A/N: Someone pays Bellatrix a visit.
Submission for:
The Battlefield Wars: Battle #7 - Barty Crouch Jr. Bellatrix Black. Prompt - One of the characters is visiting the other in prison/hospital
Open Category 4: Death Eaters
Ultimate Battle Competition!: Matching Accessory Pack - 600 words, any subject
The Weird Prompt Strikes Back! [Daily Competition]
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
He let out a low growl as he stomped through the suffocating walls, the ever-present of film of water coating the stone beneath his feet causing him to slip twice during his walk. Before him, tall weedy man led the way, the shiny owl produced from his wand casting an eerie light into the cells around them. Empty, soulless eyes stared back, few reacting to the strange presence passing by their doors. They were no more than the ghost and apparitions that haunted their dreams, and they would cease to exist once the light had faded. Others had already gone mad, merely waiting for the day they would finally pass through the Veil. That was the fate of all inhabitants of this prisoner, and he resisted the shudder threatening to run through his body. That wasn't his fate, not any longer.
"No one ever comes to visit her, Sir," the man said, his voice slightly swallowed by the darkness just beyond the owl's light.
"I just want to make sure favourite girl is being well taken care of," he said, the corners of his mouth raising slightly. He still remembered that night when the Aurors had appeared. The Longbottoms' minds had long since departed but she had been too caught up to care. That madwoman fought until the last second, her mad cackle ringing in his ear long after she had been subdued.
The weedy man gave a curt nod, knowing not to question him further. His name carried a certain weight around here, and it was better to simply agree.
Soon they stopped at the last cell at the end of a hallway. It was even darker here, the torches unlit for years it seemed. Such luxuries were not afforded for high-level criminals. The owl floated next to the cell's metal bars as the guard said, "You have a visitor."
They wait just a moment before a short sound broke the silence. "Who would come to visit me?" she asked. There was soft shuffling before she stepped out of the darkness, squinting her eyes from the brightness of the owl. She was different than he remembered. Her skin was like bleached paper, and her cheeks were hollowed from malnutrition. Her black hair now held long streaks of grey and was caked with dirt and grime. However, once her eyes fell on him, that familiar sparkle returned.
"Alastor Moody," she said with a wide grin, showing off her yellow teeth and few empty spaces where some had fallen out. "'Tis is truly an honour."
He offered her a grizzled snarl before he said to the guard, "Leave us for a moment."
The guarded nodded, before he stepped away, the owl following him and plunging the pair into the darkness.
He drew his own wand, muttering a quick "Muffliato" before he illuminated the space between them. "It's been a while, my dear," he said. "I hope they've been treating you well."
She leaned away from the bars, studying him in the dim light, before she asked, "Who are you?"
"Oh, you don't remember me?" he asked, his tongue darting out of his mouth to wet his lips. "I can still remember you and how you once were - beautiful, deadly, bloodthirsty. You played a part in many of my more 'intimate' dreams, once upon a time." He paused before he added, "It's me, the Runt."
"You!" she cried, rattling the bars as she threw her weight against them. "What are you doing here? You died!"
He laughed, the sound coming out like crushed glass from his throat, before he said, "And I have been reborn again, just like our master will be in a few months. Surely you've noticed the mark. He's growing stronger, and when the time is right, I will be the one to bring him to life."
"You. Are. Not. Worthy," she hissed under her breath. "You are a coward. You cheated death when you should have died for the cause. I am his most loyal. I am his most trustworthy. I should be the one to resurrect him, not you."
He smirked. "But look where we are now," he said. "I will be the one to rise through the ranks. I will be rewarded greatly and get to sit at his right hand, while you will spend the rest of your days rotting away in this prison."
"That's what you think," she said. "Soon, he'll realize just how worthless you truly are, and he'll come for me. He'll come for me. He'll come for me!"
He shook his head as she began to scream, banging on the walls and bars of her cell in frustration. "Goodbye, my Bella," he said, cancelling the spells around them and stepping away from her cell.
"Guards! Guards! He's an imposter!"
"Let's just get out of here," he growled under his breath, as the guard appeared at the end of the corridor with his shining owl, not even bothering to wait as he walked through the stone corridor.