This chapter is brought to you by summer holiday depression. Every while the Malfoys spend smiling at Aquilla is paid by her mother's tears…
Bellatrix pressed herself to the cold, stone wall of her cell as she felt dementors approaching. Don't let them kiss me, she thought, just don't let them kiss me…
She felt a little relieved when she heard them coming into the cell next to hers – between her cell and her husband's.
And she gave a gasp of shock.
Barty!
She watched in horror as the dementors carried stiff body of her fellow Death Eater, Barty, one of the most devoted brothers in arms…
'Barty!' she shouted, but it was too late.
'Bella… he died today' she heard her husband's voice. She fell on her knees.
'Barty…' she sobbed. 'He gave me support…'
'Bella, just don't think of going his way!' there was some panic in Rod's voice. 'If you fall, I will too… as the mere thought you are here, with me, keeps me a little bit sane…'
'I know' Bellatrix nodded. 'You keep me too. And…'
Now, when the dementors were far, she could think quite clearly.
'I miss our baby' she said. Rod sighed. Loudly.
'I miss her too, though I never saw her' he admitted. 'Bella, it will be the first thing I'll do after we get out of here. Getting our baby back.'
'But we don't even know where she is…'
'Bella' Rodolphus said softly. 'Don't drown in sorrow now when the dementors are away. Think about nice things as long as you can…'
Bellatrix sat down and tried her best. Rod's mellow voice helped a lot.
'Just imagine' he said, 'Our little girl is now five months old… soon she'll start crawling… and now she is probably asleep… or not yet, and someone is just laying her to sleep… singing her a lullaby… and she is hugging her favorite bed toy… she doesn't face all the awful things of Azkaban, she is pretty unaware… so she can sleep calmly, without nightmares… she is a happy child… a happy, pure-blood child… tell me her name again…'
'Aquilla' Bellatrix said. 'But they probably didn't let her keep it, it's too clearly a Black name, and…'
'Don't worry about it' Rodolphus calmed her. 'For us, she will be Aquilla forever.'
He sat down, his back against the cell door, and made a movement as if he was swaying a baby.
'Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are…' he sang. Bellatrix listened to her husband's lullaby.
'Sing more, Rod' Rabastan said from his cell. 'You have a perfect voice for it…'
'Just for you, Rabbit' Rod smiled. 'Then the traveler in the dark thanks you for your little spark…'
Bellatrix looked through her barred window and saw her very own star. She wondered if her good-for-nothing cousin sometimes looked at his. And if her daughter would ever look up to the sky and search for her stars.
She sat down again, still looking at her star. Oh, Barty, she thought, I'm so grateful that your death brought us a dementor-free night, though I'd still prefer you alive, oh Barty, why were you the one who had to die, why not Dolohov or this Sirus?
'Bella!' Rabastan shouted. 'Just don't think about bad things. And if you can't think about good things, don't think at all… if you leave us like Barty did, Rod will go the same way… and I won't manage without the two of you!'
'So don't fall yourself, Rabbit!' Bellatrix shouted back. 'Support me and Rod, and we'll support you!'
'What a nice family care' the three Lestranges heard an ironic voice. Bellatrix would recognize it everywhere. Her good-for-nothing, blood traitor cousin…
'Oh, Sirius, you have no one to support you, how pitiful' Bellatrix smirked. 'Where are your friends now?'
'Where is your lord now?' Sirius replied.
'Bella! Just don't… he's not worth…' Rodolphus tried to calm his wife again. Bellatrix sighed and sat down again. It was lullaby time, Rod was right. She looked up at the stars.
And began to sing.
Twinkle, twinkle, dearest star,
How I wonder where you are!
When I come out here one day,
You will be so far away.
Has my nightmare just come true?
Are some mudbloods raising you?
Give me hope for who you are:
Twinkle, twinkle, pure-blood star.
Twinkle, twinkle, pure-blood star,
Even though you are so far.
Look at Black's House on the sky,
We are all there, there am I.
In the summer I will try
To look at night at the sky,
See the stars that gave you name,
And one that gave me the same.
Twinkle, twinkle, dearest star,
Shine to me through all these bars.
Don't be sad for me, don't weep,
Time for you to go to sleep.
As the Dark Lord will return,
We will meet – for this I yearn.
Though I don't know where you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, dearest star.
On Thursday, I'm going to the countryside, and I'll have no internet there. So there will be no updates for about a week (I'm coming back next Wednesday). Maybe there will be an update tomorrow, but I can't promise this.
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