Harry's portkey always deposited her in her own bedroom at Tom's. She was well used to the uncomfortable method of travel by now, and only paused for a second before dashing out of the door and down the hallway. She was on her way to her best friend's office, but stopped and backtracked after hearing her godfather's bark of laughter coming from a private lounge on that floor.
Sirius looked up from his cards when the door swung open and smiled as he stood to give Harry a hug. He was losing and was pretty sure Rod was cheating anyway. The other occupants of the room also stood to greet the young girl, who'd been in France with her surrogate family for the past two weeks.
"I missed you…" Harry's breath left her as she was yanked away from the man and into a long bone-crushing hug. "…air… can't…"
Bella quickly released the girl, but stayed no more than a step away; watching as she drew in much needed breath. Finally, Harry smiled up at her.
"I missed you too, aunty Bella." The woman was always a bit intense, and even though she'd suffered for it on many occasions, she still sometimes forgot that Harry was indeed very breakable. Harriet glanced down to the woman's swollen belly. "How's the baby?" She asked, worrying if the poor little thing would survive having Bellatrix Lestrange for a mum.
"It's fine." She replied, resting a hand on the baby bump as her husband came to stand beside her. When she'd first discovered she was pregnant, Bella had been terrified, not to mention furious with Rod, even though on this occasion it had been her own negligence that allowed the conception. She had been terrified of what her Lord would say when he found out, and she was right to be.
Tom was all for expanding the magical population, especially with families as pure as Bella's, and normally it would be no business of his, but Bella wasn't just any women, she was one of his favourite servants – one of the best, the most capable. He didn't want her being taken out of commission for any length of time, and worried that having a child would soften his ruthless warrior. As he'd looked down on her pathetically sobbing apologetically at his feet after sharing her news, knowing her fate was in his hands, he considered simply destroying the embryo within her and saving himself any trouble. It would be the best course of action – for him anyway. There was one problem with that though: his never-ending weakness, Harriet. She would be appalled if she ever found out, and she would, he knew, because life was funny like that. He was tempted to destroy the thing just to prove to himself that she had no power over him, but quickly dismissed that thought because he wasn't so delusional, and decided that dealing with Harry's reaction would cause him much more trouble than Bella or her child ever could.
He told Bella he was allowing the pregnancy as reward for her unwavering loyalty.
"It's fine." She repeated, mostly to reassure herself as she wrapped her arms around her belly, remembering the cold contemplative look in her Lord's eyes that day with a shudder. She was grateful.
After a brief catch-up, they watched as Harry left to go find the Dark Lord. A number of his inner circle – only his most trusted – had been told of 'Henrietta's' true identity once the child started to spend time with Black. That had been difficult to accept, especially as they were none the wiser to how they had met or what he had done to the revered Girl-Who-Lived to make he so… well, perhaps cooperative wasn't quite the right word…
Sirius returned to his game with Rod while Bella went back to whatever it was Bella did when not causing suffering and destruction – it looked like she was drawing something in the air with her wand – probably was, he decided.
It had taken a lot for him to befriend the Death Eaters in general, but the Lestranges were the most difficult. He had been good friends with the Longbottoms, and it enraged him when Bella would jokingly reminisce about the awful things she had done to drive them to madness. Sirius had taken out a few of their friends too, but never done anything so dreadful. They only managed to move past it when the Dark Lord literally locked them in a room together, without wands, and said they weren't coming out until they were dead or until they learned to behave. It had taken four days before Bella finally agreed not to tease about, or even mention, the Longbottoms again in his presence.
He'd had to befriend the dark wizards he lived with or he'd have gone mad from isolation. Life was actually pretty good here, and once he'd learned the rules, and accepted them, he found a life that, while far from perfect, was the most carefree he'd ever had. The Death Eaters were good enough company. He used to imagine they sat around all day discussing ways to rid the world of muggles and 'dirty' blood of all kinds, and congratulating themselves for having been lucky enough to be born into wealthy and/or pure families. That wasn't the case. The subject came up of course, but for the most part they were like any other bunch of men – men who were violent convicts – but still. He didn't have to worry about the war anymore, because he'd come to accept that it was lost. It was a relief almost. He didn't have to wonder about Harriet because he saw her all the time and knew she couldn't have a better life. The grounds of the mansion were extensive and even went a little way into the woods, so he could run freely in his animagus form when he needed to clear his head. It wasn't true freedom, but it was enough. He could even leave now, with Voldemort's permission and with either a bodyguard of his men, but usually with the man himself to make sure he didn't do something stupid. He wouldn't, but couldn't blame Him for taking the precaution.
Only those who knew of Harry's true identity were allowed on this floor of the mansion, so as she approached the stairs she took hold of a charm and whispered 'Hide' in Parseltongue to activate her glamour.
Harry had two pieces of jewellery that she always wore – always wore because they could not be removed by anyone but Tom. She had picked out the necklace herself: a small simple emerald the shape of a droplet on a delicate silver chain. Tom had commented that he must have passed his tastes onto her, although he would have preferred something grander. The necklace was her portkey. On her wrist was a silver charm bracelet that had charms for protection, location monitoring and the like, and of course her glamour.
She opened Tom's door without a care and stepped inside, only to let out a deep, pained groan. She pressed her palm over the scar on her forehead, and had to brace herself against the door, but glared as best she could through the pain.
Tom let up, always less enthusiastic about punishing Harry when he could actually see her suffering. Once she'd straightened back into her confident, dignified pose, she walked over to him, though she still rubbed her head absently.
"What was that for?" She asked hotly, which caused him to raise an eyebrow in disbelief. He sighed, and then proceeded to pin her in place with a glare of his own. She didn't flinch.
"Harriet, how many times do I have to tell you not to interrupt?"
It was only then she took time to survey the room. There were three chairs, in which sat two man who stared at the floor as though it was the most fascinating thing in the world. The former occupant of the third chair lay weak and trembling on the ground, but also get his eyes averted. They all knew better than to draw unnecessary attention to themselves when the Dark Lord was angry with Harry, and he'd been in a foul mood to begin with after learning of Mulciber's mistake – a mistake that almost exposed Voldemort's return.
"You knew I was returning today!" She protested, dismissing the presence of the Death Eaters, and sounding whiny even in her own ears.
"Oh yes," Tom mocked nastily. "And I suppose I ought to have cancelled everything in order to wait around all day for your return." She rolled her eyes.
"I've been gone for two weeks! It wouldn't have killed you to say 'hello', you know. They'd have waited for you." She told him with a vague wave of her hand at the men. She didn't enjoy seeing people in pain at all, especially when it was people she knew, but had gotten so used to it that it barely registered. Well, people in the after effects of pain anyway. Watching someone actually being punished was still difficult for her, but she believed that Tom had the right to deal with his people however he saw fit, so as long as she was near to him when it happened, it didn't haunt her too much. Tom was always her anchor and her place of safety, even if he was the one causing her discomfort – especially when he was the one causing her discomfort, because however awful the things he did were, he still managed to sooth or comfort her.
"Hello." He replied dryly. He didn't at all like that mischievous look in her eye as she glanced back to his men. A dark grin spread across her lips – a grin that he knew meant trouble.
"You have five seconds to get rid of them before I hug you." When he frowned at her, the grin vanished, only to be replaced by a saccharin smile.
"Harriet." He warned, but she pretended not to notice.
"How embarrassing would that be?" She teased.
"Harriet!"
"One, Two..." She started counting.
"Harriet." He warned again - this time out loud and a note lower, and was satisfied when the smile fell immediately at his tone. He tried to squash his regret at seeing her deflate, but they really had been over this a million times.
Tom had created a monster, he thought.
She'd been here for almost two and a half years, and though she never caused any serious trouble for him, she was always pushing him harder and further. Usually, pushing the powerful Lord Voldemort was for suicidal fools, but it didn't escape his notice that she got away with more and more as the seasons passed. Thankfully she always deferred to him when he put his foot down, but this only left him at a loss as to why he didn't do so more often. His best explanation was that he'd taught her too well: she was smart; she never did anything that could damage him; and even though he'd never once had to instruct her not to do so, she never called him Tom or showed such blatantly challenging behaviour out loud in front of anyone.
It irked him that even back when she was eight, she'd known him so well. That he trusted her because of her cleverness was best left ignored.
But with all her discretion, he never needed to be any stricter with her, and if it wasn't necessary to, he had no desire to confine her in any way. He still expected her obedience and respect for his power over her, but never once felt the need to subjugate her the way he did with every other sentient creature on Earth. The thought of making her bow down was repugnant.
He sighed again at her disappointed, chastened pout. She had gotten much better at guarding her mind, so he could no longer feel her emotions unless he engaged their link, but really! Who needed access to someone's mind when presented with a face like that!
He was almost grateful to his familiar when she came in through the door Harry had left open and bumped the girl's hip in greeting. Harry immediately reached down and started petting the oversized snake.
"*At least Nagini loves me.*" She hissed pointedly. Now it was Tom's turn to roll his eyes.
"Listen, I'll find you once I'm finished here." She just nodded, still looking down to the snake, so he continued with a nasty smirk. "Or if you like you can sit in while I finish up here?" He gestured down to Mulciber with his wand.
Face screwed up in displeasure, she turned to the door. "*Come on, Nagini, let's go back to the others.*" And with that the two left, never seeing the dark, but indiscernible look that graced his face because of her words.
Suddenly irritated once more, he turned back to Mulciber.
I'm away next week and will unlikely be able to update, so wanted to throw out a quick chapter before I leave.
I know Harry will be off to school soon, but just wanted to warn that the Hogwarts years won't be as canon for obvious reasons, though I will be using several events thoughout the story. :)
Thanks for reading and reviewing! xx