A/N: Hello! This is the result of a plot bunny encouraged to breed by my friends. It will be a multi-chapter, but I have an awful habit of starting fanfics and never finishing them, so reviews and alerts will definitely keep this top priority!
Her Little Niece- Chapter 1
The stench of death filled the air. Either death or victory. Over the years the two aromas had become inseparable in Bellatrix's mind, forever intertwined.
Although the battle raged on at Hogwarts, Bellatrix found herself in an abandoned corner of the castle. The ceiling was but rubble on the ground, the walls had caved in hours ago, and the corpses of soldiers, students and deatheaters, were strewn haphazardly across the floor. Bellatrix trod carelessly over them, surveying the dead. Mudblood. Mudblood. Hufflepuff. Mudblood. Gryffindor. Deatheater. Slytherin. Bellatrix frowned. What side had this young Slytherin died fighting for, she wondered. Had it been the Hogwarts of her youth, then the answer would have been simple; the side of the Deatheaters, obviously. It would've been a young Slytherin's dream to fight for the Dark Lord- for Purebloods everywhere. However, this was not the Hogwarts of her youth and the thoughts of students so young had become foreign to her.
Bellatrix snapped out of her thoughts with a jerk. What was she doing here? The Dark Lord had trained her to be acutely aware at all times, not to stand about absent-mindedly while she could be in the heart of a battle, performing her duty to her Lord. She could have been capturing Potter this very moment!
To capture Potter... Bellatrix's mind raced at the prospect. How pleased the Dark Lord would be with her! Just imagine, she let her imagination envisage a scenario, the rewards her master would bestow upon her. All manners of lucid fantasies whirled through Bellatrix's head. At once she made to set off, listening out for the nearest battle.
Bellatrix stepped out into the open, thinking the nearest living being a fair distance away, not realising that someone had been getting closer and closer.
Had it been anyone but Bellatrix, this someone's footsteps would have gone unnoticed, but years of training had honed Bellatrix's senses, and she was always on the alert. The small sound of debris being trampled underfoot caused Bellatrix to whip round, wand in hand, ready to attack any foe who dared to cross her path. But this was no stranger.
Nymphadora Tonks recognised her aunt almost immediately. Once upon a time, in the First Wizarding War perhaps, Bellatrix could have easily been mistaken for Andromeda, but Azkaban had taken its toll, and the almost familiar features that Tonks could place so easily on her mother's face were taut and unclean, more fitting of a madwoman than a respectable member of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Tonks' eyes widened and she stepped back, aware of the danger she had found herself in.
"You." She spat out, her hair turning a dark shade of red. Bellatrix sneered mirthlessly at her small niece.
"Have you missed me?" she crooned mockingly, turning her head to the side with a small pout on her face. Tonks' nostrils flared in frustration. Bellatrix let out a small cackle. This was her favourite part of the kill. The taunting. The ensnaring. It came second only to the screaming. How Bellatrix loved to hear her victims scream as they hung on pitifully to their miserable existence, pain ricocheting through their bodies with even the tiniest movement. Oh, how this one was going to scream! Bellatrix was going to enjoy playing with this new toy.
As the two women circled each other, both poised to attack at any moment, Bellatrix could not stop memories of their previous meetings from slipping into her mind. The two were not quite strangers. They had met twice before, in two very different places, but in not so different times.