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"ARGH!" Lying supine on my bed, I winced, hearing Narcissa's infuriated scream all the way downstairs.
"Narcissa, please just calm down and check her over," Lucius's faint voice carried as two sets of feet marched up the wooden steps.
"Lucius, if I wasn't so concerned over her and the baby's well-being, I would kill her right now!" Voldemort looked down at me with a single raised eyebrow.
"I don't know what she's so upset about," I said softly. "It's not like I've never been in more dangerous situations before."
I could hear Lucius's voice again, this time much closer to the door. "That's what I don't understand, Narcissa, love." It sounded like Lucius agreed with me. "She was fine when she was expecting Lilith, so I don't see why you don't just let her take care of herself. She can certainly—"
"No, Lucius, that's the problem! She wasn't fine when she was pregnant with Lilith and—really, Lucius! Let me go talk to her!"
"You're wrong, Narcissa. I've seen your sister and she's strong. Maybe she's too strong for her own good sometimes, but—"
"You don't know what happened! Lucius, she doesn't even know what happened to her—and—Lucius!" I didn't think I'd ever heard Narcissa so upset in my life, who had been cut off by a stern whisper from her husband. Voldemort's face showed an expression of slight worry.
"What... happened?" Voldemort questioned over the heated whispers. "Bellatrix, do you have any idea what she's talking about?"
"No, but she got really upset when I told her today—" I stopped as Narcissa stomped in, face red and fist clenched.
"You fool! You could have gotten yourself killed today! Not to mention the fact that you could have lost the baby! Who knows? What if it was harmed? What if—"
"Gee, I don't know, Narcissa," I responded coldly. "How about you examine me first, and then tell me if I was so careless as to kill my child?"
She growled. "I tried to tell you to be careful, but did you listen to me? No! You ran off to fight right after I said how dangerous it was for you to even—"
"To even what? Live? Really, Cissy, I don't see why you're so obsessed with this all of the sudden. Lilith turned out fine, didn't she?"
Narcissa took a deep breath to calm herself. "Yes, Bellatrix, but it's not Lilith. It's about what happened when you were pregnant with Lilith, and I suspect that whatever went wrong was caused by the injuries you got in the battle at the Ministry of Magic."
"But Narcissa, I'm fine. Lilith is fine. Nothing went wrong, so what in Merlin's name are you talking about?"
"Bella, you need to think back further. Think to before you even knew about Lilith. Think back to before—"
"That's it!" Narcissa and I looked over at Voldemort in confusion. His eyes were wide in realization, and the smallest smirk graced his lips. His eyes focused on mine softly.
"Narcissa, please examine Bellatrix immediately. Bella, I'll be in the pensieve room. I think I know what we need to look for!" He exited with a swish of his cape.
"What could that be about?" I murmured, but Narcissa ignored my comment.
"Bella, there's something you should know about Lilith. It's something I should have told you a long time ago, and I think it might affect the new baby, if you're not careful."
"Narcissa," I said softly. Her words were beginning to make me nervous. "Please. Just perform an examination first. Telling me stories isn't going to help right now if my baby is bleeding or crushed right now." A lump rose in my dry throat, and I realized that I was more scared than I had thought. "Just... make sure everything is alright, so you can try to heal it if not, okay?"
Narcissa jumped back a little, finally noticing the logic in my words, and she nodded, pulling out her wand. Unfamiliar words came out of her mouth, rushed ... and jumbled, but only to my ears. Bursts of light came out of her wand one after the other, covering my middle before flowing to her mind. She breathed a sigh.
"Well?" I questioned anxiously.
"As far as I can tell, the baby is safe and healthy. Now, it's your turn."
Similar charms were cast that surrounded my whole body transfered the data to Narcissa's head.
"Other than a few nasty bruises and a little scrape, you're fine. You're really lucky, Bella."
I sighed. "I know." I hesitated a moment before saying, "Narcissa? Can I ask you a question?"
She sat down on the bed next to me as I pulled myself up. "Yes."
"Exactly... how much can you tell by those spells that you do?"
"Why?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I was just wondering... if you could tell me whether the baby is a boy or a girl."
She looked up absentmindedly into the corner of the wall. "Surprisingly, not much. I can really only tell if you're pregnant at all, and if the baby is sick or injured. I can't tell you the gender. In fact, you could be carrying twins or triplets and I wouldn't even be able to tell you."
"I could be pregnant with multiples?" I asked, shocked. If I had twins, we wouldn't need to worry about the prophecy.
"Bellatrix, I meant rhetorically. You, personally, could never have multiples, thanks to your injuries in the battle at the Ministry. Those injuries are probably why it took you a full year to get pregnant again."
"Oh," I said, slightly disappointed. I forced myself to push the thought out of my head. It isn't possible, Bellatrix, so there's no point in even considering it.
"Of course, if you went to St. Mungo's, they'd be able to everything, but they have loads of magical medical instruments that I can't attain. I'm using the most complex spells I can—"
"Of course, Cissy," I replied hastily. "I know you're always doing your best."
"On the other hand, for you," she continued, "I can know lots of things because you've already been born. I know all the basics, like if you're sick or injured, but I can also go through a history of anything your body has gone through.
"And that's why I know... Bella, there's something really important I've been trying to tell you. In fact, I've been trying to tell it to you ever since Lilith was born, but I didn't want to upset you in your happy moment, and I just let it slip out of my mind. It wasn't important to tell you then, but now that you're pregnant again..."
"What is it, Cissy?" I asked, startled to see tears in her eyes. She gripped my hand and breathed deeply.
"Bella, when you were pregnant with Lilith, something went wrong. You were supposed t—"
"Bellatrix!" I looked up. "Are you and the baby fine?" Voldemort asked anxiously.
"Yes, but Narcissa was just telling m—"
"You have to come see this, right away. I've found her. I've found the one who somehow knew who we were!"
I drew in a sharp breath. "From Diagon Alley?"
He nodded. "She seems very familiar, but I cannot place who she is. You have to come see this."
I jumped up, all thoughts of any health issues on my part completely out of my mind. "Let's go."
"Bella—" Narcissa started urgently, but Voldemort and I were already out the door.
"You have no clue who she is?" I asked over the clacking of my heels down the hall.
"Like I said, she is familiar, but I don't know where I've seen her before."
"Well, maybe I will," I said hopefully, coming up to the wide, shallow bowl beside him.
"Ready?" he asked, standing at the edge of the pensieve. "You don't have to worry about the blood because we're only watching the beginning."
"The beginning?"
"Yes. It came to me when Narcissa was talking to you about looking further back, back before you actually gave birth. Back before the actual event."
"So..." I said slowly, processing his words, "You're saying that we're going to look back before the men actually attacked us?"
"Exactly. We were looking in the completely wrong place. The men had to be informed of who we were before they attacked, didn't they. Someone saw us first. So are you ready?"
I took his outstretched hand. "Ready."
We swirled down, a motion that made me slightly queasy, but I said nothing. I immediately recognized the stores we'd passed and gone into.
"This far back?" I asked.
"Look," he said, urgently, pointing to a five-foot space between two buildings.
I walked closer to the woman, taking in her appearance. She was clad in all pink, and the sight of it almost made me gag. She had shiny pink shoes, pink tights, a flowered pink skirt, a fuzzy pink sweater with three white cats on it, and an awkward looking pink hat perched atop of her tightly curled hair. She had an unattractive face, with small eyes that bulged despite their size and a thin mouth that twisted into the smallest smirk. On one arm rested a small pink purse, and the hand of the same side clutched a small round white object. She let out an annoying cough or clear of the throat, what was meant to be a very dainty "ahem." My heart leaped as one of the men appeared from behind her. She whispered something to him, and he nodded, eyes glinting, as she pointed over to the memory us, who he, and the others, began to follow.
I stared at Voldemort with disbelieving eyes, who just nodded and gestured for me to come with him. I took his hand once more.
We'd found the woman who saw through our disguise.
The only thing left to do was to find out who in Merlin's name she was.
I KNOW you all thought you were going to find out Narcissa's secret. Maybe some of you have your suspicions. My lips are sealed :)
However, most of you DO know now who saw through the disguise. If not, you probably need to reread the books :/
Lol, jk! If you don't know who she is, you will find out, next chapter, I promise!
But only if you review! :D