Chapter Nine

Bella paced the floor of the Lestrange safe house impatiently. She hated waiting, it made her feel...twitchy. And Bella and twitchy were not a good combination. Neither was Bella and happy, or Bella and angry for that matter. But twitchy was the worst. She scowled at the door, willing it to open and belch that horrible Peter into the room. The stinking rat had been gone for hours and she was bored, bored, bored.

So bored that she was actually missing the hideous oink. Firing hexes at Pettigrew was almost as much fun as firing them at Mudbloods. And it was the only thing that had made the last four weeks of waiting bearable. That and her plans of revenge. Those had given her more pleasure than any man, other than the Dark Lord, ever had. Not once did she think it odd that she wanted Potter and his little followers to pay for the Dark Lord's death. Odd because it was in fact her actions that had allowed Potter to overcome Lord Voldemort. She was the one who'd given the Dark Lord the book containing the spell that told a wizard how to steal magic.

Given him it, knowing that attempting the spell would have killed him. She hadn't even seen him die. Bella almost felt sad at that, but the feeling was so fleeting that Bella often didn't realise it was there at all. Casting the spell had not only killed Lord Voldemort but also drained the magic of those surrounding him. Thus making defeating the Order much easier. Besides, now her loyalties would forever lie with the new Dark Lord.

Transferring her and Peter's magic had been his idea. He'd shown her how to perform the curse and provided two unregistered magic users for them to use. He'd even arranged for the Mudblood Granger girl to find the book that would tell her how Bella and Peter had tricked them into believing they had perished at Hogwarts.

A broken smile stretched her lips and she began to sway to music only she could hear. Her skirt billowed and her hair floated around her shoulders like black smoke. The door opening startled her into raising her wand. A stinging hex fell from her lips and she cackled as she saw Peter dive to the side to avoid being hit. The curse hit the door, leaving behind a black smudge. After four long weeks he was getting faster. Some days Bella didn't manage to hit him at all.

"Do you have it?" Bella said.

At her feet Peter was cowering, hands raised in front of his face, "I do, Mistress."

Bella stomped her foot. "Well give it to me then!"

"Of course, of course." Peter reached inside the pocket of his filthy cloak and withdrew a palm sized flask.

Bella snatched the dented flask from him and cuddled it to her chest as one would a child. "What did he say?"

Pettigrew struggled to his feet. "The Mudblood and George Weasley have left the Order and are hunting us."

Bella's face turned thunderous, "that dirty Mudblood dares to hunt me?" Her hand crept to the dagger on her waist as she spoke. "I'll carve every inch of her skin before I kill her and then I'll feed her to the wolves!"

Peter backed away from the dark haired witch and her volatile temper. "They have a Snatcher with them."

"Who!?"

"Scabior," Peter said.

Bella sneered, she remembered that arrogant leery Snatcher well, "then he'll be first to die." She pressed a kiss to the flask's cool metal surface, the action instantly calmed her. "What else did the Dark Lord say?"

Peter bowed his head, "that everything is going to plan. Minister Shacklebolt will soon lose what little support he has, and his position as head of the Ministry will become impossible to maintain. The seeds of mistrust are already being sown"

"And the rest of the Order?" Bella said, still caressing the flask.

"They will be busy tracking down Death Eaters as planned."

Bella nodded, "and what are your orders Peter?" She said rapidly losing interest in the rat. She had her potion now. After four weeks of waiting, she had it. Tonight she would sleep with it under her pillow.

Sensing her interest waning, Peter began to edge his way towards the staircase. He'd have to pass Bella to get there so he made sure to move nice and slow. "I am to keep the Mudblood, Snatcher and Weasley spawn occupied and away from the Order's Headquarters."

Bella pinned the retreating wizard in place with a sharp glare. "Do we know where the Headquarters are yet?"

"Alas, no," Peter said. He didn't dare move whilst the crazy witch was looking at him so directly.

Bella smiled. "Then I'll have to come up with a way to find out won't I?"

Peter inclined his head. He knew her moods well enough to know silence was often best when dealing with Bella. Right now her eyes were slowly losing their focus. He took a step and they sharpened on him again.

"If you have no further need for me Mistress," Peter said bowing low, but keeping an eye on her wand. Just in case.

A beat of silence.

"No. Go away. I don't want to see your face again tonight," Bella said.

Her dark eyes tracked him as he stumbled up the stairs and disappeared into the mess he called a bedroom. He wouldn't leave it until the morning now. It amused her that he thought a door would protect him from her. One day she would wait till he was sleeping and surprise him.

Bella sank to her knees, cradling the flask and the potion it contained to her cheek. Most of the time Bella lived with the constant murmur of voices whispering inside her head. Occasionally she blacked out altogether. Bad things happened when that occurred. But sometimes Bella had a moment of clarity, a moment that hit her right between the eyes and refused to budge.

It was just after the torture of Hermione Granger that she'd had such a moment. That was when she'd first come up with the plan. Well, part of it anyway. The new Dark Lord had refined it into what it was today. She was almost grateful to the Mudblood for providing such a gift.

When she thought about it, the Mudblood had actually given her two presents. The first of which was the memory of torturing the girl. That had been fun. It was almost as good as remembering when she'd killed that dog Sirius.

A soft smile graced her lips. Thinking of the night she'd become aquainted with Hermione Granger always made her feel calm. She closed her eyes in order to better recall the details.

It had been cold, icy cold as she met the Snatchers at the gates of Malfoy Manor. Scabior had pressed the swollen face of Harry Potter against the bars. She hadn't been sure it was him, despite the scar marring his forehead. So she'd brought them in for Draco to see. The snivelling fool had been less than useful. Bella had wanted to disown the coward there and then. They all knew it was Harry, fucking, Potter. Draco more than anyone.

But they'd needed to be sure. The Dark Lord's sanity had slipped enough that even Bella had begun to fear him. Had begun to realize that he wasn't fit to rule. She hadn't noticed the Mudblood. All of her attention had been fixed on Potter. That was until she'd noticed the sword of Gryffindor the nasty Snatcher held.

"Where did you get that?!" She'd yelled. The darkness starting to creep in on her.

The snatcher had pointed at the Mudblood. "The girl had it."

A black rage had overcome her at the thought of filthy Mudblood hands touching her sword. Not just touching, but stealing it. Stealing her property. Her memory blurred for a bit then. The anger burning through her too hard to contain, much less control. The next thing she knew, her hand was full of thick curls and she was breathing on the Mudblood's face. There was one Snatcher dead on the floor and the others, including that awful Scabior were gone.

Potter and Weasley were being manhandled from the room. The Malfoys were skulking in the corner, waiting, as they always did, for others to do the dirty work. Bella ignored them all. The Mudblood had struggled, managing to twist free and smack her across the face. Bella had howled, pointed her wand at the unarmed witch and sent the girl flying across the room. She landed with a thud and seconds later Bella was on top of her, wand digging into the soft skin of her throat.

"Try that again and I'll slice off your hands." Bella's voice had been thick with madness.

The Mudblood had started weeping then. Tossing her head from side to side and saying, "I don't know anything!" She said it twelve times. Bella had counted, getting angrier each second that passed.

A Crucio had shut her up.

It was when the girl was twisting and writhing under the curse that Bella had spotted the droplets of blood. A scattering of them decorating the Mudblood's jumper. When Bella had touched her chin, it had felt sticky and wet. A glance at her fingers showed them slick with blood. The Mudblood bitch had made her bleed.

Bella stopped using the Crucio then, tucked her wand away and brought out her dagger. It was one of two gifted to her by the Dark Lord. Naturally it was cursed. The blade able to split skin at the lightest touch. It was her second favourite weapon. The first being her wand.

She'd had to wait ten minutes for the Mudblood to stop twitching. Bella had watched her the entire time. Drinking in her pained moans.

"Do you know what I'm going to do to you?" Bella had asked.

Hermione whimpered.

Bella had smiled and gently lowered herself on top of the quivering witch. "I'm going to use this dagger," Bella had placed the flat of the blade against a tear stained cheek, "and I'm going to carve what you are onto every inch of your skin."

Another whimper.

Bella had wanted to start somewhere relatively innocuous. The inside of her forearm. The face would be saved till last.

The screams as the blade cut flesh had almost deafened her. Sometimes she fell asleep to the sound. It was an odd lullaby, yet it never failed to send her to sleep with a smile on her face.

It had all been going so well. Mudblood already carved into the smooth skin of her arm and Bella ready to begin writing again. Only Potter and Weasley had shown up and then that blasted elf. One moment they were there and the next they were gone. She at least had the satisfaction of knowing her blade had killed the floppy eared traitor. One less elf to pollute the world.

Her rage had been all consuming and in truth she remembered very little about what happened after Potter had escaped.

When she came back to herself she was on the floor. Laying exactly where the Mudblood had been. The marble was still warm and slick from her sweat. She'd twisted her head to the side, and there, caught in the intricate design of her ring, hair. Long, curly, honey brown hair. Eight lovely, lovely, strands.

The Mudbloods second gift.

Bella blinked her way back to the present.

She was still holding the poly juice potion in her hand.