It was a cold February evening when the Dark Lord summoned Bellatrix Lestrange to his bedroom at Malfoy Manor. She had been faithful. She braved Azkaban rather than renounce him. And now, she was going to be honored. Oh, she going to be honored beyond her wildest imagination. Voldemort looked at the muggle tramp who sat bound and gagged in the middle of the floor. His screams were made soundless by the Silencing Charm. Voldemort ran a long spider like finger over the blade of the knife he was holding.
"You requested my presence, Master?", Bella said as she bowed and entered the room.
Azkaban seems to have taken its toll, but not enough to rob her of her great good looks. Her face was still pale and sunken, but her heavily hooded eyes seemed to have regained some color after she had a few decent meals since last week's breakout. Her wild mane of dark hair fell to the middle of her back. Even Voldemort had to admit, she looked good. Perhaps he'd have another task for her soon...but it was best to wait until she regained her health. Besides, this was more important for now.
"Bella" Voldemort said in a cool, cruel voice. "How lovely it is to see you again. My most faithful servant. I said I will honor you beyond your dreams and so I shall. Bella, I will make you immortal. Death shall never touch you"
"My Lord!" Bella gasped. "Thank you!"
She threw herself to her knees and kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes.
"Stand up, Bella" he instructed. Bella stood.
"Now take off your mother's bracelet"
She removed it with a trembling hand and clutched it.
"Get ready, now", said Voldemort. He raised his wand and performed the complicated bit of magic to implant a vision into Bellatrix's head. He normally used this to create visions to torment his enemies into madness. No, not this time. This was better than what he had read in Secret of the Darkest Arts, which provided explicit instructions and illustrations in creating a horcrux. Bellatrix would be able to see herself taking all the necessary steps.
"Are you ready, Bella?" he asked when the visions faded.
"Yes, my Lord"
"Begin"
Bellatrix raised her wand and pointed it at the muggle tramp.
"Aveda Kedavra!"
The man's body fell to the floor.
Bella took the blade Voldemort handed her and made a gash across her wand arm. Blood splattered the floor. She drew a circle of blood between herself and the dead tramp and placed the bracelet in the middle of the circle. Next, she pressed the tip of her wand to her heart and uttered,
"Aufer anima!"
It was pain beyond anything Bellatrix has ever experienced before. It was worse than the Cruciatus Curse. Much worse… it felt as if her body was burning, burning while being ripped apart by hooks. As if a large beast trapped inside her was clawing its way out. Ripping through her chest, causing her agony beyond reason and imagination. Nothing in the world could have prepared her for this kind of pain.
Breathing harshly, she removed her wand tip from her heart and pressed it against the bracelet in the circle of blood.
"Abscondam anima"
And then it stopped. The pain ended. Everything was back to normal. She picked up her horcrux and dropped it almost at once- it burned her.
"Pick it up, Bella", Voldemort instructed. "We shall hide it now. I know just the place"
They Apparated in front of a large building. Bellatrix looked up and saw a sign that said "Wool's Orphanage".
"The children are at a dinner outing at this moment", Voldemort explained. "We shall have sufficient time"
Bella was clutching her horcrux so tightly, she hadn't noticed it no longer burned.
"This is where my childhood was spent" Voldemort told her as they made their way inside. "Eleven long, miserable years before I got my Hogwarts letter. But I was still forced to spend my summers here. All because my filthy muggle father abandoned my witch mother when she told him what she was. Well, I showed him, didn't I? I made him pay!"
They stopped in front of a small door on the second floor. Similar small doors were on either side of the long hallway.
"My childhood bedroom, Bella. It was in this room that I first found out I was a wizard. That old fool Dumbledore came to visit. I made the mistake of letting him see my true nature…"
"My Lord-" Bella started. Voldemort raised a hand to silence her. He pushed the bed to the other side of the room with one sweep of his wand and removed the floorboards with another.
"The horcrux, if you would" he said.
Bella bowed as she handed it over.
Voldemort carefully placed it on the ground under the floorboards and took out his wand. For nearly half an hour, he knelt over it, muttering incantations and making complicated hand movements. At last, he turned to Bellatrix.
"I disillusioned the bracelet, so none will be able to see it. Even if the brat who lives here now tries to hide something he stole under these boards. I also used the same protective enchantments I have used on my own horcruxes. No spell known to wizardkind can harm it. Anyone who touches it shall suffer instant death." With two sweeps on his wand, the floorboards and bed were put back.
"My Lord" said Bella, dropping to her knees. "I don't know how to thank you for this, my Lord."
"You are deserving, Bella. You are my most faithful servant"
He took her arm and they Disapparated.