Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything related. No money is being made with this story.

AN: I've divided the story into three parts to it's easier to read.

The Curse That Should Not Be.

Part 1 Loyalty

The clock was ticking slowly. It had moved past 10 pm a while ago.

Bellatrix walked up and down the living-room, impatience clearly visible on every feature of her face.

Her husband Rodolphus was watching her silently. Perfect, that had been his thought when he had seen her for the very first time. Rodolphus had long since learned that such a thing as perfection didn't exist, at least not in human beings, but she was still coming close. Impatience and anger made her even more attractive than she usually was. Rodolphus still had trouble believing that such a witch had chosen him of all people. She had been the one who had made that choice of course. No one would expect anything else from a witch with the blood of Morgana herself running through her veins.

Her admiration was with the Dark Lord but wasn't that true of them all? She was giving him more than enough as it was.

"He's late," she said. The clock was tolling twice, it was 10.30 already.

"We know," Rabastan said looking up from the copy of the Daily Prophet he had been reading. Its front page featured an article about Barthemius Crouch's chances to become Minister of Magic.

Rodolphus was wondering if the hopeful politician's son had gotten cold feet. He couldn't claim that the thought was bothering him much. Barty had only been a Death Eater for the last six months. He had done very well, no doubt, and killed quite a few enemies of the Dark Lord. Still, he had never been sent on torture missions. Rodolphus was sure that the Dark Lord had done this for a reason. Contrary to popular belief, he didn't tend to give his followers jobs they couldn't carry out.

His Cruciatus curse experience was limited to one time where he had used it on Crabbe for punishment. This had worked out reasonably well but it had been nothing like the things planned for tonight.

Barty wanted the Dark Lord's return as much as they all did. There was no doubt about that. Rodolphus wasn't sure if he'd be much help tonight though. As a child, he had known Frank Longbottom quite well. He had taught the younger boy to play Quidditch if Rodolphus remembered correctly. Barty's father had said again and again that he would have preferred a son like Frank. Was that enough to make Barty carry this through?

"If he doesn't turn up during the next ten minutes we're leaving without him," Bellatrix said. Both brothers agreed.

Only three minutes later, the doorbell rang.

"This must be him," Rabastan said.

Bellatrix was looking doubtful. "I hope it's not an Auror."

"Aurors can't get past our protective charms," Rodolphus said.

His ancestors had made sure of that. His family's house was probably one of the safest ones in Britain. Still, all three of them went to the door together.

The wizard standing in front of it was indeed Barty, already wearing his hooded Death Eater cloak an eager look on his face.

"Sorry for being so late. My parents forgot their theatre tickets and I simply couldn't get away earlier."

"No problem," Rabastan said.

Bellatrix' look made it quite clear that she disagreed.

"Come in for a quick word."

The four settled down in the living-room together.

"One thing first. You don't have to do this," Rabastan said. "The three of us are more than enough and you can help us in many other ways."

Barty shook his head. "I want to come. I want to help you find him."

"It's your decision," Rabastan said. "But do note that this won't be pleasant."

"Rabastan's right," Rodolphus said. "If you can't cope, it's better you stay here."

"You're going to have to live with these memories," Rabastan added. "Maybe in Azkaban."

This was a possibility they had to take into account. Rodolphus had strong doubts that Barty could survive there.

The boy had become almost something like a third brother to them but he did not have the Lestranges' resilience against dark magic and creatures.

"I'm going to come," Barty said stubbornly.

Rodolphus said nothing. It was his choice.

"Alright. Now that we've got this settled there's one thing you need to know," Bellatrix said. "This isn't a killing mission. When Longbottom has told us what we need to know, we're going to use a memory charm on him and leave him."

"Why? Memory charms can be broken," Barty said.

"Yes, but only if someone realises that there is something that needs to be broken," Rodolphus said. He had been a Healer in the past and was quite capable to use a Memory charm in a way that made it impossible for anyone to know that something had been wrong.

"It's simple. If there's a dead Auror, the Ministry will know that something's going on. This way they won't and we can look for him with far less trouble," Bellatrix explained. "Of course, it's a nuisance, but what's the life of one Auror compared to the return of the Dark Lord?"

"Okay. I understand that," Barty said. "But what are we going to do if he doesn't talk?"

"He will," Rodolphus said. "They all do in the end. It may take a while though. That's why we should go now. Only one thing Barty, we're not going to use our names there. Should be obvious, we wouldn't need the masks otherwise but I wanted to mention it."

The three Lestranges put on their Death Eater cloaks, and masks. It had been over a year since Rodolphus had done so for the last time. They had spent the entire time planning what to do, staying hidden.

There was a wild glow in Bellatrix' eyes that he hadn't seen her for a long time. Like a wild falcon waiting to sink her claws into her prey. "Let's go!" she shouted. "For the Dark Lord! And for Evan and Jeremy!"

Their friends Evan Rosier and Jeremy Wilkes had both been killed by Aurors. Bellatrix cousin had died while fighting the ones who wanted to arrest him; Jeremy Wilkes had been tortured to death at the Ministry. Or, precision was always important to Rodolphus; he had been tortured to the brink of insanity by the Aurors and thrown into Azkaban afterwards where he had died.

A few seconds later, the four Death Eaters where standing in a small Muggle town in front of a small, semi-detached house. There was no sign of magical people living here at all. Lights were on at the Longbottoms' as well as in the other half of the house. A dog was barking.

Bellatrix shook her head. "I can't believe it. Members of the Sacred-Twenty-Eight living among Muggles like this. How shameful."

"That's completely irrelevant now," Rodolphus told her. She cast him an angry glare.

"Ring the bell or break open the door?" As always, Rabastan was interested in the practical matters.

"Break open," Bellatrix said. "So he isn't warned."

The Longbottoms had put a few protective charms on their home but they didn't hold out against the combined magic of the three Lestranges and Barty. An "Alohomora" later, the door was open and they could walk inside. Behind the door, there was a very small hallway, followed by a large living room. Frank Longbottom was sitting on an armchair, reading the same copy of the Daily Prophet Rabastan had been reading earlier.

Rodolphus hope that they might be able to catch him unaware proved false very quickly though. As soon as they had closed the door behind them, he was on his feet, his wand in his hand.

Seconds later, the fight had begun. Rodolphus had expected it to be quick; there were four of them after all.

Longbottom however had obviously been taught how to deal with that kind of situation. He was casting curses and spells absurdly fast and had some trick to move from one side of the room to the other within moments. It wasn't quite apparition but no ordinary running either.

He could turn up next to them at any moment and quickly escaped to the other side of the room as soon as he was facing more than one opponent.

Rodolphus had no chance to even reach him with one of his own curses. The more accomplished duellists Bellatrix and Rabastan did better but they too couldn't manage to subdue him. Barty was quite busy not being hit by any of Longbottom's curses. He did manage to protect the others in a few instances though.

Barty was blocking a curse aimed at Bellatrix when he was hit by a flash of purple light from behind. He was toppling over, obviously unconscious.

At first, Rodolphus believed that Longbottom had managed to do this somehow. He hadn't. When Rodolphus looked again he saw Alice Longbottom walking down the stairs.

She jumped to the ground floor, probably with the help of some spell as well. At the same time, she was aiming another curse at Bellatrix. Unlike Barty, Bellatrix reacted quickly. She used a shield charm and Alice's curse had no effect. The two witches were duelling each other fiercely now. For a moment, Alice seemed to stumble over her slippers. She simply cast them aside and fought on barefooted, wearing nothing but her white nightgown.

Rodolphus avoided a spell from Longbottom and cast one into his direction. Once again, it was deflected.

He didn't like this at all. There were three of them against two Aurors now. For the first time, Rodolphus was seriously considering that their trip might end in Azkaban before they had been able to ask a single question.

Alice, like her husband, didn't intend to keep fighting Bellatrix on her own. She too was changing her position really quickly now. Rodolphus found himself fighting against both of them for a short moment, until they had to defend themselves against his companions again.

Soon afterwards, Alice was fighting Bellatrix once again. This time, she was giving Bellatrix plenty of trouble.

Rodolphus had an idea. Her bare feet made her vulnerable. He simply made some of the glass shards from a broken mirror fall right in front of her. Busy fighting Bellatrix, Alice didn't notice that and walked right into the sharp shards. She gasped with pain but it wasn't enough to detract her. She still managed to block Bellatrix' next spell.

Rodolphus had to fight Frank again now, soon helped by Rabastan. A few moments later, Alice had come to her husband's aid, followed by Bellatrix. The five of them were standing closely together now, curses flying from on to the other.

Rodolphus needed all his concentration not to be hit by anything.

Longbottom moved to the other corner of the room, followed by Bellatrix and Rabastan. Rodolphus found himself fighting Alice now. Blood was dripping from her feet, leaving stains on the grey carpet.

That didn't keep her from hitting him with a quick succession of curses though. It was the first time he was in a real fight one on one this evening and it didn't go to well.

He was caught in the defensive position, so busy blocking her curses that he couldn't use any of his own.

If he wasn't able to think of something soon, he'd lose to her and Bellatrix and Rabastan were going to face two Aurors on their own. There was so little time to think however. He couldn't let his concentration slip away.

Still, there was something. He needed to make use of his skills. There was a spell that they had used on delirious patients. It separated a wizard's mind and magic for a short time. On a healthy witch like Alice this wouldn't last for long, but maybe long enough for him to hit her with another curse.

He quickly spoke the incantation. Alice's shield charm was useless against this spell. It wasn't magic directed at her from the outside but a spell that manipulated her own.

When Alice spoke her next curse, Rodolphus realised that it had worked. For the very first time, a spell cast by the Longbottom woman failed.

With a smile, Rodolphus cast his next spell. Blue light was engulfing her, her legs stopped carrying her and she fell to the ground.