So... my other account was being weird. I hasn't let me upload anything since... Christmas? And I sent a lot of emails to and they never answered and then I started uni and moved to a different continent so I didn't get around to thinking about how I could fix this... So I just decided to make a whole new account. Don't worry, I'll be posting all the chapters I've got so far, including the new one -which would be number 46- and I'll actually also be editing a bit. Getting mistakes and typos and maybe correcting a few potholes. But it'll mostly be the same, don't worry.
He held his newborn daughter in his arms. She was so small, so beautiful, so fascinating. He couldn't take his eyes off her. Truthfully, when he'd married Bellatrix he hadn't expected it to be a happy marriage, and it wasn't. The woman was as he'd always known her to be; fanatical. The only thing she cared about was making the Dark Lord happy, but she took that to a point which made even him double take at -rare- times. Rodolphus also followed him willingly, there was no denying that, but he was more wary of the power his Lord held. He'd give anything for his master but he knew that Bella's fascination was blind, not that his was particularly critical, but still.
Rodolphus had refused to have children at first since Rabastan could marry and have children to continue the bloodline. In his heart he'd known this would happen. He would love the child - how could he not?- and Bella would only see the profit she could get from it. She would give their child to the Dark Lord, like she was doing now and Rudolph's would be powerless to stop it. He'd never been good at denying his wife anything, it wasn't how their marriage worked.
He sighed and smiled at his daughter. Annabelle Cassiopeia Lestrange was his little girl. She had been born with her mother's black tufts which he knew would later become untameable curls. His silvery grey eyes which resembled the Malfoys' from a marriage decades ago peeked up at him as she gurgled, producing soft curious noises through her tiny lips. He held her to his chest and moved his weight from one leg to the other, humming a soft song and coaxing his daughter to sleep. Magic thrummed in the room, magic from him alone. Her magic was strong, what with Lestrange and Black blood in her, but not yet developed enough to actually become active. It would be strong, however, he knew. He hoped. Life in this house had never been suitable for those of feeble minds or bodies or magic, least of all now. Least of all with his wife and with his Lord. Safety was not something that was inherent in this place, it had never been.
Rodolphus sighed and walked to the crib at the end of the room. He put the small bundle in and placed the protective enchantments around the cot.
He couldn't take this. It was his daughter, his flesh and blood, his little girl. Bellatrix had just offered the baby to the Dark Lord and, of course, he had accepted. It was a simple ceremony really. Voldemort would pour a tiny amount of his magic into Annabelle - into the core of her magic, where it was produced - and she would absorb it. Her magic was so little right now, with only three days, that it would be overwhelmed by the dark magic. Her fresh, undeveloped magic would turn dark, would grow quickly and she would forever be drawn to the Dark Lord. That combined with the fact that Bella and he, of all people, would raise her would make her the Dark Lord's most loyal and most powerful follower. Bella and him were very loyal, they would go to all lengths for him - it was what kept their marriage together - but giving up his child was going a bit far. Even if she would become the Dark Lord's greatest weapon, Rudolph's knew that he could just discard her at a moment's notice. He could not allow that. He had to protect her from everything, no matter what. His mistakes no longer influenced just himself, but her too, he couldn't let anything bad happen to her.
Rodolphus aparated to Headquarters and strode to the Dark Lord's meeting room. He knew he was there, whenever the Dark Lord deigned to go out it was usually for a raid or for some such public act. He always took his inner circle with him. If Rodolphus hadn't been summoned to his side then this was where he would be.
Calming his heart rate and controlling his breath he knocked on the door. It opened, revealing Lucius Malfoy and, sitting in the throne at the back, his Lord.
"Rodolphus." Lucius said, smiling at his brother-in-law.
Rodolphus strode past Lucius with a hasty nod, ignoring the astounded look shot at him, and knelt before his master. He knew what he was about to ask was insane and suicidal, he could just hope that his Lord would reward his long and faithful service. It was the only choice he had, logically speaking. Of course he could also leave this place, take Annie with him and hide somewhere they couldn't be followed to. Somewhere the Dark Lord's hand hadn't reached yet. But that was a mere fantasy and it left a disgusting taste in his mouth. He was no deserter; he was a Death Eater, he was a pureblood. He would never leave his Lord. For anything.
Before the train of thought could take him to things he didn't want to acknowledge, he began to speak. "My Lord, I come to you as faithful a servant as I have always and will always be. Please, might I have the honour of speaking with you privately?" He kept his eyes on the floor and his head bowed. Even though he'd not yet experienced it first hand, he knew how easily one might unknowingly trigger Lord Voldemort's temper.
"Leave us, Lucius." The other finally spoke.
Lucius bowed and left the room, presumably to stand outside the door as a guard. Rodolphus trusted Lucius with his life, yes, but he wouldn't be able to stand having him witness his begging. It wasn't like he'd never knelt before, but pleading. Pleading for anything was not something he had ever done. He had never once thought that having a child would make him do such a thing, had never considered. But now? Now, as ashamed as he was of it, he could not bear the thought of what might happen if he didn't.
"Stand."
Rudolph's stood, eyes still fixed on the floor.
"You seem afraid Rodolphus, you seem worried." The man's red eyes made such a contrast with his porcelain face and his ebony hair that they consumed the world around them. Somehow, Rodolphus found that he would not look anywhere else. A cold smile graced his Lord's features as he beckoned him closer. "What is so important that you must speak in private?"
Rodolphus walked closer and kneeled at his feet once more. He kept his head up and looked at his master with a strange surge of Gryffindor courage. "It's my daughter, my Lord. She will be your greatest follower, even greater than Bellatrix and I, and you know that you are our world."
At Rodolphus' pause Tom Riddle looked him up and down, maybe curious, maybe bored. Once could never tell. Rodolphus was obviously here to ask something of him and his reactions to those situations were wildly erratic. But perhaps, just perhaps, the fact that the Estranges -Rodolphus, Bellatrix, Rabastan... and Rodoplhus and Rabastan's father and mother before them- had always served him with vicious loyalty would help his case.
"Go on." He said and there had never been two more welcome words.
"My wife and I do so much, as do all of our relatives." He began, licking his lips nervously. "We would do anything for you, truly, but if anything should happen to any of us while she is not yet of age, she, your ultimate servant, would be left at the mercy of ilk such as Dumbledore and the Ministry. You, my Lord, will never fall, while we can. If you could somehow secure our daughter for us we would be eternally grateful."
"Secure her?" Tom smiled cruelly. "It is true that I will never fall. Having her will always be useful, but if you fall the Ministry will put her somewhere out of our reach. Unless there is a legal way out of that they will never stop pursuing her, particularly knowing how well-born she is. A legal alternative would take that option away from them for good... Do you mean to make me your daughter's godfather?"
Rodolphus bowed his head. "My Lord, it is an utter outrage that I should request such a thing from you, but, please, I beg of you. It would calm our fears for her future."
"Does Bella know you ask this of me?"
Rodolphus visibly flinched. Bella wouldn't be at all happy about this; if she'd known before hand she might've tried to stop him. But, thankfully, giving birth had left her exhausted, as giving birth to magical children often did. "My wife has not been in the right state of mind since giving birth, I am afraid that she would not even register me telling her anything."
It was quiet for a long time, but the pureblood didn't raise his head. He waited with bated breath for his master to answer.
"Very well." Tom's silky voice broke through. "I will name her my god-daughter at the ceremony tomorrow."
Rodolphus took a deep breath and let himself fall forwards, clutching his master's hand to his lips. "Thank you, my Lord. Thank you." He breathed and remained kneeling when Lord Voldemort took his hand away and stood.
"Now leave." He was ordered.
Rodolphus left so quickly one would think he had aparated right away. Meanwhile, only one thought echoed in his mind: his daughter was safe. She would not be cast aside, not if he named her his god-daughter. It was binding magical contract, you couldn't break it if you don't want to lose your magic, not unless she cast it away herself first. His little Annie was safe. She would never do that. She would be alright.
He had always believed that he wouldn't care about anyone. The only person he even came close to loving was Rabastan, but how he loved her.
"What?" Albus stood, looking at Severus. "What do you mean, Tom has a god-daughter?"
The rest of the Order looked at Severus with distrusting faces. They knew he was a Death Eater and even if Albus Dumbledore told them he was on their side, it was hard to believe. Almost every one of them had heard, at some point, the whispers about him. Like with every other mayor Death Eater, while there was no public proof of his allegiance, people knew. The old Headmaster had come in with him in tow, claiming he'd been an informant for a short while, claiming that he had information they all needed to hear.
James and Sirius just kept to the back-ground, if they said anything of what they were thinking the Headmaster would be very upset. Nobody wanted that. However, that didn't mean that they trusted the man, that didn't mean that they could hesitate to curse him from this plane of existence if he put so much as a toe out of line. Albus Dumbledore was no fool, but he gave second chances. Not everyone deserved those, not everyone used those as they should. Everyone was only human, after all, and human hearts were mostly far from pure or honest.
"Bellatrix had a daughter. Some time ago she told him that she would give her child to him, to do as he wished. I was there, at the meeting, when that happened." Severus sat down. His face seemed to express calmness but his fingers were clenched on the armrests of his chair. "He was going to just make her magic stronger, make her his best follower. I don't know what happened, yesterday evening he just announced that she would be named his god-daughter during the ceremony. "It's more than slightly... astounding; having a child so closely tied to him is a vulnerability he would never have allowed before."
"When will this happen?" Albus's brow creased slightly.
"Tonight. In Lestrange Manor. All of the inner circle will be there; the Malfoys and the Lestranges are the only ones I'm sure of. No one outside of the circle is allowed in the Manor nowadays, they don't trust anyone else around their daughter. Or, mostly, Rodolphus doesn't."
Albus sat back down, thinking deeply. Just a child. She was just a baby. But she wouldn't be that for long, she would grow as a member of the inner circle from the beginning. She would be unstoppable in who knew how many years, but they wouldn't be many. Not when her parents were who they were and her godfather would have such a large influence on her. As if that weren't enough, she would be completely loyal to her parents' master. There would be no chance to alter her allegiances. They needed to get that child away from there, somewhere where she would grow away from all of this, somewhere where nobody would find her, neither Death Eaters trying to get her back nor non Death Eaters trying to get revenge.
"We will get that child tonight and I will place her somewhere safe." Albus said, tone final. "For her and all our sakes."
Again, James and Sirius stayed silent, but with difficulty. Lily was pregnant. James couldn't imagine how the Lestranges would react to losing their only child. Sure, they were insane and violent, but they were parents. It didn't sit well with him, and meeting Sirius' eyes he could see that it also didn't sit well with him. As much as he knew his friend was loath to admit it, he was related to Bellatrix. This kid was his niece.
Annabelle's shrill cries filled the silence in the Lestranges' main ballroom. Eyes identical to hers were glued to her face as Rodolphus ran a hand through his brown hair. It was harder than he'd thought, watching the Dark Lord pour dark magic into his daughter. She was a quiet baby, she never made a sound, and now she was screaming so loud her lungs seemed like they would burst. It was a distressing sound and he knew that his brother and brother-in-law around him were inches away from grabbing him to keep him in place. He didn't blame them, he didn't completely trust himself to stay put.
All of them stood in a circle, outside the runes the Dark Lord had drawn for the spell, in their Death Eater robes. Even Bella was there, though she was staring at Annabelle as if she were seeing her for the first time. All were quiet, though most were uneasy. It was not something they weren't used to, screaming and crying. To be honest, they'd inflicted worse often enough. But it wasn't quite as easy to put up with when it was the child of someone they fought beside, someone who they were all related to in some way or another. Children screaming and sobbing were not something anyone with a little decorum enjoyed causing, but they weren't particularly averse to it. This was different.
The dark magic floated around them, so strong it shone in a million colors and almost clawed off their skin. The air around them had so little oxygen that they could barely breathe and the only sounds around them were the Dark Lord's voice, he was chanting in latin, and Annabelle's shrill wails. It wasn't a natural silence, however. It was more as if they'd been submerged in water. But all of a sudden it was all gone. Silence reigned and not even Annabelle screamed anymore. The magic had all but disappeared, the only residue was a slight shimmering glow around the babe's skin.
Rodolphus let out a deep breath as the Dark Lord started talking. "I present to you, Annabelle Cassiopeia Lestrange, my god-daughter. We will continue this tomorrow."
They clapped until he put up his hands. At that moment Rodolphus hurried forwards and lifted his mask. Annabelle's face was still covered in tears, but as soon as she saw him she laughed. A smile fought its way to his face and he picked her up, placing a small kiss on her head. He noticed Rabastan was beside him, looking at Anna with a face much like his own. He cared for his niece, his silent, stone faced brother.
Rodolphus lifted his little girl high in the air and she reached back down to him, giggling, and happiness surged through him. Until he looked at his wife, that was. She was just looking at the baby with a strange glint in her eyes, but maybe she was just tired. She hadn't gotten past her depression and magic depletion yet. It seemed to be a brutal combination.
"Congratulations, Rodolphus." Narcissa's voice sounded from behind him.
He turned, unable to keep the grin off his face. "She's fine, she's happy."
Narcissa reached out. "May I?"
"Me first, Narcissa." Without anyone noticing, To the Dark Lord had gotten closer and he was looking at the baby with his usual unreadable expression.
Rodolphus handed his daughter over to his master, trying to keep his hands from shaking, and stepped back to stand beside his brother. Rabastan placed a hand on the small of his back, showing his support. There were few things worse than handing your newborn child over to someone who seemingly had never had a kind thought about children in his life, to someone who killed and tortured people and didn't think twice about asking for someone's head. Then again, the Lestrange brothers weren't all that better.
Tom held the baby at an arm's length. It was a small child, very fragile, but she looked at him without fear, just curiosity. He had to say, he hadn't seen a baby it quite a long time. He had forgotten how terribly annoying they were, but this one was his god-daughter. Admittedly, he didn't care about the child, but if he treated her in a certain manner she would be obedient not just out of fear. Fear would mean that she would choose someone else if they scared her more or promised to protect her. No, he would make sure that she would serve him because she wanted to, and for that a certain amount of affection would be necessary. Maybe not affection, just kindness... maybe not kindness, just not cruelty. He could do that, he supposed.
"She will be a pretty girl." He said and handed her over to Narcissa. He saw the relief cloud Rodolphus' eyes. The man had shown more backbone than Tom had known he had. Not that he was a coward, he took on the most hardened of Aurors without batting an eye, but he had never requested anything of him. He never doubted the Lestranges' loyalty, but this child would be the key to keeping them in line. If ever the need arose. Rodolphus loved his daughter, any person with eyes could see that. The question was: if forced to choose, however unlikely the case might be, which loyalty would come first? Would he choose his daughter or his Lord?
A loud crash broke through the tense silence as Barty rushed in, opening the doors without looking wether they would collide with anything.
"My Lord! The wards were breached. The Order-" Regulus stopped when Lord Voldemort turned to him, eyes glistening red.
"Then we must go and greet them." His cold voice sounded. "Bella, you are in no condition to fight. Take the child."
Bellatrix hesitantly grabbed her daughter, holding her at an awkward angle away from her robes. The little girl was silent and looked at her father and Rodolphus rushed over to her. He pressed a kiss on his daughter's tiny fingers and turned to his wife with an expression that would've been stern if his eyes hadn't been so wild with worry.
"Keep her safe, Bella. I know you're not... feeling well but -"
"I know what I have to do, Rodolphus." Bellatrix snapped. "Now go and get rid of the filth on our grounds!"
Rodolphus looked like he was about to object when many loud steps approached the room. Shouts were heard as Dumbledore's followers ran towards them. They were much closer now, only a few seconds away, and there were a lot of them. How in the hell had they found this place? How did they know about this? There was a rat somewhere. But those were worries for another day.
"If you brought that Mudblood into my house, old man, you'll regret it!" Rodolphus yelled. They knew where they were anyway. "Bella, leave."
For once, Bellatrix did as she was told, hurrying to the back to the ballroom and exiting through a small door. It closed behind her just as the doors burst open again, revealing a furious James Potter.
It was difficult to see who was fighting who, what with the different colored spells flying through the room. The screams and shouts resonated, helped by the acoustics of the ballroom, and deafened every combatant. Nobody saw Dumbledore slipping away until Voldemort yelled, following him, trying to kill him at all costs. But where he went, his inner circle followed, determined to make sure no filthy being got a lucky shot across, and the Order followed his inner circle. The entire battle was moved this way, travelling through the halls and leaving scorch marks on the walls and floors, destroying heirlooms and portraits, leaving shattered glass everywhere.
None of his inner circle died, mainly because Lestrange Manor had protective enchantments over its guests, though a few Order members did perish. It was difficult to survive when one kept to moral rules one's opponent did not acknowledge. Not long after, they got to the foyer, where Bellatrix was dueling with Marlene McKinnon. She was holding her daughter against her hip, awkwardness momentarily forgotten, and doing her best, but she hadn't recovered completely and she was being driven back. The baby was crying.
Dumbledore wasted no time in helping Marlene and, with a few spells, he was holding the baby. Annabelle screamed even louder as she was taken from her unconscious mother, and Rodolphus shouted out, trying to get to his child. But it was impossible, there were too many people around him, whirling curses, hexes and jinxes. Tom tried to get to the girl as well, she was his god-daughter dammit, but Dumbledore had already left, disaparated, and seconds later his followers left with him.
For a long while all that was heard was Rodolphus' pained cries and Rabastan's whispered comforts as he tried to calm his brother.
Albus held the sleeping girl in his arms. He had had to stun her to make her stop crying, she hadn't stopped since he had taken her from her mother's, as if knowing that it wasn't supposed to happen. He put down the baby in front of St Joseph's Orphanage for Boys and Girls and grabbed a small note from his pocket. 'Her name is Anna, she's four days old', the note said. Sighing, he put it on the girl's chest and rang the doorbell. Then he apparated back to Headquarters.
As soon as he was gone, the door opened, revealing a woman in her mid thirties. She looked around, trying to find the source of the sound, but only looked down after a few seconds of turning her head. With a gasp she picked up the small bundle and read the note. She shook her head before bending over to take the bundle. The things some people did. Children always payed the price.
Rodolphus sat and stared at the floor, paying no mind to the fact that he, his wife, his brother and Barty were about to be shipped off to Azkaban. At any other time, Barty would have annoyed him, yelling like this, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Rabastan was scared, he could tell, but Bella was shouting and insulting and proud. That was good. Since they had taken Annie he had been furious and in pain, both of them had let go of the few restrictions and inhibitions they'd had before. Their sorrow had united them. But she had been strong and kept him going, even when he sometimes thought his desperation might consume him. He knew she cared about their daughter, he knew now because, while they didn't necessarily love each other, they were married and they had a child. They created her together, while all they'd done before was destroy, and now she was gone. That thought made anger flare up inside him, hotter than fiendfyre, but the thought of the Dark Lord's downfall put it out again. They had gone looking for him. It was impossible for him to have died, it just could not be. They couldn't lose both their daughter and their master, they just couldn't. So they went to visit the Longbottoms for a friendly chat. Filthy blood-traitors.
"The Dark Lord will rise again, Crouch! Throw us into Azkaban, we will wait! He will rise again and will come for us, he will reward us beyond any of his other supporters! We alone were faithful! We alone gave him everything! We alone tried to find him!" Bella shouted, and Rodolphus had to fight the urge to nod.
These disgusting pieces of filth were not worthy of his attention, so he didn't look at any of them, not even when they carted him away to the dementors, or when they snapped his wand. If he had looked he would have seen Albus Dumbledore looking at him with something akin to pity in his eyes.