Bonjour, mes amis! Lol...I'm taking French this semester, and I am loving it.

So, I got a few suggestions to rewrite this chapter, and I did. The only thing I will say is that I am skipping over a month or months at a time because, one, it would be way too long of a story to go into details about everything, two, I'm trying to actually get to the birth and life of Bella's child, because that's who this story is really supposed to focus on. Speaking of the child, there should be a new baby soon...in the story. I'm excited.

Disclaimer: Don't own any characters you recognize, so, in theory, Dest and I own the three babies that will be born during the course of this story. Lol.

Dedicated to: Dest and Nick.


"Bella!"

Bella looked around and saw her sister stretching an arm out for her.

"Bella, come on...come with me. You'll be safe."

"Mea..." she whispered. But rather than take her hand, she aimed her wand at her sister's chest...directly over her heart. She felt her lips move, and even though no sound escaped her lips, the jet of green light said it all.

"MEA!!" Bella screamed and sat bolt upright in the small bed. Every night for the entire week that she'd been here, the same dream had haunted her. She killed her own sister...she just knew it. Mea had given her forgiveness and a second chance, and she'd killed her. She wiped her sweaty face with the blanket and let her gaze roam around the small, dark room.

Her prison.

She might have been carrying the Dark Lord's child, but He was not going to take any chance of her escaping. He'd taken her wand away. The only interaction she had on a day-to-day basis was Wormtail bringing her barely edible food.

For the first time in her life, Bellatrix Lestrange was completely alone.

The door opened, but she did not turn to see who it was, assuming it was Wormtail bringing her "breakfast".

"You deserve far worse." The cold, high voice made her blood freeze and the hair on her arms stand on end. "You should be thankful that I am being so merciful."

Her mind screamed at her to not look at him, but the muscles in her neck acted as if she was under the Imperius Curse. The scowl on his face made her tremble in fear. She saw his bone-white wand in his right hand, pointing at her. Held loosely at his side in his left, she immediately recognized the curved, charcoal black wand that Ollivander had given her at age eleven. He noticed her look of longing and held the wand up in front of his face, taunting her with it.

"You want this, don't you?" She nodded without thought. He smirked and flicked his wand. There was a flash, and Bella instinctively threw her hand up to shield her eyes. When she lowered her hand, a figure lay bound and gagged in the center of the floor. When it turned toward her, she immediately recognized Neville Longbottom.

Memories flashed before Bella's eyes as Neville's stared at her in a mixture of fear and unadulterated hatred. When she looked up at Voldemort again, her wand was floating a foot away from her face. When she pulled it from the air, all of the emotions she'd felt in her years of following the Dark Lord's every order came flooding back, overwhelming her mind. She glared down at the son of the aurors she'd tortured into insanity sixteen years ago. She pointed her wand at his chest, and the two words she hadn't spoken in ages came forth in a whisper...

"Avada Kedavra!"


For the next nearly two months, Bellatrix was pulled back into the Dark Arts. Her murder of the Longbottom boy had sent her spiraling back down the path that she had traveled years ago, just after she had finished school.

"Where is Rodolphus, my Lord?" she asked one night as she sat on the Dark Lord's bed. Bellatrix cared nothing for her first husband, she was merely curious, as she had not seen him since the wedding.

"Your cousin, Sirius Black, killed him just after you and I left the wedding. He killed a few others, but no matter...I am more concerned with you and our son at the present."

Bellatrix smiled. He was so sure that the child would be a son. A slight shiver raced up her spine as He placed a hand on her swollen stomach.

Merlin, she'd forgotten how good this felt. To be at her Master's right hand, basking in His praise and affection.

She had been foolish for leaving him. But she would not make that mistake again.

A few hours later, she lay in bed beside her Master's sleeping form, listening to his steady, even breathing, thinking about her life over the last two months. The guilt she had initially felt for killng her sister had evaporated, leaving the old feeling of cold emptiness that she had known all too well during her 14 years in Azkaban. She would have completely lost her insanity during her imprisonment, had it not been for the single glorious hope that somewhere, somehow, her Master- her love- was very much alive and well. She clung to that hope, like a raft in a storm-tossed sea, and the dementors were never able to take that from her, and so, unlike her many fellow prisoners, she kept her mind clear and was in perfect health when the Dark Lord freed her. Smiling to herself, she drifted to sleep.


Bella had always loved December. Even after joining the Death Eaters, she loved nothing more than walking through the park in a gentle snow drift, hearing the fresh, crisp snow crunch beneath her boots, watching the Christmas lights in silent satisfaction. She felt a slight jolt in her stomach and smiled, placing a hand over where her child had just kicked. Her back started aching and she lowered herself down on to the nearest bench, wrapping her thick cloak more tightly around her body. As she looked around, a lone figure caught her eye.

Probably just some muggle out shopping, she said to herself, but something about this woman seemed familiar: The way her small build hunched over to protect herself from the cold. How many times had she seen Mea huddle like that when they were young? Bella shook her head. Mea was dead. She knew it. Still...she gazed at the woman, gasping when she stepped into a beam of light.

Mea...

Bella stood, and the figure seemed to notice her.

"Bella..." she began, then stopped when she saw Bella aim her wand at her. Mea's eyes widened and she took off down a nearby street. As quickly as a witch seven months pregnant could, she stood up and took off after her as she turned down an alleyway.

"Expelliarmus!" Bella shouted, catching her prey's wand as it flew through the air. With a gasp, Mea turned to face the sister she had not seen in almost two months.

"Bella...please...don't do this..." Bellatrix cackled and cut her off.

"Don't start with me, Andromeda..." She hesitated for a moment when she saw a tear trickle down her little sister's face, and a memory of their childhood flashed before her eyes...

"Bella...?" She looked up to see her six-year-old sister standing in the doorway, tears streaming down her face.

"Andy..." the eight-year-old whispered soothingly, pulling her little sister into her arms. "Andy, what happened?" In tears, Andromeda explained how she had broken their mother's vase while she was riding her toy broomstick.

"Andy, Mummy told you not to play on that in the house..." She sat there, holding her sister as she cried.

Bellatrix shook her head, reminding herself of why she was here. She glared at Mea, and Mea gave her a pleading look.

"Bella...before you...kill me..." she said quietly and lifted her shirt up to reveal her stomach. Bella gasped when she saw her sister's slightly swollen belly, just barely bulging over the wasitband of her jeans. "Could you kill this baby? Something that innocent and that defenseless?" Mea pulled the words she'd used on Bella seven months earlier when counseling her to a decision about her own child.

Bella froze. She'd come here to kill Mea, but now...she couldn't. She had thought she'd killed her, but now, knowing that she was alive. And knowing that she was pregnant besides...The wand slipped from her hand, clattering to the ground as Mea wrapped her arms around her. Bella buried her face in Mea's shoulder and sobbed hysterically.

"Shh..." Mea whispered soothingly, patting her sister on the back. Now it was her turn to be the comforter.

After several minutes, Mea pulled away just slightly from her sister and tilted her chin up, gently wiping the tears from her cheeks. She smiled at her, and Bella gave a weak one in return.

"Come on..." Mea whispered, wrapping an arm around Bella's shoulder and holding her tightly. They turned together on the spot and vanished with a loud crack.


Remus sat on the kitchen counter, his head buried in his hands. Reality was far too overwhelming for his liking. No one had gotten over Mea's apparent death. Sirius had been most affected when he realized she was dead, and, in a rage, he'd attacked every Death Eater in sight. He had killed Rodolphus Lestrange and the Carrows, severely injuring others. When Mea had awoken, gasping for breath, his relief had been so enormous that all thoughts of everything but Mea fled from his mind.

Mea had recovered well enough and, much to everyone's surprise, had been one month pregnant at the wedding. Now that she was three months along, the pregnancy hormones were really starting to have an effect on everyone, especially considering that Dora was sixth months pregnant. Remus was happy to have another child, but a voice in the back of his mind nagged him, reminding him that Teddy had inheireted his Lycanthropy. There was no doubt in his mind that his child would be a werewolf as well.

He sighed, running his fingers through his greying hair, and looked up when the front door opened. He leapt lightly to the ground and turned, expecting to see Mea back from her shopping trip. But when Bellatrix walked through the door, he snatched his wand from the pocket and shot the first spell that came to mind.

"Stupefy!"

It happened so quickly. A split-second after the curse left his lips, it seemed as if Bella leapt out of the way. Remus was about to aim at her again, but froze when he saw Mea standing behind Bella and he watched while, as if in slow motion, the jet of red light collided with Mea's chest, exacly over her heart and she was lifted off her feet and blasted backward.

"What did you do?!" Bella screamed at him, moving to her sister's side quickly, despite her swollen belly. He joined her beside Mea, just in time for her to regain conciousness and glare murderously at him.

"Can you at least wait for an explanation before you start attacking people?" She snapped at him as she slowly got to her feet. There was a commotion and soon the small kitchen was filled with members of the Order, every wand pointed at Bellatrix.

Mea sighed exasperatedly. "Can you people please relax? If she wanted to kill me, she would have done it on the walk home." Everyone looked at each other, uncertain, but then quickly lowered their wands upon seeing Mea's glare. "Now, if you'll all sit at the table, I think we can explan why Bella's come back."


Questions? Comments? Gripes and/or complaints? Send 'em in via the little blue button that can be found right there...(points to the review button)