It was the 31st October, 1981. On the dark floorboards of Bellatrix Lestrange's home, a small child walked around in circles surprisingly steadily on her feet for her age. Although Bella said she despised children, she surprised everyone, herself most of all, when she tolerated this one. It was quiet, entertained itself and didn't need much attending to except when it was hungry, but she normally left feeding to whoever was looking after it next. If Evan hadn't gone and got himself killed by aurors, she wouldn't even have the child here. At least he left one of the greatest aurors with a new feature to his nose.
She did have to admit that this child was fairly talented. She'd picked up simple things like walking quite quickly, and she was always curious, working things out for herself and only using language when she absolutely needed to. When she did speak, her voice was that of a child quite beyond her age – maybe 5 years older. She figured that was from being constantly in the care of various Death Eaters who didn't really care for the child being around, so she heard a lot. She also didn't seem to care for toys or anything else to distract her – she was quite content with her own company. It reminded Bella of herself, especially with the child's thick, wavy, black hair. The child was already much more tanned than her though, although she guessed that was a Rosier trait. Most importantly, the child didn't cry or whine.
Rodolphus didn't really see why they should have to look after the child at all. After all, they were both very busy with the Dark Lord, and had played a large part in carrying out his dirty work. Not that Bellatrix really minded going after the Order of the Phoenix members. It was fun really, picking them off like little flies, their morals keeping them from using the curses she preferred to just get the job done. Well, not until she'd toyed with them a little first, of course. It was quite sweet, the way they panicked in the end, realising that they'd taken one wrong step.
Suddenly, her left forearm burned. But it wasn't like when the Dark Lord called her - it was excruciating. Worse than the one time her dear cousin Sirius got away and the Dark Lord cast the Cruciatus curse for hours.
She didn't know how long it had been, but it suddenly stopped. Pulling back her sleeve, the intricate snake design on her arm was rapidly fading to more of a grey, although still outlined in pink from the pain. Looking up, the child was staring at her intently, as if trying to make sense of what had just happened. It was as if she found the dark mark interesting and was examining it intently. Snapping back to reality of what had just happened, Bella pulled her sleeve down quickly and stood.
Rodolphus walked into the room just as Lucius came through the fireplace, black cloak surrounding him ominously.
"He's gone." said Lucius, expressionless.
"And what of the Potters? Did Wormtail give the Dark Lord away? I always hated that excuse for a human being, as soon as he gave the information of their whereabouts." Bellatrix sneered. She didn't trust him; he was weak, wasn't sure of himself, and didn't seem to show any loyalty to anybody.
"We don't know. Maybe the order were involved, but we don't know what to do now. I'd run while you can, before you get sent to Azkaban." Lucius said, and she saw fear in his eyes like she hadn't seen in years. He was a coward, she knew that deep down, but even his loyalty was wavering so quickly. She looked across to Rodolphus.
"We have some business to... attend to. We need to go and get Barty and Rabastan. Take the child will you, Lucius?" She said, her and Rodolphus apparating away before Lucius could even protest. He looked down at the small girl, who seemed to be confused by his appearance. He picked her up and she began to grab at his hair. He sighed. Draco tried to do it too, and it got boring after a while. He quickly went through the floo, stepping out at Malfoy Manor.
Immediately, Narcissa came into the room, taking the child from him as he stepped through the fireplace.
"What did Bella say?" she asked, obviously stressed. She'd experienced her sister's reckless nature many times before, and knew of her fanatical obsession with the Dark Lord. She didn't take the mark herself, but her sister had jumped at the chance, and Narcissa had been left to be married into the ranks instead.
"Her and Rodolphus have gone to get Barty and Rabastan. She told me to bring Alexia back. I assume she's trying to find out about the Dark Lord. I told her to run, but I knew it wouldn't be any use on her." Lucius replied, looking exhausted and run down. He knew that Bellatrix was stupid to be doing this now - with the Dark Lord gone, the Order would gain a lot of confidence. His best bet for his wife and son was to use his position in the Ministry to throw them off and never realise that his loyalty hadn't been with them the whole time.
Narcissa looked saddened, but not surprised in the slightest. She knew that if the Dark Lord was gone, then her son's future would look a lot brighter than it did currently. She turned to the girl in her arms, a year older than him. She was looking at Narcissa's earrings, examining the pattern of the expensive crystals in them. Back when her and Lucius had married, those were his first present to her after. It was typical for pureblood women to be impressed by material gifts like that, she knew, but they were very pretty.
All she could think to do for the child right now was to find somewhere for her to sleep. It was getting late and Narcissa was tired of worrying, so she went up to her son's room. A small head with a tiny amount of platinum blond hair was tucked into the blankets of the crib, sheltered from the rapidly cooling October air. She placed Alexia next to him in the crib for now where she would be safe. As she turned to the door to wait for news on her sister, she saw small hands take hold of the blankets and tug them towards Alexia, slightly uncovering Draco. He shifted slightly but didn't wake, and the girl soon got comfortable and fell asleep quickly, unaware of the great changes that just occurred to her life. Narcissa left the room into the awaiting arms of Lucius, both of them coming to terms with what the night meant for them.