Disclaimer: All characters belong to JKR.
I wrote this purely out of a desire to have poor Bella redeemed in one way or another. I think if it wasn't for Voldemort she would have been a perfectly respectable-well, maybe not respectable, but at the very least decent person.
Godric, it hurts.
Teddy lay in the hospital bed, breathing shallowly and keenly aware of the searing, fiery pain that permeated every fiber of his body. It had been just his luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, just his luck to be where the New Death Eaters had chosen to strike. Their family was cursed, no way around it: First his grandmother had lost her two sisters (although since the Second War Narcissa had come round, and truth be told Teddy was rather fond of her), then his grandfather, then his parents. Now he was badly injured, close to death. At that thought he felt a fleeting stab of guilt; Andromeda should not have to lose him too….
"You AREN'T going to die. If you do, you're no better than any Mudblood scum on the street. You're part Black, boy; we don't give in that easily."
Teddy's eyes snapped open. "G—Grandmum?" But no, the voice he had heard didn't belong to Andromeda, and although the woman standing before his bed was almost identical to her—same black eyes, same long, thick dark hair, same tinted skin—there were differences between the two. This stranger had a wild look to her, a tautness that suggested she was ready to fight or run. Her eyes flickered with something between fire and insanity, although for whatever reason Teddy didn't find it threatening.
"No." She sounded half angry, half amused. "People always used to mistake me for her, and vice versa….at least until I got out of Azkaban. Then we looked different." She scowled, a frightening expression. "I must be bloody mad."
"Who are you?"
"You can call me Bella." Bella sat down on the edge of the boy's bed, running her fingers through her tangled hair. "Now listen. Meda's lost a lot and I won't deny it's all my fault. I made her life hell and I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do to make up for it. But I sure am NOT going to let you die."
"I know you," he snarled, trying (and failing) to sit up. "You killed almost my entire family!"
"Yeah, I did. And I wish I hadn't." Bella sounded tired, broken-down and defeated. "I was a crazy, sadistic bitch in life, and I wish to high heaven I wasn't. I wish I'd been smart like your grandmum, but I wasn't. Look, you don't have to believe me, but just promise me you won't kick the bucket. I want to try to make it up to her."
Teddy didn't stop glaring at her, but he nodded. "I promise. Now go away."
Bella grinned then, and he was shocked to see how beautiful it made her. She looked absolutely stunning, a young woman in the prime of her life, full of power and potential. This was how Bellatrix was supposed to be, before Voldemort had twisted her and before she'd been infected with her family's hatred. "You're a lot like your mum, you know that?"
"…..you knew her before you killed her?" In spite of his anger and revulsion, he couldn't help but ask.
"I met her once when she was a kid. Tough little thing, actually had the nerve to take me on. I remember thinking it was too bad she was half-blood because she had a lot of spunk. In another life, I could have liked her." Bella stood up. "Well, I won't bother you any longer. Just remember what you promised, okay?" She turned to leave but then glanced back. "Hey….I know I have no right to ask….but do me a favor."
"….WHAT."
"Tell Andromeda I'm sorry."
"Teddy!" Andromeda rushed into the room and threw her arms around her grandson, burying her face against his neck. Her body trembled. "Thank God…I thought…"
"I'm okay, Grandmum. Don't worry." Ginergly he hugged her, mindful of his protesting body. "I just got a lot of secondary injuries, nothing serious."
"That's not what they told me. They told me….you were hurt badly…" Her voice shook.
"….well, yes, I was. But I couldn't exactly give up, could I? You need me, and she was so effing insistent…"
"She?" Andromeda pulled back and frowned slightly, but then it quickly morphed into a teasing grin. "Victoire's been here, then?"
"Huh?" Teddy flushed. "No! It wasn't Victoire. It…..it was Bellatrix."
The temperature in the room dropped twenty degrees. Andromeda froze. "….what did you say?"
"She came to me and made me swear to live. Unnecessary, really, but she….she told me she was sorry for what she did, that she wanted to make amends but couldn't, so making sure I lived was the only thing she could do." Teddy swallowed, a little afraid as a mixture of fury, hate, love and pain flashed in Andromeda's eyes. "She asked me to tell you how sorry she was…and she called you 'Meda'."
"That used to be her nickname for me." His grandmother's voice was flat, emotionless. "Before she turned into a raving lunatic."
"I think it was her, Grandmum. Your sister, not the Death Eater." And then he told her everything, every last one of Bella's words. "She even introduced herself as Bella. Bella, not Bellatrix. She was telling the truth."
"Damn you." Andromeda snarled angrily, but Teddy knew she wasn't talking to him. "Damn you for coming back now….just when I was forgetting, just when I was moving on….you couldn't just let me be, could you, Bella? You had to remind me of everything; what I lost, what happened to my family, what you became. Damn you to hell!"
A faint echo reached her ears as she crouched there with her grandson, her last family, in her arms: "I'm sorry, Meda. I wanted one more time to be your protector, one more time to prove that I love you."
She blinked, refusing to acknowledge her eyes burning. "…thank you. I love you too—I always did."
Teddy sees Bellatrix's grin in his head as she answers Andromeda: "I know."