Baby Talk

Mannd

~*~

I do not own Harry Potter.

~*~

!!Warning this has violence and death as well as miscarriages in it. You have been warned!!

~*~

"Is widdle bawby scareded?" Bellatrix asked crooning as she gently touched the six year old girl's tear stained face in front of her. The child shivered slightly at the touch, trying to shy away from the crazy woman who had already murdered her family. The child whimpered as the woman's eyes grew far away, and bit back a scream as she was picked up and cradled like an infant.

"Hush, now, hush," Bellatrix crooned softly her voice slipping into a lullaby, "sigh, now, sigh," the child lay frozen in her arms terrified as the woman ran a soothing hand through her sweaty locks, "mother's here now, don't you cry." The child began crying softly as she stared into the dead eyes of her mother a few feet away, "Sleep, now, sleep, dream, now, dream, I will shelter you, by and by," Bellatrix crooned and felt a large hand on her shoulder. She looked into the pain filled eyes of her husband, "she's asleep," she said showing him the sobbing child in her arms, "just like our little Sophia," she crooned again and Rodolphus gently took the child from her. A green light and the girl was laid beside her mother, tears still streaming from the now fixed eyes.

Rodolphus gently helped his wife to stand, knowing that a visit to a small graveyard was in order before their return to Malfoy Manor and their Lord, Rabastan nodded to his brother as he apparated away to announce their success of the raid to the Dark Lord. Rodolphus pulled his now weeping wife in his arms and after casting the dark mark over the destroyed house, apparated to a small-secluded cemetery. Bellatrix nearly collapsed in his arms as he led her through to the small area in the back, a black marble angel stood over four tiny markers, the only thing left of their children.

~*~

They had married right out of Hogwarts and Bellatrix had become immediately pregnant, their excitement palatable as they would be the first of the three Black sisters to have a child. For six months, Bellatrix waited with excited anticipation, each movement felt and loved, clothes purchased, then one night, nothing, no movement, no fluttering, just illness until finally the miscarriage, and a small perfectly formed boy had been born, perfect in every way except the one that mattered, he was dead. Orion Regulus Lestrange was the marker on the right.

Rodolphus had wanted to wait a year before trying again but Bellatrix had been insistent, and she quickly became pregnant again. This time Bellatrix waited three months before informing anyone except Rodolphus, three months of fear and concern, but the healer assured the woman that the baby was healthy and everything was fine. The sixth month mark passed, and again Bellatrix held her breath, but everything was going smoothly until she hit the seventh month and woke in excruciating pain. She screamed when she was told that her baby was dying, but it was either the baby or Bellatrix and Rodolphus loved his wife too much to lose her.

Bellatrix held little Sophia for three hours before she would let Rodolphus take the body away, then in a fit of rage she tortured and killed the healer. Sophia's small marker was on the left.

This time Rodolphus was firm, they will wait at least a year, but it took three months before she conceived again, she had snuck a potion into his drink and before he knew it she was pregnant. The Dark Lord was in his prime of power and Bellatrix loved the high of it. Until that faithful night in July when something happened, and Bellatrix again lost her child. Rodolphus wondered if the reason she went so crazy on the Longbottoms was because their child looked so much like their son Rodrick who now lay in the middle surrounded by his older brother and sister.

Rodolphus hadn't even known she was pregnant when they were sentence to life in Azkaban, it wasn't until he listened to her insane mumblings that he realized, and eight months later on the cold stone floor, Bellatrix birthed Roselyn. He nearly wept as he listened to the soft crying of the baby; this one had been born alive! Bellatrix crooned to the child, "Hush, now hush, sigh, now sigh, mother's here now, don't you cry; sleep, now sleep, dream now dream, I will shelter you, by and by."

He had screamed himself hoarse for the warden, he didn't care who raised the child as long as it was alive, but before the warden came, he heard the small baby give one last soft sob then Bellatrix's weeping grew and he knew it was too late. The Dementors let her keep the child for a day before they took the small body away. He watched, fighting their effects as one drifted by, the small bundle in its arms, and he wept for his wife and for himself. Roselyn's marker was a small flat stone that lay in front of her siblings.

Rodolphus looked at the black stone angel who was watching over his children and wondered if she wept as well.

~*~

Comments and Criticisms welcomed!

AN1: The lullaby is my creation.

AN2: Thanks to my BETAs!