Bring Me To Life
This is a Blanket Disclaimer. I do not own, nor will I ever own, Harry Potter, or anything else that isn't apart of it's universe. I only own this idea.
I'd like to thank everyone who played a part in helping me create this story. I could not have done this without you.
Summary: A few days after being broken out of prison, Bellatrix and her family begin a journey that will test them to their limits and bring them back to life.
Chapter 1
January 23rd, 1996, Voldemort's Lair, 5:00 P.M.
"Welcome, my Friends! It's been 14 long years since I have last seen you. Despite the time that has passed, what matters is that you nine, the few of my most faithful, are here now," boomed the cold voice of Lord Voldemort as he stood in the massive, Gothic styled ballroom of his lair while addressing the nine Death Eaters standing before him, in front of the other 30 Death Eaters in the room.
It had been three days since he had broken them out of Azkaban. Though they all had been rewarded with the opportunity to receive new clothing, the most rewarding thing any of them had been given was their freedom from a place that, in everyone's mind, was the personification of Hell on Earth.
Even though they were free, they were all on edge. Azkaban had left them all unhinged and they all never wanted to go back. Not after being forced to relive their worst memories every hour of every day for 14 long years.
The nine followers before Lord Voldemort were all that remained of the ten that had been broken out. Four of them were people he had appointed his top fighters. The first and most prominent of them was a woman of 5'11", with pitch black, curly hair with several streaks of silver and violet eyes. This was Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black.
Standing to the right of her was Rodolphus Lestrange, son of one of the First Death Eaters, standing at 6'1", despite being stocky, with curly, dark brown with a hint of gray hair and a face full of a beard that covered most of the scars that were on the right side of his face.
The third person was Rabastan Lestrange, standing at the same height as his brother, only lankier. Unlike him, however, he had straight hair, and was clean shaven. He had no visible scars along his face.
The final man standing before him that the Psychopath considered one of his top fighters was Antonin Dolohov, the son of Artur Dolohov, who had been one of his original followers. At 6'4", his long, pale, twisted face was covered by a beard that was in immediate need of shaving. His head was covered by dark red hair that he wore in a pony tail that reached below his broad shoulders.
He smiled and continued, "Basil. As you know, your blood traitor brother is not among us tonight. He elected to leave after I had so generously rescued him. When you see him again, you are to kill him."
The man he was referring to was known amongst the Death Eaters simply as 'Devil'. Not many knew his real name. Those who did never dared to call him by it.
He had trained under Bellatrix herself just as she trained under the Dark Lord himself. Some believed that her interest in the young man had been purely of sexual attraction, and that they did more shagging than training. Others believed that she had planned to leave her husband for him. They were wrong.
Though Bellatrix and Devil's relationship had been a close friendship, and even possible infatuation on his part, she had never been interested in him in that way and despised the rumors whispered among the ranks that she was some kind of whore to be used and then tossed aside. The ones foolish enough to suggest this were met by the Cruciatus Curse, delivered either by herself or her husband, Rodolphus.
Basil Mulciber smiled wickedly at his Lord's order and say, "It will be my utter pleasure, milord. I will not fail you. Devil will learn the fate that meets a deserter," not even daring to say his brother's name.
The Dark Lord nodded at his follower's enthusiasm and then continued, "Rodolphus."
Rodolphus, who had been on edge, jerked his head up and asked, "Yes, milord?"
Voldemort simply said, "Take out your wand and come stand by me."
As the younger man did so and approached his Lord, it was obvious to everyone he was nervous. What had he done to be called forward to stand by the Psychopath?
Voldemort then waved his wand behind him, revealing the reason. There were three men bound and gagged behind Dolohov. They had been hidden by a disillusionment charm. That's why no one except Voldemort knew that they were there.
"My Faithful Servant, you are to kill these three blood traitors. Do it now so they may be removed from my presence."
As Rodolphus raised his wand for the first time in 14 years to cast a curse he knew all too well and as his friend moved out of the way, he asked, "Milord, with all due respect, what transgression have these men committed against you?"
The Dark Lord answered with a monotone, "Their families wished to remain neutral in the war, refusing to pledge their service to my cause despite my various means of persuasion. I have made arrangements for their funds to be transferred to Lucius' account. It is a shame to see such pureblood wasted. To think that once upon a time, their families were respected. All that's left now are these three."
Rodolphus was nearly overcome with a sense of anger and disgust yet he knew disobedience was met with a death sentence. He took a long breath and quickly flicked his wand three times. Bright green flashes shot from the wand, effectively ending the lives of the three purebloods painlessly.
It took every ounce of self-control Rodolphus Lestrange had developed over the years to not turn around and give his Lord the finger. He had just ended another line of Purebloods, the kind they were fighting for. It brought back memories.
Memories about all the old pureblood families who had been killed in the First War that had died simply because they had chosen to remain neutral.
As he walked back to stand by his wife and brother, the Dark Lord said, "Bellatrix, Severus, come forward."
As the two walked forward to see their Lord, he said, "I have a special mission for you both."
"Yes, milord? What is it?" asked Bellatrix with vigor in her voice.
Voldemort looked to his servants and explained, "I have reason to believe that your godson, Draco Malfoy, is earmarked to become the Heir to the Black Family. Your blood traitor of a cousin, Sirius Black, is currently the Head of your Household. If, by some unfortunate manner of happenstance, something were to happen to Lord Black, Draco would become the new Head of House."
Severus stared at the Dark Lord with a neutral expression while Bellatrix had a look of confusion mixed with insanity on it.
"If Draco was to become the Head of the Black Family and he was to be brought into the fold, we would have access to the Black Family Estate. As well, the amount of Objects the Black Family has that can kill matches my own. If we were to gain those, it would greatly increase our advantage in the war to come."
The two waited silently as the Dark Lord allowed them to take in what he had just said. He finally concluded by saying, "Your mission is to kill Sirius Orion Black at the first chance you have. Do you understand?"
In that moment, several things happened. The first was Peter 'Wormtail' Pettigrew smiling maniacally. He was finally going to be rid of Sirius Black, the man who wished to see him dead. That would leave only Remus Lupin to die. As he smiled though, he was suddenly head slapped by Antonin Dolohov, who had just noticed him doing so.
The second was more subtle. A flash of gold glowed over Bellatrix Lestrange's violet eyes, though it went unnoticed by both Severus and the Dark Lord. If it was noticed, both men ignored it. Severus answered, "Yes. We understand, milord."
"With that, this meeting is adjourned. You all are dismissed."
As the Death Eaters piled out of the room, Voldemort had no idea about what was going on in the minds of his elite Death Eaters. Nevertheless, he knew they were all on edge and that this would last for a good while.
At the same time, if they were on edge all the time, there was no chance for complacency to fester. The chances for victory in the war would be that much greater.
What he didn't know was that, in 14 years, a lot of things had changed in Bellatrix, Rodolphus, Rabastan and Dolohov. Among those changes, the most prominent change of all was their Machiavellian mentalities.
Antonin Dolohov stared at the old photo as he took a slug from the bottle of Fire-Whiskey in his hand. It had been taken about 2 years before he joined the Death Eaters, which in itself had been 30 years ago. He was deep in thought as he reminisced on his family.
There were seven people in the photo, which was set on his family's porch on the porch swing. Three girls sat on the floor while in between two adults sat on the sides, with two boys between them. Antonin sat on the right hand side, with a man to his right.
The man sitting to the right of Dolohov was his father, Artur Dolohov, a Russian through and through, sitting in casual clothing and with a genuine smile on his face. It was one of the few times his father ever smiled. Despite being a ruthless Death Eater, Artur Dolohov had always made time for his family and Antonin had him to thank for teaching him how to duel like a champion as well as how to create his own spells.
Though Artur Dolohov died in the First War, Antonin still considered him his hero.
The boy sitting next to Antonin was his brother, Alexander, who was two years younger than him. He had inherited the Dolohov Family's signature male looks of long faces and, of course, their trademark dark red hair. He had never been approached by Voldemort in taking part in the Death Eaters and that was something Antonin was grateful for.
The woman in the photo was a stunning brunette, wearing a summer dress underneath a red jumper. She was Juliana Dolohov nee Vesely, a woman from Czechoslovakia whom his father had married in 1945. She too was deceased, but had been the caring Mum that anyone could hope for.
The three girls in the photo were his younger sisters. The one at his feet was Anna Dolohov, who was about 43 years old now. She herself had the signature dark red hair and was smiling just like her mum. She was always Antonin's favorite sister.
Unfortunately, she had become the Black Sheep so to speak of the Dolohov family when she joined the Aurors after graduating, which had made their relationship strained to the point that he wondered how, despite having fought her several times, they made time to be siblings, with her even going to the point of making it a priority to visit him in Azkaban when she could.
The second girl was Alisa Dolohov, who was about two years younger than Anna. She had her arms wrapped around Anna and she too was smiling. Unfortunately, about 2 weeks after the photo was taken, she was kidnapped and killed. The photo in Antonin's hand was the only photo he still had of her as Artur had burned the rest in his grief.
Finally, there was Anfis Dolohov, who was sitting on her Mum's lap in the photo. Currently, she is 39 years old. If Anna hadn't been his favorite sister, Anfis surely would have as her natural sadistic tendencies made her a feared torture specialist. When he had introduced her to Bellatrix, they hit it off immediately.
Antonin sighed as he fought the nostalgia. He missed them all dearly. But now wasn't the time to think about family. He had other things on his mind.
Most people viewed the 47 year old Death Eater as a dumb brute of sorts. People thought he was only in the Dark Lord's forces because his Daddy was one and that he followed orders blindly.
Many believed that he only loved blowing shit up and bringing the pain to the enemy without any consideration of the big picture in life.
They were wrong. Antonin Dolohov wasn't a dumb brute who couldn't think for himself. He had been top of his class in Slytherin. He had been a Beater for their Quidditch team, and had, before he was approached by the Dark Lord, been a dueling champion that few could beat.
On occasion, Antonin saw the big picture when it came to plans. He remembered how things used to be during the First Wizarding War. It was bloody, no doubt about that. But his Lord, the man he served 14 years in Azkaban for, was a much different person.
Voldemort, during the First War, saw the big picture and was more strategic. He killed those necessary and didn't take unnecessary risks that would compromise the cause.
Most of all, he didn't make one big plan that, in reality, was a major gamble that could severely cripple their forces and risk damage to himself or the cause.
He hadn't been out of Azkaban for a week and he could already tell that Lord Voldemort was NOT the same man he went to Azkaban for. From the talk amongst the ranks, the Dark Lord was behaving erratically, something he hadn't done in the First War.
Along with that, Lucius Malfoy, a man whom while he respected for his prowess in torture, despised otherwise, had told him that the Dark Lord intended to lure Potter to the Ministry in June to retrieve a Prophecy from the Department of Mysteries.
Antonin had never been one to believe in fate and didn't put stock into Prophecies. And why in the world would his Lord focus on a 15 year old boy who hadn't even become a man yet?
During their 14 year stint, He, Rodolphus, Rabastan, and Bellatrix had been in adjacent cells to one another and had passed a lot of the time talking. They mostly talked about the good old days. Another topic that had come up numerous times in the early years was the Dark Lord's methods.
One thing they had managed to agree upon was how, during the war, at the rate Voldemort had been going, there were not going to many purebloods left to continue the Magical World the way they wanted since most of the old pureblood families had been slaughtered by Voldemort during the First War.
If he had been asked when he first joined the Death Eaters if he had doubts about the Dark Lord, he would have told the person who asked to go fuck himself.
The early years in Azkaban brought upon doubts. If his Lord had been 'All Powerful' like he claimed to be, why hadn't he rescued them sooner as opposed to leaving them to rot?
Antonin then thought about all the promises that the Dark Lord had made to all of them. When had he delivered on any of them? He had not. He had lied to all of them. That was something Antonin couldn't abide for one minute.
Putting down his bottle of whiskey and his photo, he conjured a dark duffel bag with his wand and went to his dresser drawer. He needed to start packing.
Meanwhile, Bellatrix herself was staring at an old photograph as well. It was of herself, Andromeda, and Narcissa, the day she had graduated from Hogwarts.
Though she had disowned Andromeda when she left her and Narcissa for that mudblood, she couldn't help but still love her. They had been too close for that bond they had to be completely destroyed.
The photo also brought back the happiest memory of her lifetime. The day she and her two sisters went to Hogwarts together as a family. Back then, she promised her sisters that she'd always love and watch over them.
When she was 17 years old, Bellatrix had joined the Death Eaters, yes. Her father, Cygnus Black, had been a big gambler. He was not necessarily an evil man, per say, but he wasn't very good at poker. One night, he lost to Lord Voldemort.
He was broke at the time and the Dark Lord had been willing to kill him if he did not pay his debt. So Cygnus Black offered his eldest daughter as a Death Eater and as payment, forcing her to swear an oath of loyalty to Lord Voldemort, to serve him with a slavish devotion.
However, there was one condition that Cygnus failed to mention to the Dark Lord when his daughter made that vow. A failsafe within the Black Family magic that prevented any member of the Black Family from killing their Head of House intentionally.
Because of the obvious conflict of interest between her loyalty to her house and the Oath she made all those years ago, the Oath became null and void the moment Voldemort ordered her to kill Sirius Black.
It was not all powerful as it didn't change the fact that she had served Voldemort out of obligation to his cause despite the oath and the fact she was still very much insane. It certainly didn't change her hatred of Muggles.
During the many conversations she had with her husband, her brother-in-law and best friend, they had discussed whether the philosophy of Purebloods being better than everyone else had been accurate or not.
They still hated Muggles. There was no doubt about that. They still didn't like Muddies, Half-Bloods or Squibs. However, the First War had proven that some Mudbloods had skill as shown by the Aurors whom they fought against. After many arguments and debates, they finally decided that they could, at the very least, tolerate them and avoid them if it was not necessary to see them.
However, they still absolutely hated Mudbloods who wanted to change things. Mudbloods who wanted to change the Wizarding World without learning anything about it were the kind they hated the most.
Azkaban, while stripping away her sanity, made Bellatrix reflect more than she used to. Though she had real love for Lord Voldemort, it was clear even to her that he did not love her back. The only thing her devotion had gotten her was 14 years in Hell.
When the Oath had been broken, she had seriously considered staying just for the Hell of it and for her love. Then she had walked into her room and had discovered the old photograph. It had brought tears to her eyes. She wept for what seemed like the first time in a long time.
The memory of her sisters caused her head to spin with random emotions. First, Bellatrix felt remorse for killing Pureblood Families.
The next moment, she began feeling love for her sisters before she felt unexplainable rage at Cissy. How come she got the good life?
Finally and ultimately, she felt anger towards Lord Voldemort. Why did he not rescue her earlier than he did?
It was official. Bellatrix Lestrange felt no more faith in Voldemort. Though her feelings of love for him remained intact, she suppressed them as she conjured an enchanted handbag and walked over to her dresser.
Her feelings be damned. Her Lord wasn't as powerful as he claimed to be. For all she knew, he was a filthy Half-Blood. Or worse, a Mudblood. She shuddered at the utter thought of that.
Meanwhile, in Rodolphus' room, he and Rabastan were shooting the breeze.
"Rodolphus, you can't be serious, can you?" asked Rabastan as Rodolphus conjured a black duffel bag and walked over to his dresser.
"I am very serious, Rab." replied Rodolphus as he put the bag downed and stared his younger brother in the eyes before continuing, "Look, you and me, we both have been toying with this idea ever since our second year. I made my decision. I'm leaving tomorrow night and I'm not coming back."
"You'll be killed if you do, Rod." said Rabastan with obvious concern in his voice for his brother.
"Why not? Our 14 years mean nothing to the Dark Lord. You saw what happened out there! He forced me to spill magical blood for no reason. They could have been put under the Imperius Curse and would've been of better use! It was killing just for killing's sake. Before Azkaban, I would have had no issue with it doing it to Mudbloods or Half-bloods, but this is an entirely different matter! I am not going to be forced to do so anymore! The Dark Lord can take his orders and shove them up his arse!" declared Rodolphus in a voice Rab never heard him use.
Rodolphus Lestrange had always been a soft-spoken man, rarely ever raising his voice. To hear him yelling meant shit just got real.
"Besides, you heard what he ordered my wife to do! Kill her own Head of House, he says! Now, granted, the Head of the Black family is a Blood Traitor, but still, it's the principle of the matter, Rab. Nothing you say or do can stop me now, Rabastan. You can either join me or stay here." continued Rodolphus. Though he spoke passionately, he was worried. He really hoped his brother wouldn't stay. He'd hate to have to fight him.
Rabastan stared at his older brother with a look of uncertainty in his eyes before saying, "Rod, I may have kept quiet at the time but I saw the hesitation in your eyes when you killed those men. It's also clear that the Dark Lord doesn't value any of us. I'm your brother first and a Death Eater last. I would rather risk my life and freedom to stand by you than to stay with that bastard who would kill me for his own amusement."
Rodolphus walked over to his brother and pulled him into a bear hug. It was an enormous relief that he wouldn't have to fight his own brother.
Ending the hug after a few minutes, Rabastan conjured his own bag and started packing as well.
Authors Note: So, what do you think? Please leave a review.