Bellatrix would do anything for Him. Die for Him, kill for Him, and if she ended up in a hell in which she no longer believed, then she'd laugh even as she was tortured. For Him.

He was her god.

He'd shown her the truth behind the lies that those tainted muggle-loving wizards sprouted and proved to her what she had always known instinctively, that she was better than any of that trash. Who needed Mudbloods and muggles? She'd kill them all and make the world anew.

For Him.

Her Lord was a genius, better than that half-senile Dumbledore or the Ministry rats, scurrying around in fear of the cats. She'd show them what it meant to be hunted!

This was her reward from her beloved Dark Lord. A chance to break Dumbledore and kill as many of his filthy followers as possible.

So she did. She went into the cabinet and came out into Hogwarts, just as her Lord had told her she would. So much for the claims that Hogwarts was a sanctuary from Him! Her Lord could go anywhere, do anything. She believed in Him utterly.

He had told her to leave the Slytherins, distinguished by the green they wore, alone and unharmed. She could see a few prospective servants for her Lord among them, though none would ever be as close or as loyal as she was.

She would prove herself over a thousand times and already had. Those spoilt children didn't understand what they were being offered: the chance to serve her Master and some were even hesitating! If she could only be given an hour in a room with some of them…

But this was not the time, her Master had told her. So she'd wait and kill the Gryffindors first, especially those ickle friends of baby Potter…

Bellatrix giggled, the sound sending the nearest figures scurrying out of their portraits.

It would be so fun!

She stood, in this sacred place of Hogwarts, the Gryffindor common room – a place that she, as a Slytherin and later a Death Eater should never have entered. The blood traitor and filthy Mudblood friends of Potter were dead – she couldn't wait until her Lord's most irritating enemy found out! The children were cowering, and Bellatrix longed to show them real fright, real fear…

Oh. Oh, my. Neville Longbottom, was it? She knew just the perfect spell for him. Poor thing, wouldn't it be better to be batty like his parents than to just be a shame to his pureblood roots? What a disgustingly pathetic child – such a waste of time and resources.

He screamed, and the sound was purest melody to Bellatrix's ears.

Now Dumbledore was coming in, and Bellatrix reveled in his look of shock and anger – but she couldn't stay, her Lord had ordered her to come the moment he appeared.

She laughed, knowing that Dumbledore's most beloved thing was falling in pieces all around him. Her Master was sure that once parents knew that Hogwarts was not safe then the children would be taken back to their parents. Hogwarts was ruined, its once pristine reputation destroyed and marked by so many deaths that it would never, never be the school it had been. At least, not until her Master rebuilt it into the school he envisioned and then it would be better.

The place that Dumbledore had devoted so much of his life and dreams to was shattered.

Just as her Lord had wanted.

She came back to her Master's side, exultant and triumphant. So happy, so pleased to have been of use to him…

What? The Potter brat? What was he doing here? Unless… perhaps her Master would give her the pleasure of killing him?

Now he was giving Potter his wand… perhaps a duel to show the ickle baby who was truly strong? Only, her Master was letting the boy aim it at her… and he looked so pleased… why?

Avada Kedavra? But Potter couldn't possibly use it – he was too stupid and naïve to mean it! But the spell glowed green, coming straight for her?

But He would stop it, wouldn't he? She was his most loyal, his strongest servant… he wouldn't let her die so easily… would he?

My Lord?

My Lord-