- The Black Prophecy, Prophecy 436
Born to the Lord of the Dark,
Raised in mud.
Hidden by the light,
The Daughter of Darkness will rise.
The noble house of Black,
Once tarnished,
Will be restored by Darkness,
And brought to power again.
The daughter of Darkness,
And the eldest of Black,
To form the most unholy union,
Most unholy bond,
That shall bring about a new life
And a new age.
The only other occupant of the room remained silent as Bellatrix held the prophecy carefully in her pale, icy hands. Her dark eyes flittered violently between the orb and the Dark Lord. Her face, sunken and white due to her years trapped in Azkaban, was twisted in confusion and uncertainty.
"My Lord?" Bellatrix inquired softly, her hands trembling.
The Dark Lord extended his hand to his most loyal follower and led her into the dining room. The Death Eaters, suddenly aware of his presence, halted in their chatter and movements and waited for their Lord's instructions.
"Sit," he hissed, hardly sparing them a look. He gestured for Bellatrix to take the chair to his right and Severus was expected to take the seat to his left while his other followers scrambled to get the closest seat they could to their Lord.
Clearing his throat, he peered about the table. "Friends, the time has come that I inform you of some new developments that have been brought to light. Severus, my friend, would you please enlighten our friends here?"
"Of course, my Lord. It has come to the attention of our Lord that there is another prophecy, one that will change the balance of the impending war."
"But what of the Potter boy?" Yaxley interrupted, resulting in a scathing glare from the Dark Lord. He silently cowered.
Severus continued on, "This prophecy speaks of a girl who'll change the war. She's of magical descent, but was raised by muggles," a collective shudder surged through the room, "and the light has kept her from knowing her true heritage."
"Why is this girl so important?" Avery asked meekly, trying not to raise the ire of the Dark Lord.
The Dark Lord rose from his chair, "Because she is my daughter."
A collective stunned silence fell upon the room. Everyone held their breath, waiting for another to question the surprising news or for the Dark Lord to continue and explain.
"After the first Wizarding War, I met a woman who was mesmerized by what we stood for. She and I had a small affair, though I felt nothing romantically for her and she fell pregnant with my heir. I instructed her to keep it hidden – I didn't want her falling victim to the light - and she did. My daughter was born in September and her mother raised her until the aurors killed Kathryn in a raid a few months after my physical form was ripped away by Potter. My daughter was swept away and hidden by Dumbledore in the muggle world. She is the key to this war and I plan to find her and have her at my side."
The Dark Lord allowed time for this to settle in his followers' minds before continuing onward. "I do know the whereabouts of her and plan to enlighten her on her legacy." Voldemort shook his head, "Dumbledore being the foolish old man he is assumed I wouldn't care about my child and left her with her birth name that Kathryn and I bestowed upon her." He peered at Lucius, "Your son knows her, Malfoy, I do believe. Hermione Granger."
Lucius swallowed hard and nodded.
"There is more to the prophecy," The Dark Lord said, "But that knowledge shall remain known by Severus, myself, Bellatrix and my daughter only. The rest of you need not worry about it. Now, if you'll leave us, I have some important things to discuss with Severus and Bellatrix."
The Death Eaters took their leave, except for Rodolphus. He stayed behind, glaring at his wife.
"Yes, Rodolphus? Is there something I can help you with?" The Dark Lord wondered, his condescending tone bringing forth shivers from the occupants of the room, though Lestrange tried valiantly to stifle his discomfort.
"She's my wife," Rodolphus proclaimed, "So if there's something going on, as her husband I have the right to know."
The Dark Lord chuckled darkly, his serpent eyes narrowing on the man. "I was meaning to discuss that with you, Rodolphus. You will be granting Bella a divorce."
"Excuse me?" Rodolphus scoffed. He would do anything for his Lord, but to give up the Black money and resources? That wasn't something he wanted to give up so easily.
Nagini hissed from her perch on the back of Voldemort's chair, her eyes never leaving the nervous man even as her master stroked her head.
"I don't believe I misspoke. Either you give your wife a proper divorce or I will end your life myself and save the Ministry some paperwork," he responded simply, drawing his wand carefully from his robes. He didn't care for the Lestrange brothers. They were mindless workhorses in his mind – easily replaceable.
Rodolphus swallowed thickly and bowed his head. "Forgive me, my Lord. I will do as you command."
"As you should," The Dark Lord hissed, "Now leave us."
Tail tucked firmly between his legs, Rodolphus scurried from the room. The Dark Lord could hear his discontent and knew that he would need to be dealt with eventually, but he was not much of a concern for the time being.
Voldemort turned to Bella. "I hope you do not mind your marriage becoming voided. I do realize that I am moving things along quite swiftly without giving you much information."
"It's fine, my Lord. You know our relationship was more of a business transaction than a romance," Bellatrix responded, her earlier confusion having slowly been ebbed away. "What is it you wish of me?"
The Dark Lord smiled fondly at his most loyal follower. She never questioned his actions or motives, opting to just do as his bidding. If the prophecy was true and his daughter was to be bonded with Bellatrix, he wasn't going to be upset by the development.
"I want you and Severus to bring Hermione to me. We'll see what happens from there, but she needs to learn the truth from me. Not the light. They'll only warp her mind and turn her farther from us. You must be swift, but careful. I do not want any harm to come upon her. After that, we'll see if the prophecy is right. I am sorry to have sprung this all on you at once, Bellatrix, but I know you understand that I do what is necessary for the war - for our new world. Once we have talked to the girl, we will discuss the prophecy more."
Bellatrix nodded. She would keep the girl safe – not only for her master, but for herself too.
(Bellamione)
Hermione felt uneasy as she hurried into the Great Hall. Her entire day felt…off. She had woken up late, lost one of her shoes, Crookshanks had eaten through one of her socks, and she'd almost fallen down the stairs in her rush out of the Gryffindor commons. It was quite an experience; one she really didn't wish to repeat.
"Morning, Mione," Ron greeted around a mouth full of food, some of it dribbling out the side of his mouth. He wiped it away, but not before Hermione grimaced in disgust.
Settling beside Harry, she grabbed a few pieces of toast and coated them in butter and honey.
"What happened this morning? You're never running this late, mate," Harry commented, spooning a bite of oatmeal into his mouth.
Shaking her head, Hermione bit her toast. "It's just been a bad morning."
Nodding, Harry patted his friend sympathetically on the shoulder. Looking over his shoulder, he frowned at how diligently Snape was staring at Hermione. He seemed troubled, but with Snape, who could know for sure?
"Does Snape seem a little off to you two this morning?" Harry whispered, barely tearing his eyes away from the man.
Ron shrugged, "No more than usual. I mean it's Snape, mate. He's always kind of weird." Sipping his juice, he continued to eat, unfazed by his friend's worry.
Continuing on with his meal, Harry couldn't shake the feeling that Snape was up to something.
After breakfast, the trio prepared for their trip to Hogsmeade. It was the first of the school year and Hermione was more than happy to get off the school grounds. As much as she loved doing schoolwork and tucking herself away in the library, she was exhausted of Lavender Brown's mindless chattering on 'who was the best kisser at Hogwarts' or 'what the fanciest witches were wearing'. It was driving her mad. She really didn't care that Seamus couldn't use his tongue properly or that purple wasn't in season anymore. She would have rather listened to Umbridge talk and that in itself was a punishment.
Walking along the path to Hogsmeade, Hermione felt a weird jerk in her stomach. Not as though she'd fallen ill, but it was as if a ball of nerves and anxiety had settled in. The closer she came to Hogsmeade, the stronger it grew.
"You okay, Mione?" Ron asked worriedly, "You look kind of pale."
Unable to speak, she just nodded in reply. Truthfully, she didn't know if she was okay. She felt rather unpleasant at the moment, but hadn't the faintest clue as to why. Nothing was wrong.
Harry and Ron shared a concerned glance, but said no more about it.
"So where to?" Harry wondered, pursing his lips.
Ron pondered for a moment, "How about we meet up at The Three Broomsticks in about an hour? I wanted to go to Zonko's Joke Shop and you know how Hermione disapproves of most of things I get," he joked, though Hermione didn't pay him any attention. Her eyes were fixed on an unseen point.
"That okay with you, Mione?" Harry cautiously touched Hermione's shoulder, making her flinch in surprise.
"Huh? Oh yeah that's fine, Harry," Hermione muttered before walking farther into Hogsmeade, leaving the two confused boys to their own devices.
Ron's eyebrows bunched thoughtfully, "She seem a little off to you too, mate?"
"She's probably just stressed," Harry said, though he didn't seem too convinced by his own theory.
"I hope you're right," Ron muttered before heading off in the direction of Zonko's.
Bowing his head, Harry started trudging towards Honeyduke's. "Me too, mate."
(Bellamione)
Hidden away in the Shrieking Shack, Bellatrix plotted. Snape hadn't found a way to the shack, so she was going to follow through on the command alone. She didn't need Snape to help accomplish this mission. She was perfectly capable of doing this on her own.
She'd seen the Granger girl – well, the Riddle girl, she had to remind herself – and just needed a way of getting the girl alone. Her master, being the clever man he was, had acquired a picture of Hermione for her and gathered what knowledge he could on her. She was brilliant; probably the smartest witch of her age, so tricking her was out of the question. She'd see right through the ploy and end up alerting everyone of her presence.
She chewed her lip thoughtfully. She may have been a maniacal, sadistic woman, but she wasn't about to jump headfirst into capturing the girl. It would end up with one or both of them in harms way and she couldn't let that happen. She didn't know the girl, but just her picture had sparked something deep within Bellatrix.
A feeling of nervousness flashed through her and it felt like butterflies were invading her stomach.
Get it together, Bella! Butterflies? You're much too old to be acting like a schoolgirl. She's just a girl – an object – that you must acquire. It's not like you're asking her to the bloody school dance! The Dark Lord commands and you follow. Now think!
Despite her inner ranting, the feeling wouldn't dissipate. In fact, it seemed to grow with every passing minute. Bellatrix tried to shake it off, but couldn't seem to displace the ball that had formed.
Stepping to one of the lone windows of the shack, she peered out into Hogsmeade. Her throat grew dry at the sight of Hermione. She was beautiful – and headed toward the shack! Maybe this would be much easier than Bellatrix had expected.
Hastily slipping into the shadowy corner of the shack, Bellatrix waited and prayed to Merlin that the girl would enter. Most Hogwarts students were too scared of the stories to venture inside, but Bellatrix had faith the girl was smart enough to not believe the tales of the shack. Her cousin and his idiots friends had been smart in hiding their little werewolf in here on full moons, but not bright enough to realize it would be a brilliant hiding spot, should one need it. Especially for the Death Eaters.
Bellatrix stilled her heart and held her breath as the door creaked open cautiously. She noted thoughtfully that the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach had passed, leaving behind a feeling of awakening deep within her. It felt as though her blood was on fire, but not painfully. It was as if all those years had a purpose, one she could achieve because of this girl.
Hermione's head peeked inside, momentarily looking about before stepping inside and closing the door behind her. She seemed hesitant, shifting from foot to foot. She stood near the door, her hand staying close to her wand.
Heaving a heavy sigh, Hermione relaxed and bowed her head. "What am I doing?" she whispered disparagingly.
Taking a leap of faith, Bellatrix stepped out of the shadows quietly. She was careful not to alert the girl of her presence yet and took a moment to examine her.
Hermione could feel eyes boring into her and knew she wasn't alone in the shack. Shifting her body slightly, she discretely reached from her wand and drew it. Gripping the handle tightly she swiveled around and pointed it at the figure, only for her eyes to land upon the grinning form of Bellatrix Lestrange.
"Bellatrix Lestrange," Hermione gasped, fear and something else she wouldn't even begin to understand pulsing through her body.
Oh Merlin, what have I gotten myself in to?
(Bellamione)
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
This is my first attempt at a Harry Potter fanfiction. I know things are a little OOC, but I must do it for the story. It isn't canon, it isn't going to follow the story all that much (I mean, it is, but to an extent. I will change what I need to so it fits my story).
If you know me from any of my other stories, I am quite sorry I haven't updated in months. I've had a lot of things going on in my life that aren't too great and on top of the writer's block, it destroyed my inspiration. I will be trying to get back in the groove on those stories, but I make no promises at this point.
If you like the potential this story has, follow or drop me some reviews because I have plans for this story. Big plans. That will touch a lot more on the prophecy and other things. I don't want to make this story go too fast, but at the same time, I don't want to take ten chapters to get to the fun part of the story so I had them meet in this chapter, because this is going to be a long story, trust me. I promise, it's not going to jump into romance just yet, but Bella did have a mission and she at least needed to meet the girl. But, yeah, review if you liked it.
Until next time, peace.