A/N So there's mentions of torture which is obvious with Bellatrix, but there's abuse from Bellatrix's past, so if you're disturbed by that skip the bit in italics, though I warn you that it's important to the story and Hermione's is probably going to be a lot, lot worse.
"Your fine. How would killing you benefit me? It would only make things troublesome!" Hermione smiled kindly before pulling the gun away and securing it back into its place in one of the holsters, breathing returned to normal and the atmosphere was less tense now.
Hermione stood straight, turning on her heels to walk down the stairs she had not long since walked up, a quick glance over her shoulder before descending the marble stairs and strolling across the entrance hall and through the door to the gardens of the manor.
"Who's going to follow the Mudblood and stop her escaping? Though I doubt she could from here with all the enchantments in place." Voldemort asked, looking along the table at all of his followers, but nobody was making eye contact with him and had faces of disgust at having to follow a mudblood around.
"Bellatrix, will you do the honor? Maybe you and the Mudblood could sort out the issue from earlier." Voldemort suggested and the dark witch nodded before following the path the brunette had taken.
The garden of Malfoy manor was gigantic like the manor itself, though one would say it was many different gardens together since it seemed to be spilt into sections.
A peaceful fountain trickled continuously in a calming manner in one section and a peacock marched about gracefully nearby the fountain, a few trees grew nearby creating shade from the moonlight as it had just recently turned quite dark, the pale moonlight being the only light source outside of the manor.
The ghostly looking gravel crunched beneath the young witch's feet as she tread across the paths, exploring the garden, it would be useful to know the place if she needed an escape. Tall hedges about the height to the second floor of the manor bordered the gardens to give the occupants privacy.
More wandering about the garden showcased its tranquil beauty, one corner was filled with trees of all kinds, fruits and nuts hanging from some of them. Another corner had a small lake and was surrounded by tall grasses and flowers.
More hedges, trees and flowers graced the garden which she found were mostly arranged in patterns and she had even found a group of flowers that clearly showed off the slytherin pride as they consisted of silver and green flowers that shimmered in the moonlight.
Hermione had searched the garden briefly, but maybe some other time when it was light she could check for weak points, but for now she sat down on a stone carved bench near the water of the lake, crickets, birds and numerous other animals called out in the night.
The peaceful vibes she got, had the brunette staring into the dark waters of the lake, little light reflecting off of its surface giving it a mystical feel though she didn't doubt that it wasn't actually mystical anyway with many secrets hidden below the surface.
Hermione seemed so mesmerised by the lake and the peaceful sounds of the night that she didn't notice a dark presense approach her from behind as the gravel crunched underneath the figure's feet and the cool wind picked up, making both of their hair flow with it and snapping Hermione from her daze.
"Hello, Bellatrix." The brunette finally acknowledged the other witch's presense as she sat down beside her, it was no use fighting each other right there. "I never said you could start calling me Bellatrix!" The witch announced and was only met with a smirk in return as the younger turned her attention back to the lake.
"And never said you could torture me, but you did!" Hermione hissed at the suprisingly calm deatheater. ".. And frankly I don't care, Madam Lestrange seems dull anyway, I assumed I could at least call you by your real name after all the shit that's happened." She continued as the black-haired woman fiddled with strands of her hair that hung down in her face, she looked genuinely uncomfortable in the presense of the muggle-born without her master or sister nearby.
"I suppose it does sound a bit stupid, in all honesty I never liked the name anyway, would rather have stayed a Black." The dark witch replied in a tone that sounded genuinely kind, not like her usual self.
"So why don't you divorce that coward, Rodolphus then? I'm sure your family can't do that whole crap about disowning you since you already married the man for them." Hermione muttered, picking up a flat stone and skimming it across the lake, it skipped at least three times before sinking.
"That is true about Rod, but you have no idea how it is to grow up in a pureblood family." Bellatrix said looking sad for a moment before the stoic mask came back into place.
"No I wouldn't, but I'm glad I didn't, it sounds shitty from what I've heard and I would rather be bullied for being a Mudblood then be forced to marry and be the perfect wife or risk being disowned by my own parents" The words were spoken coldly and Bellatrix seemed shocked that the girl had used the word mudblood to describe herself and it had clearly shown through on her face as the girl chuckled. "You think I care about such words anymore?" It was a rhetorical question, she really didn't care anymore.
"Or you could always kill Rodolphus? It wouldn't be a big loss and I'm sure you wouldn't care about killing him." The brunette concluded looking at the older witch who had a mixture of emotions spread clearly across her face, and not moments later, anger was the most prominent emotion as it spread over her face and she glared at the girl before raising her wand and casting her favourite curse.
The younger witch dropped and seized on the gravel floor, which now dug sharply into her skin, she should have been screaming in pain like all of Bellatrix's other victims, but there was only quiet and the curse was lifted. "You should have screamed. You should have pulled the trigger. But you didn't, are you trying to mock me, you filthy Mudblood?" Bellatrix snarled at the girl still lay on the floor.
"I had nothing to gain from it, that's why, otherwise I probably would have killed you right then and there with no regrets Madam Lestrange." Hermione chuckled before the angry witch hit her with another cruciatus curse and she convulsed again, but this time instead of silence, what sounded like crying escaped her lip and left the dark witch smirking until the sound changed and it was now obvious that she hadn't been crying since guttural laughter now spilt from the younger female's lips.
"I was conditioned to pain, pain much worse than the cruciatus curse Madam Lestrange, nice try though." The girl laughed out as the curse stopped, the dark witch looked ready to kill her and she didn't doubt she wouldn't. A wandless, wordless 'Stupefy' was cast so that it knocked the older witch back, giving the girl enough time to sprint off.
A series of green and red spells along with cussing from the dark witch followed the brunette until she was out of range and turned into a dark figure running across the garden.
After the cursing of both kinds, the ravenette sat back down on the stone carved bench staring at the lake, the tall grass around the area rustling in the wind, it was after a while of sitting down that a pair of red eyes stared at her through the grass as the rustling increased and a black figure emerged, sitting down nearby.
The figure turned out to be a black wolf who seemed to have an injured leg as it limped and sat awkwardly on the floor nearby as if it knew how dangerous it was to be near the dark witch. Bellatrix stared back at it curiously, flinching when it dared to venture closer to her, a memory flashed by in her mind and she clutched at her sides.
A dark-haired man stared down at little Bellatrix with a burning look of hatred, both of young Bella's sister weren't far off, but she had stepped in to protect them from their father's wrath.
Her father looked rather unruly as of late and more angry then normally, it was evident in his voice as it shouted abuse at the young girl and his black eyes flicked over to the young blonde and brunette holding onto each other, his wife was nowhere to be seen as he pulled off his belt, hitting the young girl with it until her back looked bloody and bruised on the normally pale skin, the girl was screaming and her sisters cried for their father to stop.
Cygnus Black frowned at them, shouting for them to shut up, else they wanted to join their dear sister and make her enjure the pain in vain for them, his wand was swiftly drawn and it immediately went quiet, terror in the dark-haired girl's eyes as he cast the cruciatus curse on her, a red light flashing before she convulsed on the ground screaming out more.
Not even this was enough satisfy the man's desire to hurt someone, his job had recently become more and more fustrating as more people refused to allow the legimens into their memories, to obtain ones that could grantee if they were guilty or innocent instead they had started throwing up their occulmancy shields.
Barking could be heard nearby and a pack of jet black dogs were patrolling the gardens as usual, the man had shouted with anger at the dogs and pairs of yellow eyes loomed from the darkness, angry snarls sounding through the night as white teeth reflected in the little moonlight.
The dogs advanced ready to attack their supposed master who was now beating the girl again, he stood up and glanced to the dogs before bolting off, leaving his daughter defenseless and bleeding with a pack of vicious dogs, dogs which quickly pounced at her once they smelt the blood leaking from her wounds, multiple dogs biting her, aiming to rip at the flesh, her arms, legs and sides, everywhere they went for her until a series of red flashes threw the dogs a few feet away, now frozen to the spot.
Her sisters had their wands drawn and were shooting spells at the dogs before running over to little Bella who lay bleeding on the floor, her eyes half lidded and bruised, she looked barely concious. Young Narcissa muttered more spells, restraining the dogs before joining young Andromeda in hovering over Bella, her wand pointed at some of the minor injuries while she cast a few healing spells.
"I'm going to die! I don't want to die, Andy, Cissy!" Bella cried out, grabbing for her sister's hands. "It's going to be fine Bella. I know a spell for it ,but it's not a good spell to use, it's some dark magic I found in the library." Young Andy assured her sister, her wand hand shaking as her other stroked Bella's cheek. "Do it Andy, save Bella!" Young Cissy shouted, taking Andy's hand to try and calm her down.
"Listen to Cissy, help me Andy." Bella rasped, her breathing was laboured and raspy as blood gushed out of her wounds. Andy hesitated for a moment before waving her wand over the girl's body while muttering some complex sounding incantations, the wounds started to close up, but instead of healing them fully, the spell only half healed the wounds and now they looked a pure black.
"Now they're smaller wounds you can used normal healing magic." Cissy patted Andy on the shoulder, while Bella lay silently on the floor still bleeding out, the sight snapped Andy out of her shock and she began saying more incantations, the wounds healing fully as the skin knitted together, but the black of her skin didn't change, in fact it seemed to darken, unnoticed by her two sisters.
Andy and Cissy swiftly helped up Bella who was now bearly conscious, the walk to the Black manor was long and once there, Bella was bandaged and placed carefully on her bed.
A whining noise made her snap out of her vision and back to the injured wolf which she could see better now, its fur a pure black, its head now tilted to the side as it eyed up Bellatrix, who seemed to be fighting with her inner demons.
Pain reflected in her eyes as tears threatened to fall at the sudden memory, but even alone the witch refused to cry, a soft nuzzling against her leg was unexpected by the wolf, but she didn't curse it into oblivion, it was as if the wolf was trying to comfort her and she would take any comfort she could get.
The wolf continued to nuzzle her leg and she absent mindedly petted it, her slender hands brushing its fur which was just as black as her hair. Time slowly passed and the two stayed that way for what seemed like forever, but the sun hadn't even started to rise yet.
"Thank you" Bellatrix said to the wolf, her voice soft and calm for once and the wolf seemed to understand, moving its head and looking as if it nodded to her, but she was sure that was her mind playing tricks on her.
The wolf bowed down to the witch before turning around, about to walk off, but it didn't get far limping before the dark witch took sympathy on the creature and muttered a few healing spells on the wounds, it was a series of gashes in it's leg as if the wolf had been the victim of a miss-aimed 'Sectumsempra' at someone else.
The wolf had looked down since it arrived, but now it seemed to cheer up slightly, licking at Bellatrix's hand, which suprisingly the deatheater didn't mind and ruffled its fur once more before it left and she was alone with her thoughts once again, but instead of thinking about the painful memory again, she thought of the mudblood and her battle, along with the strange black wolf she had just encountered, as she strolled about the gardens until she arrived back at the manor doors.
The dark oak doors swung open and the witch stepped inside, venturing back up the stairs to where the meeting had been, she wondered if they were all still there, since no voices sounded through the manor.
A tall blonde appeared behind her, coughing to notify her sister that she was there. "Come on Bella! They're deciding what to do with the mudblood, suprisingly she asked for it." Narcissa called, gestering for her older sister to follow her back to the drawing room up the stairs.
Voices now echoed through the air as the two sisters climbed the stairs, the mudblood stood staring carelessly out of the window as the table debated, most making it clear they wanted her dead, others saying lock her down in the dungeon since the dark lord probably wanted to keep her to try and draw in the boy.
"Silence!" Voldemort bellowed, silencing everyone in the room as the two appeared at the top of the stairs. "Ahh Bellatrix, What is your opinion on this? Kill the Mudblood or Imprison her to try and trap Potter!" He questioned the dark witch, a dangerous and devious glint in his red eyes as his mouth curved into a crude smile.
"My lord?" Bellatrix hesitated as if asking why he kept putting the life of the mudblood on her shoulders, he didn't speak just gave her a look as if to say 'Because I trust you the most Bellatrix' she nodded in return before replying. "..I think if we can use her to trap the Potter boy, then we should keep her locked in the dungeons until we have a proper plan, though if we did kill her, it would be a waste not to torture her, at least try to get some information out of her." Her eyes glinted with excitement as she suggested torturing the girl, eventually she could break her.
A low laugh sounded after the mention of torture to get information, everyone's eyes flicked to the source of the short bout of laughter, it came from the girl who was now staring at the dark-haired woman.
"Dungeons it is then.. And Bellatrix, you're welcome to torture her still, in fact I'm sure anyone can if they wish to." Voldemort's smirk grew wider as the words left his lips and everyone acknowledged them, many of the deatheaters now wore shit-eating grins at the thoughts.
"Oh you're welcome to try and do that!" The mudblood announced with a smirk matching that of the deatheaters before she let out a dark chuckle and walked over to the two sisters.
Narcissa glared as the 'filthy' girl approached them and Bellatrix had a pyschotic grin etched on her face, that would make anyone else shiver in the boots, but Hermione was no longer scared of the intimidating woman, she had seen much worse over her time away.
Both sisters gave each other a look, prodding the brunette with their wands to get her moving. The pair ushering her around the huge manor until they encountered a large barred door, the bars seemed rusted and old, but she could feel an aura radiating from them and guessed that was probably some of the enchantments, the lock was huge and looked complicated so a simple alohamora wouldn't unlock it, even if she had her wand, although she wasn't given much time to examine the door before being thrown in the dungeon and locked in.
A/N So things are changing here, Bellatrix does have a vulnerability but she'll keep it locked up for now, and Hermione is in for a hard time.
