A.N- Ok, so I'm an idiot and a complete fool! For some reason, I honestly thought that I had already uploaded this chapter and I've been writing the next one after this. But obviously I hadn't and now I feel so bad that I made you all wait soooo long, when I promised that I'd upload quickly. I hope you can forgive me… Thank you, as always, for sticking with me and actually still bothering to read this story.
Bellatrix paced back and forth, twirling her hands around one another, as she waited in the drawing room. They are nearly 20 minutes late, Bella thought, as she glanced at the clock for the third time in that minute alone. Her eyes flicked over to where Rodolphus was calmly sitting on the sofa, reading one of his many books. Typical him, Bella said to herself, rolling her eyes before focusing them back on the fireplace. The fire instantly turned from the deep orange to a vibrant green and Dumbledore appeared before her. He stepped past her without saying a word to either occupants of the room and continued walking to the kitchen, where the meeting was going to take place. The fire turned to green again as both Rabastan and Narcissa appeared. Rodolphus immediately stood up and walked over to Rabastan, pulling him into a hug, and they spoke quietly in French before releasing each other. By this time, the two sisters had also embraced each other and were tightly holding on to one another as if they never wanted to let go. After a small while, the contrasting sisters broke apart and they turned back to the two men, who were speaking quietly, but stopped the minute they noticed the sisters were taking notice.
"I can't believe you are actually here!" Bella announced out loud, as she gave Rabastan a quick hug.
"We nearly weren't able to. Bloody Alecto spent the whole afternoon following me around like a lost puppy. And there was me thinking she had got the message back when I had walked out on her 18th birthday ball." Replied Rabastan, as he applied his ever usual smirk onto his face.
"I remember your exact words being 'go back to the whore house' "Rodolphus said, to which Rabastan laughed.
"Do you remember mother's face? She looked as if she had had a heart attack, bless her." To which both the brothers laughed, whilst Narcissa looked as if she was trying to completely ignore the conversation that they were having.
"When you've both finished reminiscing, it might be a good idea to go and join the meeting?" Bellatrix said, a little too loudly.
"Yes, of course" Rodolphus replied awkwardly, motioning for Rabastan and Narcissa to follow him. Narcissa however, appeared reluctant to move so Bella took hold of her hand.
"It will be alright, trust me. If they can allow me to live here, then they will accept you. Don't worry" Bella reassured her as they walked slowly behind the brothers. Narcissa, who had yet to talk, simply nodded slightly. Rodolphus opened the door to the kitchen and the four of them entered. To Bella, it looked just like it did when she had first arrived here. The members of the Order were all packed around the table, some sitting and others standing in various places around the room. She noticed the glare which Tonks sent her way, from where she was sitting on the kitchen surfaces. The darling golden trio also sent nasty looks there way, but Bella refused to even acknowledge them as she took a seat next to Rabastan and pulled Narcissa into the seat on her other side.
"Now we are all present, I would like to welcome the latest members to our headquarters. As before, they have been fully tested and I can assure you of their trust. I hope that you can all make them feel as welcome as possible here and treat them like you would any other person." Dumbledore said, his eyes looking around the room before resting on Harry as he finished the sentence.
"Seriously, this place is going to end up with more Death Eaters then their own bloody headquarters!" Tonks exclaimed, to murmured agreement from around the room.
"Isn't that a good thing? It means we'll have more members than them" Sirius shot back at her quickly before strolling over the four former Death Eaters. "You're very welcome in my house" He said, as he shook Rabastan's hand and took hold of Narcissa's and placed a kiss on it, as a formal pureblood greeting. Narcissa smiled slightly at Sirius and gave his hand a slight squeeze to show she was grateful for his kindness, but she still did not trust herself to speak.
"So we are just meant to welcome them in, as if they have never done anything wrong?" Some random member, who Bella didn't know, said.
"No, we are meant to forgive them if they wish to be forgiven" Was Dumbledore's calm response.
"Forgive them?" Harry shouted, as he sharply stood up. "How can we forgive them? They are nothing but murderers!"
"Harry" Dumbledore said with a slight edge to his voice. "Please take your seat"
"But, sir, you are putting us all in danger by allowing them to be here" Hermione said in disbelief.
"Exactly" Agreed Ron, whilst Ginny nodded her head.
"Have me and Bella done anything, to any of you, in the time that we have been here?" Rodolphus said, having enough of them talking as if they weren't there. "No! We have done nothing. We have all come here of our own accord, we have chosen to try and help you and we have placed our trust, and our lives, in your hands. Give us a chance and we will prove our trust to you."
"I will have no more of this argument" Dumbledore said. "I trust them, so I hope that all of you can learn to do so as well. But for the meantime, they are guest in this household and they will be treated as such. Any points you wish to make, come to me. For now though, this meeting is over and I will call a proper meeting within the next week to discuss further plans. Goodnight" With this, Dumbledore turned and walked out of the room. The minute he had left people started talking, whispering and pointing at the four Death Eaters.
"Come on, let's get out of here" Sirius said, nodding his head in a sign of goodbye to Remus, who appeared to be leaving. "I'll show you to your rooms" The five purebloods made their way out of the room and silently up the stairs, stopping on the floor of Bella's and Rodolphus' room.
"I've given you the other rooms on this floor" Sirius said, as he pointed towards the room next to the couple's for Rabastan and the room opposite that one for Narcissa. "I'll leave you to unpack and sleep, night." They all mumbled goodnight to Sirius as he walked away before turning back to each other.
"Well, that didn't go too badly did it?" Rabastan said, breaking the silence. "I expected to be hung up and tortured."
"Haha, very funny Rabastan" Bella replied glaring at him.
"It's nice to know that sense of humour of yours is still intact dearest Bella" Was his sarcastic response.
"It's nice to know both of you have grown up!" Rodolphus interrupted, before Bella could say anything back.
"I think I'm going to retire to my room now" Narcissa said, speaking for the first time since arriving.
"Ok, I'll see you in the morning" Bella gently said, giving her a small hug. Rodolphus also gave Narcissa a hug, whispering goodnight to her. She then picked up her bags, which kreacher had clearly brought up, and went inside of her room.
"Guess I best be going to sleep as well then" Rabastan commented, as he also picked his stuff up and said a quick goodnight, before going into his room and leaving the couple awkwardly standing on the landing. Without a word Rodolphus turned, walked into their room and closed the door behind him, leaving Bella standing outside debating whether to go in or not…
