A/N: Yeah, me again. But I think I'm back to loving my chapters now! I've not long written one for one of my other stories, and I loved it. Hopefully this will be the same!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters relating to Harry Potter. I don't even own the computer I'm typing this up on. That belongs to my mum.
Chapter 9
"I can't believe Bella betrayed the Dark Lord!"
"I know! She helped Potter escape! She was supposed to be the most loyal!"
"She's being tortured right now, isn't she?"
"Yeah, probably."
Harry gulped. He had been eavesdropping from a hidden position on a conversation between a couple of Death Eaters. He had stuck around Voldemort's fortress to be sure that Bella would be okay, and that Voldemort wouldn't suspect anything. Lucky for her that he had.
He knew he owed her a wizard's debt, just as Wormtail owed him one. He just wasn't too sure of the details of it.
Almost ready to attempt getting her back, he looked around, checking to see if there were any Death Eaters about, and set off quickly. Hopefully he could get her out of their quickly. Otherwise… well, he didn't want to think of the consequences. They were too severe.
But if he was caught, the consequences for him would be just as severe, and it would mean that Bella's betrayal of Voldemort would have been in vain. He had to think this through.
Racking his brains, he tried to remember if they had covered any spells, charms or anything that could help him out. So far all he could come up with was the Polyjuice potion, and that wouldn't be of any use. Not only would it take to long to make, but he didn't know how to make it without instructions and he would have to take a dose every hour so he wouldn't revert back to looking like himself, not to mention the fact that he would need a bit of whoever he wanted to turn into. Plus he didn't have any of the ingredients.
Sighing, he lay down, making sure he was well hidden. There had to be a way for him to conceal his identity, through a spell, or something. There had to be.
Searching through all of the knowledge he had gained through 5 years at Hogwarts, he really started to hate how inattentive he was sometimes during class. What if a teacher had said something once that he could use there and then?
Shifting slightly, to see if he could get into a little bit more of a comfortable position, he quickly moved back to his original one, pulling up a plants that had caused a sharp pain in his back when he had rolled over.
'Bloody thistles...' he thought, before it hit him. Thistles had very little to offer the world in general. They didn't look nice, apart from when they were in flower, and even then it was particularly eye-catching, and they were generally considered weeds.
But what was that Professor Snape had said on one of the rare occasions he had actually been listening during potions? Ah yes, he could remember now.
'Every plant, no matter how useless it may seem, has a purpose of some kind. Deadly Nightshade, for example, though many regard it as pointless, they do not realise it is used in potions. Even common thistles and nettles can be used. In- Longbottom! Are you incapable of even so much as listening for even a minute amount of time?! 15 points from Gryffindor!'
How could he have forgotten? Besides the obvious reason that they had lost the average amount of points that lesson for Gryffindor from Snape, so it wasn't really that memorable.
But then, of course, Hermione had dragged him and Ron to the library to look up some things about common plants and their uses. He was sure he would never understand her. It wasn't even homework, so they didn't have to do it.
There was only one problem. He knew there was one plant that could be used for glamour, when it was coupled with a spell. He knew it was a vital ingredient for the Polyjuice as well, but what was it...?
Quickly running through what he could remember from when he, Ron and Hermione had brewed it; he tried to think of the ingredients. There were fluxweed… knotgrass… along with a few others like dittany, they were pretty much the only plant ingredients used. The rest came from animals and such, like powered horn of bicorn.
But what was it that gave the Polyjuice it's masking effect? It was driving him insane. He knew that fluxweed and knotgrass helped a bit with the potency, but nothing more. The shrivelfig that was just stopped it from becoming a weak poison. The dittany… That was the one ingredient he couldn't remember the use of, though he knew it only grew in Crete, so even if it could have helped him, it wouldn't have been of much use.
There was one more plant used... but what was it? Fluxweed, knotgrass, shrivelfig and… daisy petals! That was it! Daisy roots and petals were never used in the same potions because the difference in properties made for volatile results. The roots had shrinking abilities, whilst the petals, if mixed with certain ingredients would enlarge things, and on their own they could be used to mask people or items.
Looking around, Harry tried to spot some daisies. It shouldn't be too hard, after all, there were lots of plant life around, plenty of trees ad flowers, which gave quite a contrast to what went on inside Voldemort's fortress. It could be considered ironic, even. A fortress where death is a common occurrence, surrounded by life. But, then again, isn't life always like that?
Inside the fortress, deep in the dungeons, inside one of the darkest cells, Bellatrix Lestrange was contemplating her life.
At a young age her family had taught her, along with her two sisters, Narcissa and Andromeda, and her two cousins, Sirius and Regulus, that serving the Dark lord was the only option, other than, for her and her sisters at least, marrying a top Death Eater. Sirius and Andromeda had managed to break away from the family's ideals before the rest, getting themselves blown off of the family tree and disowned.
Narcissa, on the other hand, had married a Malfoy, who was a top Death Eater and came from a long line of pure-bloods, so that was her sorted out. She didn't have to actively take part in and Death Eating, so she was happy.
Regulus, she supposed, had been most like her. He was the youngest, which was another thing they had in common, though they had never gotten along as children. He too had chosen to become a Death Eater, like her, and he had betrayed the Dark lord, like her. There seemed to be only one main difference between them. He wasn't alive, and she was. For the moment.
It seemed that no Black could openly serve the Dark Lord without betrayal, or at least that was how it seemed in her mind.
Sitting back, she smiled, and her smile turned into a chuckle, her chuckle into a giggle, and pretty soon she was in hysterics. She couldn't believe it. She was in the worst situation of her life; bleeding, bruised, wounded, possibly - no, probably - mentally unstable, in the Dark lord's dungeons having betrayed him, and she couldn't stop laughing.
She couldn't help it though. Something about the irony of the Dark Lord's most loyal betraying him without too much of a second thought and would, most probably, end up being killed for it.
She had gone to Azkaban to pay for her loyalty and the fact she was proud to have that repulsive mark on her arm which she now loathed with all of her being. And it was all because of her dead cousin's Godson.
Oh, she was glad she had helped him escape, sure enough. In fact, it had been one of the best and maybe only good decision she had made in her life. It was the fact that she was glad, in such a situation that had her laughing.
Why didn't she run, some of you might ask. There was one very good reason for that. She couldn't
Even if she could gather up the courage and energy to, there would be no way she could get out alone.
She still had her wand, or rather it was still in the cell, but it was attached to a rope, which, in turn, was attached to the ceiling, out of her reach, just like her freedom. Besides, her wand wouldn't be much used even if she could get to it. The door itself was charmed, like all of the others in the dungeons, so it could only be unlocked from the outside.
Hearing the locks click, Bella braced herself for another onslaught of torture for such betrayal by V…V…Voldemort. She had to get used to calling him that. He wasn't her lord anymore, calling him 'The Dark lord' didn't seem right, and all of the 'You Know Who' and 'He Who Must Not Be Named' business, quite frankly, got on her nerves.
She was surprised, however, that instead of Voldemort, a lower Death Eater, whose face she could not place, entered the cell.
Coughing up a bit of blood, she managed to speak.
"Wh-who are you?" she asked, playing that the answer wouldn't be the person who would take her to be killed.
"I'm… a friend," said the figure secretively.
"Who?!" she demanded. It probably wasn't the best idea, but she was rarely patient.
The figure smiled, as if he found this amusing. It probably was to him. Bloody Death Eaters.
"You've forgotten about the person who you've not long spent around… How long was it? Three weeks? With in Azkaban. I'm hurt," he said, finishing up sarcastically.
Confusion briefly crossed her features, before recognition set in, and she rushed up and embraced him into a hug.
"Thank you," she whispered into him ear.
"No problem," Harry said, smiling.
A/N: OMGOMGOMGOMG! This chapter is sooooo long for me! It's like 1,700 words long! OMG! It has me in total shock! And for once I actually like a chapter of this fic! I can't believe this! Yes! Byproduct of Evil is back! Woohoo! As you can tell, I'm happy. Which I am. Very much so. I love this chapter! Woohoo!
Now, as you can probably tell, I improvised with a lot of stuff in this chapter. But I only did it because there isn't anywhere near enough information available to me. But whatever.
Oh, and those of you that want the AU to this, you're going to have to wait until my school closes for summer, which isn't until the 9th of July. But I will write it!
Now, onto my favourite part, the review responses!
Nightwish_sama: You are immature! You are you are you are! You are! I'm constantly telling you this! And don't call me a spoon!
Launigsiae: I know. He has almost saved her!
G: If you insist.
Smackskiller: This is weirder that Harry/Hedwig? You sure? Coz in this at least the two people paired are from the same species!
Aberforth Dumbledore: This is longer. It took longer, but it is longer. The AU should be up, like I've said, in a while, when I'm on my summer break.
LiL AcE ViLLa: Yeah, I never thought I'd be agreeing with someone who said poor Bella, but I am! Harry has saved the day... again! I've continued now too.
The reviewer that didn't leave a name: I have!
The Vampire Story Hunter: I will. I'll be writing it before summer, so I'll be a few chapters ahead with it when I finally put it up, but it won't be up till summer.
Lanfear1: It varies from person to person on if they believe him.
And one last thing before I go and post this. I have just created a Yahoo! Group for this pairing. Please come join me there. I'm even posting the guidelines to the challenge I said I would post a while back but never got around to it. The URL is:
h t t p : / / g r o u p s . y a h o o . c o m / g r o u p / HarryBella
Just take out the spaces and you'll get there.
