torturing them anyways. Frank had been broken, but still Alice defied her and she despised her for it. Determined to break her as well, Bellatrix raised her wand once more.
Time blurred for Alice as Bellatrix hit her time and again. Each time the pain started, she would focus on Neville and the idea that she must be there to raise him. It was the only thing that kept her sane in the room full of insanity.
After what seemed like years, Rodolphus stepped forward. "Bella, my love. That's enough. We've made a lot of noise and the Aurors are bound to show up here eventually. I would prefer that we were gone before they arrived. Either kill them or it's time to go."
Bellatrix looked at Frank sitting catatonic in his chair. "Leave them. After what I've done, I doubt they'll ever be able to string together a coherent sentence between the two of them again." With that the three Death Eaters swept from the house, sealing the door shut behind them.
The ropes fell from Alice's limp body, signifying that the Death Eaters had left their immediate proximity. With the last ounce of strength left in her broken and battered body, Alice collapsed forward onto the floor. She dragged herself to her dead child, kissing him tenderly, and closing his still eyes. Nothing could be done for him now, but Neville was still alive.
Looking across the dining room, she could see his tiny body on the floor under the table, his high chair toppled over beside him. She dragged herself as close to Neville as she could, but her body failed her. Half a meter lay between her and her child. As the world started to spin around her, she reached her arm out to him grasping vaguely at the area where he lay. The edges of her vision began to blur just as she managed to grab hold of one of his chubby little baby hands. Then blackness surrounded her.