Hi there! my name is IndiaInk, or CJ and this is not my first fic, but my first serious one. I brainstorm with another Fanfictioner but most of the writing you read will be me, um...so yeah, kinda nervous but I hope you like it!
Prologue
A small child, as tiny and pristine as a doll, lay in the pale arms of her mother, sleeping soundly. The mother, a tiny, dark creature, a girl of only nineteen, swept thick ebony hair from her eyes and cast her unfocused gaze down upon the baby.
Bellatrix Black had almost died, on that sodden march night; death had held out his cold hand and invited her to dance. The child was too strong, scarily so, but it was hardly surprising considering her lineage.
Bella remembered the night her lord and master had come to her under the shadows of the night, forced himself upon her, taking her blackened innocence roughly as she lay afraid and guiltily fulfilled beneath him. She had been but eighteen years old, and he had returned every night for her, parting when he was done, leaving her with nothing but a rough kiss and hissed goodbyes as she gathered her torn clothing around her and wept her confusion into the night.
Her blood stained the crisp white of her brother in law's shirt, his white blonde hair tied back and slick with sweat, smiling softly, albeit somewhat worriedly, down at her. Severus lifted the cool rim of a vial to her lips, pouring the sickly black contents down a submissive throat.
Narcissa sat at her bedside, rocking the cradle of her own son gently with one hand, holding Bella's with the other.
"Rudolphus?" Bellatrix questioned, her voice was hoarse.
"Soon," She whispered, smiling bleakly.
Bella felt small droplets of guilt leak into the fissures of her icy heart, Rudolphus LeStrange, her fiancé, was not the father of this child. He had been a persistent admirer of Bellatrix, and made it brazenly clear that he wanted to do more than admire.
He was enthralled by her, intoxicated by her presence, severely exited by her very proximity, he wanted her, more than anything, violently so.
At Narcissa's wedding, when she was just barely sixteen, and he was nineteen, he led her into the shadows, kissing her harshly, forcing his tongue into her mouth, his teeth against her lips. He announced his love, his fervent desire, his intent to marry her, to make her his own in every sense; he was almost manic in his persistence.
She resigned herself to the idea of marrying him; she knew if he asked, she would have no choice but to accept, to uphold the pure blood regime, to protect herself from the fate that had befallen a once dear cousin, Sirius now known as 'the blood traitor'.
The months passed, Rudolphus progressed within the dark lord's followers, as did Regulus, almost desperate to atone for his brother's misdeeds, his treachery in the eyes of the black family. Bella passed her time working in Borgin and Burkes, awaiting the day that her fate would be sealed, the time when she would be deemed old enough for barter, when Rudolphus, who had already staked considerable claim, would make her his wife. Then, in the summer of her eighteenth year, the dark lord came to Malfoy manor.
He was in the stage of his ascent to power where his looks had not abandoned him, Bellatrix even thought him handsome. He took her, and her alone, his 'attentions' were solely hers, he barely glanced in her direction when daylight danced against the polished marble of the manor floors, but when moonlight glittered against the placid waters in the grounds, she was his. Her sister was her sole confidant during those weeks of confusion, a dangerous combination of desire and fear, of pleasure and pain.
"Do not oppose him, Bella," Narcissa whispered, tears kissing her pallid features "He will kill us all,"
The torment ended, the dark lord left her with only bruises, he had ravaged her with finality and abandon, damaging her beyond repair.
She did not speak for weeks after his departure, her physical wounds healed, her pallor remained, her fragile state of mind morphed into the manifestation of soft insanity. When she discovered herself to be pregnant, she was already engaged to an intensely doting Rudolphus. She knew ruin was inevitable; she would be cast into deep, inescapable shame, just as her mudblood-loving sister had, marrying muggle-born scum and bearing not one but two of his spawn.
She did the only thing she could; she went to Rudolphus and gave in to his desire. His eagerness brought back deeply embedded memories in painful detail. Weeks passed, she submitted to him again and again, reliving the same nightmare over again until she began to show. Rudolphus was never the sharpest tool in the shed, but he connected the dots and promised to take care of her, and the baby.
Narcissa's son, Draco, was born sickly, but by the time Bella's own child came into the world, the boy was robust and vocal, almost too healthy.
In Bella's case, only the delivery was messy, Severus apperated directly into the house, concocting potion after potion just to keep Bella and the baby alive, Lucius assisted as directed, and eventually they pulled through. The early hours of the morning met the cries of a newborn child, and the dawn met the exclamations of a father, meeting his child for the first time, or so he thought.
A year passed, The Daily Prophet reported on the capture of mass murder Sirius Black, the death of Lily and James Potter and the destruction of the dark lord. Bellatrix, by then, had become a fully fledged death eater, and her mental state was questionable at best, Rudolphus did not notice the deterioration of his wife, he focused almost solely on moulding his young daughter in the dark lord's way. Bellatrix felt deep devotion to the man that had abused her, though he was barely a man anymore, and a deep hatred for the child that the world held responsible for his death. Harry Potter.
Barty Crouch Jr. Was revealed to be a death eater before the ministry, Igor Karkaroff was freed from Azkaban, Severus Snape became potions teacher at Hogwarts, Delores Umbridge released her vendetta publication, simply pure anti-werewolf propaganda on pretty paper. All the while, Bella became more and more detached, her grasp on reality weakening with every headline. By the time her daughter, Hayley, was three; the ministry were hunting down the death eater elite.
Rudolphus left soon after the search began, Lucius promised his protection, now high up in the ministry and a trusted member of society. Yet, one cold November evening, the Ministry seized the LeStrange household. Bellatrix bundled her infant daughter into a blanket, threw floo powder across roaring flames and whispered desperately. The front door splintered and fell with a decided thud, she noticed Pius Thicknesse, her idiot husband's ill chosen secret keeper, leading the ministry officials as she glanced down out of the window. Taking a deep breath, she let the slumbering infant into the emerald flames, watching her disappear and begging whatever divine being for the child's safety.
She did not fight the Aurors, she did not resist when they took her wand and snapped it in half, she did not raise her voice to whisper let alone protest. When she was thrown roughly into a dank cell in Azkaban, she simply curled herself against the brick of the cell wall, pressing her forehead against the cool bars and staring blankly ahead, breathing small ripples in the small puddles of dark, stinking liquid scattered around her new tomb.
So...
What did you think? drop me a review and let me know, negative or positive, do you want more!
laters,
Indie :P