Disclaimer: I am not JKR nor do own any of her works, I am just someone whom loves to take a wand and stir in her magical world a bit. I do this merely for my own pleasure and that of the readers, not for money.

Author's Notes: Alright I got some sudden inspiration for a story like this, so here goes. The story starts off during the summer after Sirius got killed at the Ministry of Magic. This story is AU so some characters will behave a bit OOC. There will be Dumblebashing at some point and likely more, along with that I'm adding a M rating since there will be lemons in future chapters. First chapter might raise some questions, but things will be cleared up a bit in later chapters in order to keep things a little bit more surprise. Anyways, here goes (again).

Side Note: I do not have any beta's at this time so bare with me for the time being, people who are interested in doing so can let me know.

PADDING INTO BLACK FOOTSTEPS
chapter one: famous last words

It was late at night, only a lone muggle was still up at this hour and those that were had likely been too sleepy to notice what was going on in the streets of London. Had it been downtown then someone working a nightshift might have noticed the commotion going on, but where it was happening in one of the suburbs things seemed to be going unnoticed, which was surprising seen all the commotion going on. Voices were yelling into the night, making clear that a crowd or mob was hunting someone down and it wasn't just someone. Bright flashes illuminated the houses, enlarging shadows as they rushed through the streets. Dressed in black robes they would have blended in perfectly into the night if it weren't for the flashes of spells and curses being cast in rapid succession. Red, yellow, blue and even the dreaded green color lit the next street up, though the Death Eaters were starting to spread out more with every street they crossed, their prey quite illusive to them, which only resulted in more anger from them.

"Where did he go?"

"Potter! You can't run forever!"

" There he is! I saw something moving! That must have been him."

Each time it was a different voice it seemed, though Harry had been able to pick up and recognize a few of them. Lucius Malfoy was one of the easier ones to spot, so was the rat Pettigrew though he had likely given up on the chase several blocks ago. It nearly made the boy chuckle thinking of Wormtail running and out of breath, after all someone like that didn't have the condition to do so, though Harry was happy that he had been doing Quidditch through the school years to keep him somewhat fit as the Dursleys were definitely no help in that matter. Ducking behind a hedge he crawled through a garden, trying to keep out of sight from his chasers. After all Dumbledore and the Order would throw more than a fit if they realized what he was doing right now, then again he couldn't help it that his 'guard' had been dozing off on the job during pretty much each and every shift.

However he couldn't let go that Dumbledore had once again been ignoring everything he'd said, after the whole thing at the Ministry the situation had gotten a lot worse. Till then the Death Eaters had been working behind the scenes and out of sight, now they took a lot more risk which made it pretty clear that Sirius wasn't going to be the last casualty in this war. Carefully Harry peered across the top of the hedge, spotting figures moving further down the street. They were talking to each other and clearly still looking for him. As he raised his head slightly more he heard one of them yell out to the others.

"No, he's here! Get him!"

Harry wasted no time and began to run, it was tempting to send a few counter curses back at them but he limited them. As for one it gave him away less and secondly he'd walked nearly into a sign post doing so earlier, so he wasn't going to be taking that risk again. However he'd been on the run for at least half an hour since he'd stopped the group from attacking the Granger residence, though it felt more like an hour already with the way he was panting. Hermione and her parents had likely been sleeping at the time as every light in the house had been off, but he thought he'd caught one going on as he was being chased out of the street. Hopefully it had been enough to keep his friend there safe, but that was something for later to find out as he had other things on his mind. Proof of that was another curse whizzing closely by his head.

Turning a few more corners and streets he was eventually left with two Death Eaters on his tail, the laughter of one clearly revealed that one of them was none other than Bellatrix Lestrange, perhaps the most feared witch in Britain. Feeling that he'd shaken off the rest more than enough Harry pulled out his wand again and whirled around, before sending a green curse flying at his pursuers.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Though instead of striking Bellatrix she whirled to the side, not too surprising as Harry had seen the superb dueling skills of the witch at the Ministry. The person walking behind her though was less fortunate, as he only saw the curse the moment Bella spun to the side and was hit full in the chest with it.

"Ickle Potter should learn to hit its targets… as you missed me… but mark my works Potter… I won't miss you…"

A wicked sounding laugh followed, though Harry wasn't wasting time to give a reply even though he had gladly wanted to. He didn't even wait to see the second Death Eater fall, only a faint thud made him aware that the other had fallen. Continuing his run he made his way further down the street, to make a quick turn into one of the alleys Harry quickly grabbed hold of a street light, using it to guide him around the corner. The alley was considerably smaller than the streets he'd been in earlier as well as a bit darker, but it would do.

Turning another corner Harry ended up in another alley, one that connected to the one he had been running through. Though after several paces into it he slowed down until he came to a complete halt. Bending over a bit he placed his hands on his upper legs, taking a few to catch a breath as while his shape wasn't as bad as Pettigrew's he did get tired after a while. He didn't know how long he'd been standing there but hearing footsteps behind him he straightened himself quickly before turning around to end up being face to face with a talon-shaped wand.

"Aws… ickle baby Potter got tired… you really thought you could just interfere with us again and get away with it?"

If the way she was chiding wasn't enough the look in Bella's eyes was simply pure insanity, enough to make anyone shiver as it was most likely that not even the Dark Lord himself could predict what was going on in her mind. Of course it helped that she was an expert Occlumens. She motioned lightly with her wand for him to step slightly more away from the wall, which Harry slowly did.

"Well then Potter… time to say bye bye… as I had enough of your meddling… any last words, Potter?"

She was gloating without a doubt, it showed in her eyes and her smirk as well, but what she wasn't expecting was the way Harry suddenly smirked back in.

"Yes, I do…"

The gloating soon became a look of surprise but that was only the beginning of it as she heard him continue.

"I, Harry James Potter, hereby call upon the lifedebt of Bellatrix Druella Black and do so by taking her as my loyal wife… so mote it be."