More reviewz pleasez and thank youz! I eatz them. They'z food for zee imaginationz.
"No! Put me down, you barbarians! I demand you release me, immediately!"
My head shot up. "Draco!" I called. Receiving no response, "Draco!" I repeated, louder than before.
My nephew's footsteps thudded rapidly down the stairs. "Aunt Bella?" he asked, out of breath.
"It's time."
"The baby, or Umbridge?"
I rolled my eyes. "Do you hear that commotion out there, or has Lilith's crying burst your eardrums? They've caught Umbridge finally, but does it really matter? The procedure's the same for either one."
"Take Lilith, go to my house, send my mother over, and stay with Lilith until further notice," he said dutifully.
I smiled. "Good. Um... but before you go, help me up."
He did so, smirking the whole time. "It's not funny," I scolded.
"Actually, it really is," he teased, easily dodging a swipe of the hand I sent towards him.
I raised my eyebrows menacingly. "Just go."
He sobered up quickly, hearing the voices drawing nearer. "Okay. Stay safe, okay, Aunt Bella?" he asked worriedly.
"Don't worry about me, Draco; the men have already done all the dirty work. I just get to do the fun part," I reassured him, winking. "Just go get Lilith, and don't worry about a thing."
He nodded and ran back up the stairs. I heard a bit of a fuss from my young daughter, and then the words, "Malfoy Manor!" not seconds before the door swung open. Voldemort strolled in, Crabbe and Goyle behind him, keeping a tight hold on the toad-like woman I hated so much, her face as pink as her fuzzy sweater, plaid skirt, and kitten heel shoes.
Her eyes narrowed on me. "Nice job," she spat, "letting the boys do all the work while you sit around and get fatter!"
I crossed my arms. "I would have stunned you myself if you hadn't bolted three months ago. And as if your petty comments would actually insult me. I'm nine months pregnant, you invalid."
She huffed. "Just what the world needs, more of your demon spawn!"
I cackled. "Oh! That's good! My baby will be one hundred times prettier and more talented than whatever you could produce, and everyone in this room knows it. So, shut it. Men, throw her down."
Voldemort opened the door to the dungeon, and Crabbe and Goyle literally tossed her down the stairs, before being scolded by Lucius for taking my words to heart. She landed at the bottom, and when she sat up, her face was bloodied, and her nose squashed-looking, most likely broken.
"You're big," Voldemort said, touching my swollen belly lightly. It was the truth. Narcissa had mentioned to me before that sometimes the belly was bigger in a second or third pregnancy, but I never imagined it could have been to this extreme.
I glanced down the stairs, just in time to see the heels of Umbridge's shoes disappear, as Crabbe and Goyle dragged her to be shackled to the far wall, Lucius following behind, with his wand-arm outstretched. "Maybe you wouldn't be so surprised if you'd been quicker to get her. Three whole months? What took so long?"
"Crabbe and Goyle slowed us down. They really aren't the brightest in the bunch, but we needed their strength."
I followed him carefully down the stairs. "Understandable."
I gripped his arm on an impulse. My eyes bore deeply into his. "I missed you," I said reverently.
"I know," he responded, gently loosening my iron grip, not before squeezing my fingers in acknowledgement. My heart thudded warmly.
Umbridge was now quiet, chained to the wall behind her, but her face held an expression of silent fury; her face was redder than before, her eyes bulged, and her mouth was pursed tight. Voldemort's eyes glinted. I could practically feel the satisfaction rolling off of him in waves; he was extremely pleased to have the troublesome witch in his control, and such raw emotion filled me with absolute adoration.
On the last step, I let out a gasp, stumbling. My eyes widened, and I froze at the base of the steps, deep breaths ruffling my tightly curled hair as I gripped the banister, knuckles white and teeth clenched. Slowly my eyes rolled over to the others. Goyle's and Crabbe's arms were crossed, feet apart, both men looking large and menacing in the flickering light. Lucius was testing Umbridge's shackles, who stared defiantly up at Voldemort, standing over her, twirling his wand between his thumb and forefinger as he considered her smugly. Nobody had seen me fall. Nobody knew.
Now was not a time for weakness. We'd waited for months for this moment, poured hours into research and planning, wondered for too long. I couldn't wait another day. I couldn't wait another hour. My hate for Umbridge was so strong, it straightened my back, narrowed my eyes, and put an evil grin on my lips. Judging from her expression, I was a terrifying sight as I stepped from the shadows, eyes glittering in the dim light, fingers wiggling eagerly.
Seconds later, her eyes narrowed. "You can't fool me," she spat suddenly, in a rare moment of bravery. "I heard you slip on that last step." My throat tightened, but my face revealed no emotions. A single eyebrow was raised as I looked down my nose at her with my hands on my hips. "You can't even walk right." She cleared her throat indignantly, taking a deep, angry breath. "I should be the one in control. I can do more-"
"Aw, well isn't this cute," I cut in. "Look at her," I crooned, stroking her curls mockingly, pleased as she shivered in fright. "She thinks," I cackled, "that because she wears pink, she's a princess. Isn't that right?"
Squatting down, I gripped a large clump of fluffy hair tightly, pulling her head close all very quickly. She whimpered.
"You are not a princess," I growled. "You're probably not even half-blood. Worthless." As I swiftly stood, I allowed my fingers to uncurl as I dragged them along her face, leaving claw-like cuts in their trail.
"I can't walk?" I questioned. I turned to face the men. "I can't walk?" I asked once more, pointing vigorously at myself, eyes wide and innocent.
In a flash of proud fury, I whipped around, arm outstretched, creating a burst of light and a cry as two snaps rung out. My hair rose and spun like a fan, swaying as it came to hang at the sides of my face again.
The toad-woman's eyes were scrunched, and her legs were bent at awkward angles. "Let's see you do better, love," I said breathily, laughing sharply.
Her lip trembled, and her defiance was broken ever so slightly. "What do you want from me?" she huffed in a high pitched tone.
"Answers," said Voldemort icily, but at the same time, I responded, "Your life."
Umbridge's eyes widened and snapped to Voldemort, a silent plea.
Voldemort was not swayed in the slightest. "We want both. And unless you want more limbs broken, you'll answer them. If you cooperate, we may let you pass in a less painful way."
The breath she drew in was sharp, but this time, she had no clever comeback.
"So, first off," he asked, "How did you find us in Diagon Alley?"
Throughout the questioning, one object seemed to be the answer to every inquisition. Mad-Eye Moody's eye. The Auror had been stuck down by a travelling Death Eater who crossed paths with him in the sky. Alone, and taken by surprise, he had at last been defeated, but the body had never been found.
By us. Umbridge had stumbled upon it, burning it after taking the rare magical eye with her and using it for her own devices. It was the eye that had shown her our true identities in Diagon Alley the day we'd been attacked by her Ministry of Magic thugs. The same eye had alerted her our presence to her three months ago in her planned arrest and had helped her avoid capture until now, as Voldemort, Lucius, Crabbe, and Goyle discovered her new location as she slept.
Lucius was reluctant to touch it as she mentioned it for the first time and Voldemort ordered him to retrieve it, but I took it eagerly in my open palms, caressing it, as the smooth glass rolled over my fingers. Such an object could be extremely useful to us, and it was amazing to have it in our possession, as it was extremely powerful and rare.
When prompted to tell us how to use it, Umbridge said in a trembling voice, "Pra-acticly any way you w-want. Any way y-you can imagine. You can w-wear it. You can h-hold it. You can place it in a h-hidden spot."
But the eye was the most useful information we received from Umbridge. She insisted she had no more names to give us; the men we had killed in the alley had been her only servants, and she stuck to her story even after excessive torture. The same went for locations of various Order of the Phoenix members and Harry Potter and his sidekicks.
At first, I was fine, caught up in the excitement and pleasure of revenge, but over time, I struggled to keep my composure, occasionally having to step out of the light to keep my secret as my brow furrowed, teeth ground, or eyes squeezed shut as I winced. As we had been at it for about an hour and a half, I wasn't even trying to keep a straight face any longer, I was just trying to stay on my feet. Fifteen or twenty minutes after that, even the attempt to stay upright had been given up. I leaned against a side wall, as far into the dark as I could, trying with all my might to not make any sounds of pain, praying nobody would notice that my frame was slumped and shaking violently.
The legitimate questions had long passed, and now the questions that Voldemort directed at Umbridge were further-fetched, and far apart, long periods of torture between each one.
After hearing about the tenth variation of "Do you know anything at all about immortality?" I could take it no more. Wiping beads of sweat from my forehead, I walked as normally and swiftly as I could to Voldemort's side.
"You've been quiet, Bella. Is there a question you'd like to ask?"
"Yes... Can we please be done now?"
"What?"
"Let's finish this. Voldemort- listen- she has nothing else to tell us," I said desperately.
He gave me an incredulous look. "You want to be done already?" His voice was laced with venom, but I found myself unable to care.
"Yes. Please. Please."
He hesitated. I could sense his anger, but it was clear he was unwilling to show it to Umbridge. "Very well. She has lost her use. Would you like to do the honors?" The toad-woman's head lolled to one side. It was almost as if she was ready to be done, too.
"No." My answer was a gasp, misinterpreted by Voldemort as eagerness. "You do it."
He knelt in front of her, and I swayed, knees weak and without any form of support. "You're finally getting what you deserve," Voldemort whispered, so close to her face that her bloodied bow ruffled as he spoke. "Do you have anything to say to that?"
She shook her head, shivering. "N-no," was all she said, voice barely audible.
Voldemort stood. "Avada Kedavra." She was so slumped over and still that I barely could see the life leave her. Perhaps there hadn't been much left when the deed was finally done.
We were all silent for a moment. "Crabbe, Goyle, you are dismissed," ordered Voldemort, finally turning away from the corpse. They left.
"What was that?" Voldemort asked furiously, voice a whisper, eyes boring into mine. He paced the length of the room, coming right up to me before turning the opposite way and walking back. "We could have learned more."
As his back turned again, I fell to my knees and unexpectedly emptied the contents of my stomach, shoulders heaving with shivers and dry sobs.
"Bellatrix?" Lucius asked with concern. He vanished the mess, and kneeled by my side. I was on all fours, hands gripped tightly into fists, tears just beginning to the fall barely feeling the hands that loosely gripped my shoulders to steady me.
Voldemort, unaware of what had just happened, stepped backwards as soon as he turned. "What are you doing?"
"I have something to tell you," I gasped, rocking back and forth.
"Bella?" His face was level with mine, anger quickly fading from it.
"I'm in labor."
"Your water broke just now? I didn't see it happen," said Lucius, shocked.
"We didn't see it when it happened," Voldemort said, guiding me to my feet, eyes wide. I leaned heavily into him.
"Because it didn't break just now," I said, attempting to keep a shred of dignity as I grabbed his shoulders for extra support, putting my wet face against his chest. "It happened two hours ago."
Bella... -_- Well, I suppose that's why we love her...
Baby time! :D
Review please! For baby.
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Of course it has to be dramatic. Do you honestly expect anything different from me?