) Chapter Twelve - Voldemort (

"Awaken, Bellatrix."

The soft order brought Bella from the darkness of unconsciousness. Her eyes flickered, finding herself in an indistinct dark place. She was lying on a hard, dirty, stone floor. A lone candle flickered on the floor to her left, the light not reaching the edges of the chamber, which faded into blackness.

She moved slowly and was surprised to feel no pain. She slowly sat up and pulled up her shirt. She was shocked to see a ghastly pink, thick, and puckering scar that spread from below her navel up to her rib cage. Both horrified at the scar and relieved that she was healed, she looked around in the darkness.

Suddenly, a tall male figure emerged from the darkness to her right. As the candlelight fell on his pale face and slitted red eyes that she had only ever heard of, shock and fear overcame her. She threw herself onto her hands and knees.

"My Lord!"

"Bellatrix." Her name was barely a whisper from his thin lips.

She shivered in fear, her hair almost brushing his feet. "My Lord, why—how—?"

"Isn't it obvious, Bellatrix?" he said quietly.

"Snape brought me here!" She looked up at his white face. "He brought me to you?"

"No other has the power that Lord Voldemort has to mend the effects of an Abortive Curse. But rest assured, Bellatrix, Sirius Black's progeny is dead."

Bella let out a wail and buried her face in the ground. He knew everything! She had always imagined meeting Voldemort face-to-face as a Hogwarts graduate, top of her class and with lots of knowledge and experience in Dark spells. To meet him the most degraded state imaginable was intolerable.

"My Lord, spare me the humiliation and kill me now!" she whimpered tearfully. "You know what a traitor I have been—soon everyone will know and my family will be eternally shamed. Please—end the torment!"

"Bellatrix. Rise. Dry your tears."

Surprised, she crawled to her feet and wiped her face. She couldn't meet his eyes.

"Did you think any of this was a surprise to Lord Voldemort?" he asked.

Her wide eyes darted up to meet his. His face was unreadable in the flickering light.

"Did you think I wouldn't keep an eye on you, Bellatrix?"

"Me, my Lord? I am nobody!"

"Nobody? You call a hand-picked protégé destined to be a part of my closest circle of allies nobody?"

Bella had no reply.

"Oh, yes, Bellatrix. I have had you and Severus Snape observed. There is very little that Lord Voldemort doesn't know."

"But, my Lord, if you know about me and—and Sirius Black, why didn't you stop me?"

He arched an eyebrow. "Didn't stop you? Your own mother forbade you from speaking to him."

"But…but she's my mother! She's always telling me what to do!"

"You didn't think there was anything unusually…pressing…about how she asked you?"

Bella's mouth went dry. "You had her order me not to speak to Sirius?"

"Indirectly. I have observed you, Bellatrix. I choose my Death Eaters carefully. You had the makings of a great follower, but you had one flaw: You tend to do the opposite of what authority wants of you. You flirt on the edges of what is allowed. It is a good trait for one who is to serve Lord Voldemort, but it does make one wonder if you might decide that my orders were optional."

"And so you had Mother ask me not to speak to Sirius to tempt me?"

"It was a test, Bellatrix."

She hung her head. "And I failed. Miserably!"

"On the contrary. You have done nothing that I didn't want you to do."

"My Lord?"

"Bellatrix, you had a Memory Charm placed on you at the beginning of this term."

She nodded, not understanding at the sharp turn the conversation had taken.

"You heard something you weren't supposed to that day on the Hogwarts Express." He paused. "Sirius Black lamented that you were a Slytherin, because he had always been glad you had been betrothed."

Bella's mouth dropped. "And he cursed me because I overheard that? What a bastard!"

"Is that not in his very character? It shows how much those sentiments meant to him that he would go to such lengths to erase them from your mind."

"Are…are you telling me that Sirius liked me before this year?"

"Just this year, Bellatrix?" Voldemort's mouth curved into a smirk, as if the whole situation were somehow amusing to him. "He has had feelings for you since childhood."

"How do you know this?"

"Who am I, Bellatrix?"

Bella bowed her head in acknowledgement.

"My lord, why are you telling me this?"

"Lord Voldemort needs to know what you are going to do with this information. What does it mean to you that the boy you have fallen in love with has cared for you just as much, if not more?"

Her face contorted in rage. "How do I feel? It makes me want to kill him even more! He put me through hell…It was one thing if he didn't care about me, but—but loving me and doing that to me…"

Voldemort's eyes flashed victoriously. "Then you have learned your lesson, Bella. You have passed the test. You have learned the uselessness of love. You have seen the inferiority of blood-traitors. You have shown that you will do anything to get what you want, even risking your own safety. You will serve Lord Voldemort greatly."

She dropped to her knees, hands clasped over her heart. "I am yours, My Lord! You have saved my life: my life is yours!"

His red eyes glowed as he looked down at her and whispered, "And that is your value. You are mine."

"What would you have me do, my Lord?" she asked with shining eyes.

"You will finish your education. You will study with Severus Snape and perfect your skills."

"What of my family? I must have been gone for days!"

"You will return to them until the end of the holidays. They have not yet sent out word of your disappearance because of pride. You will return."

"What shall I tell them? If they knew about Sirius..."

"A memory modification would work just as well as speaking, Bellatrix."

Her heart leapt with relief. "May I, my Lord?"

"I would not mention it if you could not. Now you must go."

Bella was disappointed at the idea of leaving him. "Must I, my Lord? Can I not stay with you instead?"

"Some day, Bellatrix, perhaps. First, you must clean up your loose ends. You must carefully...assist...your family with their memories and..."

"...And deal with Sirius?" she finished, standing up.

He nodded.

"But I may stay with you someday, my Lord?" she pressed.

"Perhaps."

She didn't think it fitting to leave without expressing her deep gratitude one more time.

"My Lord...I cannot thank you enough. You have restored me my dignity, my family, and my life. I...I don't deserve it. Thank you."

"Just never forget the service I have done you, Bellatrix."

Bella nodded, placing her hand on her heart.

"I am yours, my Lord. I am yours forever."