Chapter Eight: Azkaban
It was a cool all Hallow's Eve. Rabastan, Rodolphus, and Bella had been summoned by the Dark Lord earlier that day. I had tried to keep myself busy with cleaning, shopping, and taking care of Evander. As the days went by, the more I saw my sister Bellatrix in him. At the young tender age of 15 months old, he enjoyed torturing the house elves and was fascinated by some of the dark objects within our home. As troubling as it was, it was also a relief knowing that because of their similar personalities, Bella and Evander were the best of friends. She would have never admitted it, but she loved Evander, almost as much as she would her own child.
Things had changed since my father died. Bellatrix, the closest to my father out of all of us, had become more violent, more malevolent than she had been before. She wouldn't speak to anyone about it, and taken her grief and put it into her work. The recent muggle killings and tortures increased, and I had a feeling it was by the hand of my sister. I sighed, knowing she would never be my Bella again, my lovely sister who had been there for me since Andromeda left.
At around nine that evening, I heard a crack in the foyer as I checked on the sleeping Evander. I went down the stairs to see Bella standing there, that bewildered look in her eyes. They must have went on a mission, but why had she arrived before Rodolphus and Rabastan? I followed her into the kitchen and got her a drink, watching her closely. I could tell something was up, something wasn't right. She was antsy, downing her fire whiskey as it was nothing. Finally, I spoke, the worry evident in my voice,
"There is something going on… Isn't there? I know there's something going on."
I gave her that knowing look, the one our mother used to give us as small children.
Bella looked at me with a blank look, but I could see the worried look in her expression to see that I was onto her.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, sister."
She looked away from me, and I knew then that she was lying to me, that something did indeed happen. I glared slightly, crossing my arms and seeing her look away.
"Fine, we were on a mission. The men should be here any moment… They were… held up."
I looked at her, and I finally understood. They had done something wrong, they were trying to cover their tracks.
I sighed, and made my way back upstairs, checking on Evander again. It bothered me immensely that Rab had given in and followed the Dark Lord, but she knew that the Dark Lord had doubted their loyalties, especially her own. I didn't particularly care for the Dark Lord, although I agreed and practiced many of his philosophies. But, unlike him and most of his followers, I didn't believe people should die just because they were below us in blood status. Bella knew this, but she had also known I wasn't as cold hearted as the rest were.
Watching her peak in on her nephew made me smile, but I couldn't help but let a few tears fall. I knew that my mother's scorn on Bella for not producing a child was my fault, that I had taken that luxury of having the first born grandchild away from her. She noticed my crying, and shut the door to his room. She was quiet, but I could tell that she knew what I was thinking about. I heard her say something, the one thing that would keep me strong for the rest of my days.
"You are a Black; Blacks don't cry."
I nodded, and walked her to her favorite room. I assumed her and Rodolphus would both stay the remainder of the night here at our manor, but what was coming next, would change all of our lives forever.
They swarmed in from everywhere; the door ways, the fire place, and thin air. Aurors; they had captured Rabastan, Barty, and Rodolphus. They were coming after Bella now. I was pushed aside, my eyes wide with shock and fear. They were taking my sister! But, she wasn't going down without a fight. She stunned, she cursed, she fought back. And they took her, I yelled for her, but they restrained me, I wanted to help her, I couldn't lose what little family I had left.
I don't remember much of what happened those few weeks. The Dark Lord had fell the same night they were all arrested, that's why they had tortured those two Aurors that were in the Order. They would have known, or so Rod and Bella thought, but they really didn't. Know, they were crazed vegetables in St. Mungo's Hospital. The trials were quick; no one denied that they did it, they boasted proudly admitted to it.
My Rabastan, I could tell was remorseful, but there was something different about him. If they convicted him, I'd be left husbandless, and my son fatherless. I didn't know how to feel about it all; I didn't know what to do. When they came back with a verdict, I sat straight in my chair, a cold, despairing look etched upon my face. When I heard the words, I felt my breath hitch in my chest and the tears flow down my face.
Guilty.
They took him away, my wonderful, loving husband away. People in the court rooms jeered with delight; I sat in my seat regally; heart broken and shattered. They had taken everything I loved away from me that day: my sister, my husband, and my brother-in-law. What was I supposed to do without them? Would I lose everything now that they were locked up in Azkaban? I was truly devastated that everything had happened, and I couldn't do anything about it.
They gave Rabastan a 5 year sentence, mostly for just being a witness to the crimes, but I found out he had also participated towards the end. My Bella, my beautiful deranged sister and her husband were put away for life. What would I do without them? What would I do knowing I was having the life she deserved, and she was locked up to rot in that hell? I tried to tell myself that there wasn't anything I could do, but I could try.
I found out a few weeks after the trials that I was pregnant again. Oh, how I wish my husband and sister could be here to see our new little one, how I wish he would be able to be there when he or she was born. I told my mother, much to her dismay; she thought I should rid of the child since I had no husband or anyone to father the child and Evander. I couldn't purposely rid of a life just because the father was currently locked up. Much to my shock, my mother suggested that I even divorce him quietly, while he was still incarcerated. I flat out refused; I wouldn't dare do that to my husband regardless of what he had done. I loved him, and I would wait for him.
Neither Evander nor I were doing well with the separation from our loved ones. He threw temper tantrums non-stop, reminding me more and more of my beloved sister. I went into a deep depression, no longer caring for myself nor my son. I had house elves, isn't this what they were meant to do? Take care of the children of those where above them; whom they lived to serve? I no longer cared; I didn't want to go on if my loving husband was there. I didn't want to go on if I didn't have my sister at my side. However, one morning when I got up, I went to the dining room to have breakfast with Evander, trying to help him finish up his cereal snack, when he began to cry because he wasn't getting his way. I snapped; I lost who I truly was and found within me a cold hearted personality; an unloving person who was burned and hurt badly.
"Evander, Blacks don't cry!"
The small toddler only looked at me; gray eyes mirrored my ice blue ones. It was almost as if he could read my emotions, feel them drift off of me and onto him. He stopped crying. I watched him sniffle and return to eating his breakfast, listening to him babble and talk to himself and the house elves. I knew then I needed to be brave, I needed to be strong for my son, for both of us, or we'd never make it through this.
What I didn't know, was that my mother arranged for Lucius Malfoy to be my escort for the remaining years of Rabastan's absence. I was absolutely furious when he and my mother arrived on my door step, expecting me to accept everything they had just thrown at me. How would I explain this to Rabastan when he came home? Seeing his wife living with another man, having him raise their son without his consent? In the end, I was outnumbered. My mother reminded me that I had no say in the matter, since Evander and this child needed a step in father. What I didn't intend on, though I would never admit it to my mother, was I actually began to enjoy Lucius' company, and how well he treated my son. It was almost as if, this was all meant to be.
