"No, Mother, please!" Meissa whined, pulling against her mother's grip.
"Would you stop wiggling?" Bellatrix snarled, tugging harder on her daughter's arm.
"But I don't want to! Please don't make me!"
Bellatrix growled and whipped her free hand across the young girl's face. Tears stung Miessa's eyes, though she stopped struggling.
"That's better." Bellatrix said.
"But, Mother, I'm not ready! I'm only in my sixth year; I'm not even of age yet!"
"Your cousin Draco is getting his tonight too. Besides, Meissa, you are an extremely talented dark witch considering your age. And you're mydaughter; I'm practically royalty within the ranks." Bellatrix jerked the girl around a corner.
"But-"
"Shut up! We're almost there. If you value your life, you'll keep your stupid little mouth shut." Bellatrix snapped.
They stopped in front of a large door, Bellatrix knocked twice.
"It is I, my Lord, Bellatrix Lestrange. I've brought her."
"Enter," Voldemort hissed.
Meissa's eyes widened in fear as her mother opened the door. Her father was there, as well as a few other Death Eaters that were close to her parents. She spotted her cousin Draco and her aunt and uncle. She sent him a look, asking if he had already been through what she was about to endure. He nodded, understanding her silent question, and flexed his left arm.
"Worried?" The snakelike voice rang, sending shivers up Meissa's spine.
Both she and Draco jerked their heads to look at the Dark Lord, who laughed as he read their thoughts.
"Legilimency, you naïve children." He answered their unasked question.
Draco looked down, though Meissa continued to look at the large chair that was settled in front of the fireplace; the chair that contained the most evil wizard of their time.
"Your father," Meissa shivered again as Voldemort spoke, "Has told me that you are practically an expert in the dark arts. You're especially good at the Cruciatus curse?"
Meissa froze, she was no expert; her parents had obviously stretched the truth. Her mother nudged her in the back to remind her that she had been addressed.
"Y-yes."
"It's a favorite of your mother's as well." Meissa could hear her mother's thin lips curling into a smile, "Why don't you show me?"
Meissa froze. Perform the Cruciatus curse? In front of everyone? Her parents had exaggerated; she had only been able to successfully crucio anything a few times, and only then it had been after multiple tries.
"How about on your dear Uncle Lucius? I understand he and your parents had a bit of a falling out a little while ago."
Crucio her uncle? She'd never be able to, she wasn't even upset anymore. To correctly perform the Cruciatus curse, as her mother constantly reminded her, you had to want to cause harm; Meissa didn't want to cause harm to her uncle, she didn't really want to cause harm to anyone.
"Well?" Voldemort's voice echoed around the room.
"You've got your wand, go on." Her mother whispered in her ear.
Meissa wrapped her fingers around her oak and dragon heartstring wand and cast a sorrowful glance at her cousin and aunt and finally her uncle. Lucius didn't look worried though; he had been around when she had practiced before. She raised her wand and tried to think of something to make her mad, something bad enough to make her want to hurt someone.
"What are you waiting for?" Her mother hissed at her.
Meissa took a deep breath, "CRUCIO!"
Lucius felt a light jolt, but nothing more. Voldemort's eyes narrowed.
"You have lied to me, Rodolphus; your daughter doesn't seem to have any more talent than an average child. Not even able to use an unforgivable curse."
Meissa's heart raced, her parents would kill her if the Dark Lord didn't kill them for lying first. She had ruined everything; not only was she in trouble, but so were her parents. She'd be disowned, and after all her mother's hard work!
"Lying to me is not acceptable. I don't see any reason I shouldn't-"
All three Lestranges would be tortured and all because Meissa couldn't perform a proper Cruciatus curse.
"Though I see no reason to punish the girl for her parents' mistakes. Bellatrix, Rodolphus, come here"
That was even worse than if Meissa was tortured alone. If her parents lived through it, she was sure she would be Cruciated fifty times a day just to make sure she knew what one felt like. No, this couldn't happen; she had to do something…
"CRUCIO!"
Meissa watched in shock as her uncle fell to the ground and howled in pain. Her parents let out breaths of relief mixed with shock; Voldemort let out a cold laugh.
"I was terribly mistaken, that was a wonderful Cruciatus curse."
Meissa watched her uncle, still twitching on the ground
"Come here, girl."
Meissa glanced nervously between her mother, father and the darkened chair. Her mother once again pushed her forward and Meissa took slow, short steps towards the center of the room. She stopped in front of the chair and inhaled sharply as her dark eyes met the red ones that belonged to the Dark Lord.
"You would be a lovely edition to my army. If you would…" Voldemort held out a hand.
Meissa hesitated. She didn't want to be branded; she didn't want to be a Death Eater. She opened her mouth to protest, but her father seemed to know her too well, muttering "Silencio," before she could speak. She could feel everyone's eyes burning through her skin, waiting. She sent a glance towards her mother who was obviously eager to have her only child given to the wizard in front of her. Bellatrix mouthed "Go on!" to Meissa who reluctantly laid her left arm in the pale hand that was outstretched before her.
Voldemort's flesh was cold, colder than she had imagined. She shut her eyes tight as he pushed the sleeve of her robes up, exposing her forearm. She felt the tip of a wand pressing into her arm and heard an excited squeal, no doubt coming from her mother.
"MORSMORDRE!"
Meissa screamed in pain and fell to her knees. Tears streamed from her eyes, though just as soon as it had happened, it was over. She looked up at her forearm. There sat a black skull with a snake coming out of the mouth. The skin surrounding it was red and puffy. The Dark Lord released her arm and she fell backwards. Her mother rushed to her side and pulled at her arm to look at the new mark on Meissa's arm. She ran a thin finger over the image and smiled, "You're one of us now."
I like this one better than 'Curtains' I think Bella would totally do this and act like this. I feel bad for Meissa though, all she wants is to make her mother happy :( Read and review? I'd love you forever. Oh, and if you read this and my other one shot I just posted, do I get props for their names? XP