Are They Really all That Bad?

((Author's Note: D: I said I might not, but I am! And really close after the first one too! This one is Bellatrix centered.

Disclaimer: Just as my acceptance letter to Hogwarts didn't come, neither did the deed for the rights of the Harry Potter Universe… But maybe next year.))

Some called her cruel for telling them what did. That she was heartless for laughing in their faces after she told them that their mummy and daddy weren't coming back, mocking them with the last words that their loved ones said before dying. She became known for this type of torture. And for some, it was indeed torture; for although it left no physical wounds on the person, it did have the tendency to leave emotional scars.

But she didn't think it was torture. Rather than letting them hang on to some strand of hope that their loved one was still alive, rather than letting them run on some wild goose chase only to find dead ends, she would tell them. For although it might be nice to hold onto the hope that their loved one was still alive, it made the crash and burn so much harder for them when they found out the truth: that all along, they had been following dead trails and useless leads. That no matter how hard they might have looked, or how many hours they spent looking for ways to find them, there was nothing they could have possibly done to find them. It was useless. Wasn't it showing more kindness to dash the hope before they got to the crash and burn? She thought so.

Reciting the last words was the second part of the 'torture'. For although she might have been saying it mockingly, she was still sharing the last bit of life with the person's loved one. She gave them something to grasp onto, something to remember them by whenever they thought of the loved one that had passed. She allowed them one last 'glimpse' of their loved one before they were gone, something they could take with them to help them in whatever it was they did.

She shook her head as she walked away from here latest 'job', leaving behind dead parents and a shivering girl, who knew that here parents were dead but loved her and knew that she would grow into something wonderful. Some might call her tactics cruel… but in the end, are they really all that bad? She didn't think so.