I know I haven't written since before the summer, and I rushed the ending slightly on this one, but do enjoy it, and I welcome any CONSTRUCTIVE comments you may have.

Revenge

Harry sprinted ahead into the garden, aware that he was being watched by all the neighbours staring out of their windows in horror. Crushing Aunt Petunia's favourite flowerbed, he leaped over the doorstep, almost crashing into the heavy front door. The door was unlocked, which was unusual for the Dursleys, and only convinced Harry that there had been an intruder.

The screaming had now stopped, and the pitch black house was silent, like it was holding its breath. Harry looked around him. Mad-Eye was standing on the doorstep, his wand raised, subjecting the Muggles to mind wipes, waving his wand at their faces looking out of their windows. The ticking of the kitchen clock was loud and clear, though Harry had never really noticed it before now. There was no sound of the Dursleys anywhere.

Hurrying over to the staircase, Harry called up, "Aunt Petunia! Uncle Vernon! Dudley! Can you hear me?"

There was no answer, and Harry's anxiety increased. He waved to get Moody's attention, and pointed up the staircase, indicating that he was going to go up to see what had happened. Moody nodded back in acknowledgement. He cautiously stepped onto the first stair, and treading carefully over three at a time, he reached the landing. The lack of noise was almost unbearably tense, and Harry could hear the creaking of the floorboards as he crept over to the door of the master bedroom. He pushed it open slightly.

He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary at first, apart from the fact that the Dursleys' were not in their bed. He could hear something, though it was slightly muffled and he raised his lit wand over to that direction. As he did so, he saw the burnt marks of where spells had hit the carpet instead of the person. And then he caught sight of a trembling foot sticking out from underneath the table.

Harry hurried over. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were huddled underneath. Obviously they had survived the attack, or whatever it was, since it appeared to Harry that they were both safe and well, even though they were shaking with terror. Indeed, Uncle Vernon was sweating so much Harry wondered briefly if even the incident at the gym seven years ago would have compared.

"Aunt Petunia. Uncle Vernon, are you ok?" asked Harry urgently, stepping over a pair of abandoned socks on the floor. Aunt Petunia looked as though she had been squashed underneath Uncle Vernon's weight when she had hidden behind him. And jammed inside the space between the table and the cupboard, it wasn't a pretty sight.

"There...was a woman...in the house," mumbled Uncle Vernon, almost squeaking like the time Hagrid was in the Hut by the Sea, "She was one of...you lot, had a...lot of black...filthy hair..., evil...put the...wooden stick...on us...said something..."

Without further description, Harry had already realized what had happened. Bellatrix Lestrange had come to seek revenge, perhaps even to try and kill him, and bring his body to Voldemort. Harry had thwarted Voldemort's plans to kill him yet again a month ago, and Bellatrix had been severely punished by the Dark Lord.

"Bellatrix Lestrange," whispered Harry, "What did she do to you? Was she looking for me? Where is she now?"

Aunt Petunia whimpered, slowly shifting herself from behind Uncle Vernon. Her pale eyes showed nothing but pure terror, as though she was remembering one of the most painful experiences of her life.

"Sh-she muttered something; put a c-curse on us. It was painful, v-very painful; like a thousand w-white hot needles were stabbed into you in one go."

Harry's mind immediately jumped to the Cruciatus curse. He had been hit by it once before, and had no desire of repeating the experience. The pain was so intense you felt like there was nothing compared to it, you just wanted it to end, to die. It was also a curse often used to get people to confess, or to simply torture for the sake of torturing. The Cruciatus Curse was one of the Unforgivable Curses, just one incantation would be enough to land you in a cell in Azkaban for the rest of your life.

"Where did she go?" he demanded urgently.

Uncle Vernon didn't seem to be in a state of wanting to speak and further, and neither did Aunt Petunia. Harry gave up trying to ask him and ran out of the room and down the stairs, jumping the last five.

"What happened, Harry," said Mad-Eye worriedly, having now erased all the memories of the people up and down the street.

"It was Bellatrix Lestrange."

I really hope you enjoyed that, and please send me a review!