The Puppet Master
By lostsouloftheunderworld
Summary:
A/n: This story will follow the life of my O/C, Jenifer Princeton (Aurora Lestrange) and will mainly be key moments from here and there to make the story flow. Just warning you now, this story will contain torture, depressing thoughts, suicide and guy on guy. If any of this offends you then this story probably isn't for you, and I will stick by my principal 'if you don't like it, don't read it.' Enjoy!
Chapter 1: Project Gemini
The cold winter air nipped relentlessly at Albus Dumbledore's robes as he strode up the long, winding path that led to the Lestrange Manor. Behind him, he could hear the rustle of the Aurors moving into their positions. He let out a short sigh. He and the minister had argued relentlessly about their presence for the past few days. He was not here to fight with the Lestranges'; all he wanted was the child.
The Aurors were not known for their gentle, easy going spirit in these times. With the fear of the Dark Lord growing daily, the Aurors could not afford to let the guilty escape. A lot of good people had already lost their lives and many more sat awaiting the Dementor's Kiss in Azkaban. Were the Aurors really any different from the Death Eaters they hunted? Both killing to achieve their goals, neither caring about the trail of pain and destruction they left behind them. Albus pushed the thought out of his mind as he rapped his fist against the cold, hard wood of the door frame.
After almost five minutes the door flew open, revealing a rather bedraggled looking Bellatrix with a scowl ready on her face and her wand gripped tightly in her fist. As her eyes lay upon Dumbledore, Bellatrix took a step back, drawing a sharp gasp before gathering her wits and shoving her wand into the throat of the old wizard standing in front of her.
"Why are you here? What do you want?" The witch's voice was a hiss, threatening on the verge of hysteria. Albus simply smiled, his eyes twinkling in the moonlight.
"I'm simply here to talk Bella." Albus swatted aside Bella's wand, striding past her into the grand entrance hall. "My, it's been a long night. And my throat is so incredibly dry." The wizard cleared his suggestively, raising an eyebrow expectantly at the witch before him. Bella sighed, grinding her teeth together in an attempt to hold back the curses on the tip of her tongue.
"SERVUS!" Bella's enraged scream echoed through the vast emptiness of the house, causing a few of the paintings to glare, or voice their disapproval. A house elf apparated in front of the witch, looking up at her with wide eyes full of terror and bowing low to the floor.
"Y-ye-yes mistress?" Bella glared at the terrified elf, resisting the urge to yell at him for his incompetence to hold himself together.
"Put the kettle on. It appears Mr Dumbledore will be staying a while." The witch could hardly keep the contempt from her voice as she eyed the wizard with suspicion. What business could he possibly have here? And at this hour? Bella rubbed sleep from her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "And while you're at it, wake Rodolphus. Tell him we have a visitor." Servus nodded eagerly, bowing so low his ears and nose touched the floor.
"So kind of you Bella." Albus nodded his thanks before turning to beam at the terrified elf. "Milk and two sugars if you please. Oh, and Servus, should you ever get tired of working for the Lestranges', there will always be a position vacant at Hogwarts for you." The house elf gave a startled squeak, turning his tear-filled eyes towards his mistress.
"Mr Dumbledore is very kind, but Servus loves Mistress. Mistress is good to Servus! Servus will not leave! Please Mistress, do not hurt Servus! Servus loves Mistress!" Servus threw himself at the witches feet, clinging tightly to her legs and covering her in kisses and tears.
Bella scowled, driving the toe of her boot into the wailing elf's ribs, effectively shutting him up.
"Get off me you stupid creature! Now, TEA!" The elf scuttled off towards the kitchen, wailing and wiping his nose on his pillowcase uniform as he went. Bella turned her attention back to the wizard. "You will have your tea, make your point, and then you will get out or, Merlin help me, I will hex you into next week!"
The wizard only smiled, his eyes twinkling in a way that only served to further enrage the witch before turning on his heels and making his way by heart to Rodolphus' study, leaving a rather perplexed witch behind him.
~0~
Albus clutched his tea in one hand and an assortment of lollies in the other, sighing happily as he popped his 14th chocolate frog into his mouth. Bella sat across from him, eyeing the wizard with a mixture of disgust and suspicion.
"These really are excellent, Bella. You simply must get your house elf to give me the recipe." Bella pinched the bridge of her nose, taking a long swig of her firewisky before turning her sights back to the old wizard.
"Now you listen here!" Bellatrix screamed loud enough to wake the dead. "You barge your way into my home, eat my sweets, drink my tea without so much as a how-do-you-do! You fucking tell me right now what business you have here or I swear to Merlin I'll fucking hex your ba..."
"Mamma?" A tiny black head of curls poked around the door frame, looking up with wide, sleepy eyes at her enraged mother. "Mamma I heard you shouting. Are you alright? Who is he?"
"Aurora, go back to bed this instant!" Bella threw herself between the wizard and her child, a crazed gleam in her eye.
"I can't Mamma, there are nasty men down the hall making lots of noise."
"What men?" The witch eyed Albus with suspicion, quickly daring a glance down the hallway that housed her daughter's and her own rooms. "Where's your father?"
"Daddy's asleep on the floor. I tried to wake him up but he wouldn't get up. The nasty men were there to." Bella took off at a sprint down the corridor to her bed chambers, leaving her little girl with the twinkling wizard.
"RODOLPHUS! Get away from him or I'll..." there was an echoing thud as Bella hit the floor, her wand still grasped firmly in her hand as she collapsed on the lifeless body of her husband.
Aurora cocked her head to the side. "Mamma?" With that, Albus stood, a sad smile on his face as he pointed his wand at the three year old.
"Obliviate."
~O~
Albus adjusted the sleeping three year old on his hip, a small smile lighting up his face as she snuggled deeper into his beard. The aurors slowly made their way from the manor, dragging the lifeless body of Rodolphus Lestrange and his half conscious wife behind him, her hysterical wails echoing in the night.
"Albus." The minister for magic, Cornelius Fudge, moved slowly to stand behind Albus, his hand ruffling Aurora's curls. "I see you've taken care of the child." Albus refused to meet the minster's eyes. "Look, Albus, I know you don't agree with this, but Project Gemini will save hundreds, if not thousands of lives. She is one child. Surely you can't think one child is more important than the entire wizarding world?"
Albus sighed and looked the minister dead in the eye. "You say you do this for the good of the wizarding community, but really, you're no better than the death eaters. Because of you, this child will never know her mother. Because of you, this child will never know her father because you ordered your men to kill him. Because of you, this child will never know who or what she is. She will be called a freak. She will be outcast by both the wizard and muggle communities. She..."
"She will have a new life! A better life! She will have a family who loves her and she will never have to be concerned with this war. She's luckier than all of us. She has a way out, which is more than the rest of us can say."
"She had a family who loved her." Albus voice was deathly quiet. "And you just killed one and gave the other a life sentence in Azkaban."
"I'm sorry Albus, are you supporting the Lestrange's?" The minister lowered his voice, the thinly veiled threat hanging heavily in the air between them.
"...I didn't say that Cornelius, and you know it. The Lestrange's were death eaters, yes, but you cannot doubt that they loved their child. She's all Bella has left now. By killing Rodolphus, you've undone all the hard work the ministry has put into this. It will be the downfall of your precious Project Gemini in the end."
"If I wanted your opinion, Albus, I'd ask for it." Cornelius roughly grabbed hold of the child, and causing her to cry out in her magical sleep. The minister looked at the child with a mixture of confusion and disgust before quickly passing her to the closest auror. "Well, we'd better be off. Her parents will be expecting her." The minister turned and began making his way slowly to the apperation point.
"Cornelius, wait!" The minister turned, looking expectantly at the older wizard. "Please, promise me one thing. If she shows magical ability, she must come to school. You think it's dangerous to teach her to use her gift, but it might be just as dangerous not to teach her." Cornelius nodded.
"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it." And with that the minister was gone.
~O~
Somerset Close was a street, much like any other in muggle London. It was situated in a well respected neighbourhood, filled with nice houses and nice, hard working people. It was perfect, Cornelius observed as he apperated to the small park that sat in the middle of it all. This was precisely why he had chosen it. It was the last place anyone would ever expect to find the children.
The minister took the sleeping child from the arms of his assistant, plastering a fake, confident smile on his face. Albus' words still roared in his ears, nagging at every tiny doubt. No! He was the Minister of Magic. And what was Dumbledore? The headmaster of crumbling school, both past their prime. What did Dumbledore know? How could he possibly consider himself better than the minister?
Cornelius straightened his robes and dismissed the auror before striding pompously to the house. The slight pressure of the wards pressed against him, before realising who he was and giving way to let him through.
The door flew open before he could even knock, revealing a rather frazzled looking Alice Princeton, the Nott boy balanced precariously on her hip as he desperately tried to free himself from her grasp.
"Oh , Cornelius. We weren't expecting you until tomorrow. You've brought the Lestrange girl already?" Alice carefully put the screaming child in a nearby armchair, drawing her wand from the folds of her dress and pointing it at the child. "I'm sorry James! Muffliato!"
The wailing child was instantly silenced. Alice leaned against the door frame, her fingers delicately massaging her temples. The minister simply raised an eye brow in amusement. The witch simply glared.
"Fudge, when you offered me this job, I understood that I would have to work longer hours, I understood that I would have to give up my friends and family, I understood every word that left my mouth would be a lie and I understood that I would never have a life outside of this again. But in all seriousness, what did I do to you to make you wish my death by screaming, little, spoilt, pureblood brats? And what in Merlins' name are you using on them? Adult brains would start to break down with all the obliteration you're doing, and their brains are still young and fragile, as if they weren't already deranged enough from being interbred." Alice paused her rant only when the lack of oxygen in her system reached a critical level.
"Do you know what it's like not to sleep for days on end because you have to spend every waking moment looking after ten children? Ten children who aren't even mine, might I add!"
"I'm sorry, Alice. You were the only one for the job. You are one of the best aurors the ministry had and I've never seen anyone cope quite so well under pressure as you. Without you, this project would have fallen apart." Alice sighed, and, much to the minister's delight, swallowed his carefully chosen words without a second thought.
"I...I'm sorry minister. My head is killing me and I can't think straight." Alice reached out her arms to take the newest addition to her family from the ministers' crushing grip. "And what's your new name, little one?"
"Jenifer." The minister sounded bored.
"Jenifer. Jenifer Princeton. That's a beautiful name."
A/N: Hi guys! You all still awake? This is a little bit different from what I usually write, but that was the aim. I haven't written in a while so please excuse me if it takes a few chapters to warm up. Well, what did you think? I'm dying to know! Why don't you lovely people all click the nice, shiny, blue review button just down there? You know the one! Should I continue? Let me know! And remember, the more reviews, the faster I work! I'm also looking for an editor if anyone is interested.