A/n: Well if you're still reading this, though I doubt any of you still are, then I would like to beg for your forgiveness. I haven't updated in a loooonnnnggg time, and really I want to pick up on the story. Enjoy.
Chapter Twenty-five:
"I'm getting bloody sick of this," Bellatrix groaned, sitting up in her hospital bed. Everything began to spin uncontrollably but she reigned it in, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. Madam Pomfrey rushed from her office and shouted at Bellatrix to get back in her bed.
"Shut it you old bat. I'm bloody tired of being in the hospital. I feel fine." She still felt slightly dizzy, nothing a good joint couldn't cure. Her legs shook slightly beneath her weight but she quickly stabled herself and began to walk towards the doors.
Shaking her head sadly Pomfrey pulled out her wand and aimed it at Bellatrix. "Petrificus Totalus."
Bellatrix tried to dive out of the way of the spell but it hit her in the hip. Coldness quickly spread through her body freezing up her muscles. She stood in the centre of the room like a statue glaring at Pomfrey. 'I'm going to get you for this.' She sent the thought out in waves creating an unsavoury atmosphere around her.
"You really are a harm to yourself," Pomfrey said. She walked over to a vacant bed and smoothed out the wrinkles in the blanket. Picking up the pillow she began to fluff it, her eagle eyes never leaving Bellatrix. "All these drugs and stuff. You must be some sort of miracle. In all reality you should've overdosed by now." She sounded a bit put out by the whole thing. "I've tried to help you but your are an ungrateful little bitch. And now I have the chance few adults have, the full attention of Bellatrix Black."
Anger welled in the pit of Bellatrix's stomach, like bottled up soda ready to explode. She began to disappear inside herself to harness the anger like the Dark Lord had taught her and mix it with her magic. A dangerous but powerful combination.
"Look at them," the Dark Lord hissed, pointing his long finger at the muggles huddled in the centre of the graveyard. "They are our inferiors yet we are made to hide what we are from them. Why? Do we not have more power than them? Why should we submit like this?"
Bellatrix felt her breath escape her when her Lord splayed his fingers across her back. "My beautiful huntress," he whispered. "Are you ready to be handed the greatest gift you shall ever receive?"
"Yess…" Bellatrix moaned feeling the hunger for power ripping at her insides. She wanted to taste the muggles' blood on her lips, feel their life inside her. Magic began to seep into her body from the Dark Lord. It was twisted and dark, feeling of hate and fear. Images flooded into her mind. Death, decay, raining blood, and red snowdrifts. A scream ripped forth from her soul, a mix of ecstasy and pain. It stripped her of sorrow and regret. Her conscience was burned from her mind.
Lord Voldermort moved to the front of her and placed his hand over her head. Blood ran through the cracks of his fingers and cascaded down Bellatrix's pale white face. It dripped off her chin and pooled about her feet.
"Be reborn my child. Harness the anger and hate inside yourself and sacrifice a human life to darkness. My Death Eater."
Bellatrix's gaze snapped to the muggle prisoners sitting in the centre of the graveyard beneath the dark yew tree. They screamed silently, tears streaming down their faces.
She stared at the them and found a new anger boil inside her. Why was she hiding? What did she have to fear from them? They were nothing. A ripple jettisoned throughout her body as she pointed her long finger at a young women clinging to her husband's ripped shirt.
"PATHETIC WEAKLING!" Bellatrix screamed as the power ripped out of her and slammed into the muggle's body, slamming her against the yew tree. The sound of her cracking back bounced on the decrepit faces of the gravestones.
The spell fell away from Bellatrix's body like wet tissue paper. She stretched her arms into the air, screaming as power and magic surged through her system.
Madam Pomfrey stared at Bellatrix, mouth agape, slowly backing up towards her office. Her wand was held defensively in front of her pounding chest. "What in the Devil's name have you done girl?" Her eyes were wide and fearful. "What have you gotten yourself involved in?"
"What in the Devil is right," Bellatrix laughed. "And he's given me powers that your puny little mind could never grasp." To demonstrate she pointed a long slender finger at a vase of red roses. The crimson petals burst into black flames, curling up and turning into ash. "And there is so much more where that came from."
Pomfrey swirled her wand around hurriedly, watching Bellatrix cautiously. She created a purple bubble around her body.
"I could easily break that if I wanted," Bellatrix gloated balancing the tip of her wand on her finger. "But that would just be wasting my time. I've decided I'm sick of all this school shit. I figure I could make a better living on my own." She catapulted the wand up into the air and caught it again between her teeth, smiling cockily. "Would you please be so kind as to tell Dumbledore that I've left and won't be returning. On second thought extend that to Lestrange as well. We both have more important things to do."
"You'd better leave quick then. You killed two boys this morning. Not deliberately, but they're dead. I've told Dumbledore what happened, with the werewolf blood and he knows that I found the boys' blood under your fingernails and their flesh between your teeth. I suppose he'll tell the parents what happened. And if I were you I wouldn't want to be here when they find out. Especially after what you did them." Fear hid at the edges of Madam Pomfrey's voice, but she was still confident that Bellatrix wouldn't pull anything around Dumbledore.
Now it was Bellatrix's turn to be dumbfounded. Killed someone? Their flesh between her teeth? Bile rose in her throat and she barfed all over the stone floor, skirting the edges of Pomfrey's bubble. In the pile of barf she caught a glimpse of a human eyeball, staring right into her face.
She broke into hysterical laughter, edging towards the door. Her cackling made Pomfrey feel dirty and uncomfortable. The healer stepped backwards, her bubble moving with her, and leapt into her office, slamming the door shut magically behind her. The edges of it glowed blue as the door sealed itself shut. No one, not even Dumbledore himself would be able to break into the office.
&
Dumbledore froze outside the large, ornate doors leading into the hospital wing. Manic, cold laughter washed over his entire body, from the tip of his tall purple hat to the ends of his pointed boots. He pulled out his wand and flung the doors open.
Bellatrix was sitting on the cobbled floor laughing mirthlessly. Her long black hair was pulled into a neat ponytail cascading down her back. A pair of plain black pyjamas hung from her lithe and slender body. She was staring at a pile of vomit on the floor, specifically a lone eyeball amidst the chunks and slime.
Without a moments hesitation Dumbledore waved his wand and the bile disappeared, the only hint that it had been there was an acidy, rotten food smell that hung stubbornly in the air.
Bellatrix's laughing ceased and she looked over at Dumbledore through blood shot eyes. Her pale face was hollow and lifeless, dark rings forming beneath her red eyes. She grinned at him, her smile pulling her white skin tightly against her skull. "Hello, Professor." Her voice cracked dangerously.
Dumbledore smiled pleasantly at her and was about to reply when a loud banging filled the room. The Headmaster looked over at Pomfrey's office and saw the woman staring fearfully through a small window, she pointed her head at Bellatrix and ducked quickly out of sight.
Bellatrix continued to smile at him as a way to stall until she could come up with a way to get herself out of this mess. She had killed two boys. Her blackened soul held no regrets, save two. Try as she might she wasn't able to recall the deaths, and everyone knew she'd done it.
Dumbledore grinned warmly at her, his twinkling blue eyes boring into her own blood-shot eyes. Bellatrix jumped back in fright as a quiet energy began wiggle itself into her thoughts. Her thoughts focused entirely onto blocking Dumbledore out but every time she did she instantly began to think of menial things, like how pretty the cracks in the vaulted ceiling looked.
The anger, hate, and power (shadows of the Dark Lord's power) that inhabited her struck out at Dumbledore through the connection he had formed between their minds. It sizzled with malice and cracked the bridge into a thousand little pieces.
The Headmaster stumbled backwards, his face falling in shock. A single image had been connected with the surge of energy. The face of Tom Riddle, or more precisely what he had become. Despite the horrific and scarring changes that inflicted his body Dumbledore still recognised the gleam of hunger in the glowing red eyes.
"What have you done?" Dumbledore asked Bellatrix, holding his wand up defensively. His eyes locked onto an image of a black skull burned into the woman's arm.
"As I was telling Madam Pomfrey," Bellatrix said darkly, getting to her feet. The frailty and weakness she had born several minutes before had been completely abandoned, replaced by a cold, firm composure. "I have powers that only exist in your nightmares."
Dumbledore chuckled, though not at all meaning he was taking this threat lightly. "Unless you are able to turn yourself into a large rabbit with an abnormal taste for blood I'll have to say no."
A flicker of annoyance flitted across her face, before it became stone cold and serious once more. "Don't toy with me old man."
"I had no intention," he said, his voice darkening. He could see in Bellatrix's eyes the truth, he could see Tom in there laughing at him. "I simply came up to see if you were okay. I understand that you had a rough night and I wanted to see if you remembered a bit of what happened.. or what you did," he added quietly.
"I ate two boys. That's all I was told. I can't even remember if they tasted good." Her smooth face broke into a nasty grin, her black eyes filled with longing and hunger.
Revulsion shot through Dumbledore's body and even though he wanted to get as far away from her as possible he stood calm and still. "I think it's time you left this school." His decision had fully formed as the words left his mouth, but he knew it was for the best. On his desk was a rather large file dedicated to all the disciplinary action taken against her. All of it unsuccessful.
He was aware of almost everything she did and had come to the conclusion that it was best to remove her from the school before she had the chance to get to the younger students.
"There is nothing more that we can do for you and there is definitely nothing more you can do for us." This was the first time he had not felt any guilt about expelling a student.
Bellatrix squealed with glee. " I was hoping you'd say that. I just got finished telling Poppy that I was finished with this school, Lestrange and I both. We have better things to do." Like squashing out all the pathetic mudbloods and muggles that were usurping the world that was rightfully hers.
Dumbledore stepped aside, a steely glint in his eye. Bellatrix ran for the door and as she pulled it open Dumbledore spoke, not as a teacher but as an adversary. "You won't get anything from Tom. Are you sure you this is what you want?"
Bellatrix answered by slamming the door behind her. Dumbledore sighed and lowered his wand.
The door to Pomfrey's office squeaked open and the stout witch crept out looking utterly mortified. "Is she gone, Headmaster?"
Dumbledore nodded. "For the time being Miss Black is out of the picture."
