All He Ever Had
Disclaimer : The character and basic plot belong to JK Rowling. I just cast a Patronus and this is what happened.
OOO
Bellatrix lay face down on the ground.
I am dead, she told herself.
Or am I ?
Was this the floor in the Great Hall at Hogwarts ? She wasn't sure. All had gone quiet around her. Tentatively. she moved her fingers, her hands, her arms. She could move. Slowly she pulled herself up and looked around.
Mist surrounded her.
I am dead, she decided.
What does one do when one is dead ?... When one is dead and one is a Black and a Lestrange and...naked, she realised suddenly.
What if someone sees me ?
Do dead people see other people ?
Still, I want a decent robe, she decided. Her arms covering her body, she began to walk. After a few steps she noticed a black robe lying on the ground. Relieved, she pulled it on. Now she was ready for whatever came.
She looked around, hoping for a sign of what to do next.
"Bellatrix Black !" called a voice.
"Mother !"
"The shame of it, you died at the hands of a Weasley !"
She had, Molly Weasley, of all people.
"Mother, I am so ashamed !"
"So you should be ! A Black !"
For once, Bellatrix had nothing to say.
"Come," said Mrs Black.
Bellatrix followed her mother in silence.
"Look," said Mrs Black.
A group of naked small children whimpered pitifully at the bottom of a pit. Each one was lying separately, not looking at the others, as if someone has thrown them there and abandoned them.
"What's that?" asked Bellatrix in disgust.
"These are parts of the soul of the man you love. Tom Riddle-Voldemort split his soul into eight parts."
" Horcruxes ? Eight ?"
" Seven. Six he made wilfully and the seventh detached itself from what was left of his soul."
Bellatrix wrinkled her nose. These were parts of the Dark Lord's soul ?
"These Horcruxes have been destroyed."
" But he is still alive ! He was alive. He was fighting."
" He is now fighting Harry Potter."
" Harry Potter is dead !"
"No, Bellatrix, but the Horcrux that was inside of him has been destroyed."
Bellatrix felt betrayed. The Dark Lord had never told her about Horcruxes. She had thought he trusted her more than anyone, she had believed she was the closest, his favourite. But he hadn't told her.
"One of the fighters will come here," said Mrs Black.
Bellatrix didn't know what to wish for. When she was alive, of course, she had wanted the Dark Lord to live and kill Harry Potter, but now...
Bellatrix hated not being in control and not knowing. And she had just realised she knew nothing and had no control over anything.
A body suddenly appeared a few feet away, lying face down on the ground, just as she had been.
"I am leaving you with him."
Mrs Black walked away and disappeared in the mist.
Still not knowing what to hope for, Bellatrix walked towards the body, almost on tip-toe. Her bare feet made no noise on the ground.
It was him, the Dark Lord, tall, thin and emaciated.
OOO
Voldemort lay face down on the ground. What had just happened ? Could he be dead ? He, Lord Voldemort, despite the Horcruxes and despite the Elder Wand ? Had the Potter boy finally killed him ? His long thin fingers clawed at the earth. His red eyes ablaze with anger, he pulled himself up.
"My Lord..."
Bellatrix was handing him a cloak. He snatched it and wrapped it around his thin body.
"My Lord..." repeated Bellatrix at a loss for words.
His eyes fell on the seven children in the pit.
"What... Oh !"
A flash of recognition crossed his snake-like features. He counted them silently.
"You can gather them back if you have compassion for your soul."
Voldemort and Bellatrix turned to see who had spoken, but there was no one to be seen.
Compassion was not part of Voldemort's vocabulary, not for anyone and certainly not for himself.
He looked at the parts of his torn soul. Did he want them ? Now that he was dead, did he want his soul to be reunited ?
Bellatrix looked at him in awe. This was the Dark Lord, the man she had worshiped and feared, looking helpless. Bellatrix had always despised weakness. She had loved this man for his power. But something strange was happening to her. She didn't despise him. She would help him.
Overcoming her disgust, she bent down and picked up one of the children. It clung pitifully to her. Bellatrix disliked babies, but this was no baby.
She carried it to her Lord.
"No !" he cried, but for the first time ever, she dared to disobey. She placed the child on his lap. Amazed, she watched it snuggle against Voldemort's thin body, closer and closer until it seemed to melt into him.
Voldemort shuddered and sighed. His eyes had gone darker. They weren't gleaming any more.
Bellatrix forced herself to hand him another child.
She watched as this child too melted into the Dark Lord, making his eyes human again.
Slowly she handed him all seven Horcruxes. If Voldemort could not have compassion upon himself, she, Bellatrix Black (she was no Lestrange, she belonged only to him), had found some somewhere in a hidden corner of her own soul.
When the last Horcrux had joined Voldemort's soul, Bellatrix stood next to a handsome tall man with black hair.
Lord Voldemort looked at his life. He has been powerful, he had terrorised the whole wizarding world. He had commanded a huge army of wizards and Dark creatures.
And now he was dead.
He had been defeated by a boy.
Nothing was left of him, not even his life.
But had he really ever had anything ? What had he gained from his reigh of terror ?
All he had ever had was this woman who was bowing at him in adoration.