DISCLAIMER: J.K. Rowling and various others own everything, I own nothing. Please don't sue me, I'm already poor and miserable.
Chapter Two - Meeting with Bella
By MasterKtulu
"Bellatrix!?"
Harry could not believe it, Bellatrix Lestrange was standing half naked in the middle of his bedroom and was for some reason staring at the floor like it was tilled with Goblin gold. She looked a lot better than the last time Harry had seen her. She still had that haunted look Azkaban gave its guests, but there was no mistake about it. No matter how she looked, that was not what was puzzling Harry, it was the way she was acting. Gone was the psychotic torturer speaking in a baby voice, this was a calm, almost shy Bellatrix Lestrange. Yeah, Harry couldn't figure it out either.
Harry head was going a mile a minute trying to figure out what was going on. Then he acknowledged that he didn't have enough information to figure the situation out, so he decided to do something about it. In a confident voice he asked.
"Well Bella, I didn't expect to see you here tonight… You don't mind if I call you Bella do you?"
Bellatrix's head shot up, her eyes finally finding Harry and whispered:
"No, I don't mind Harry."
She had a weird look in her face that Harry couldn't identify, so he pretended he didn't noticed and continued.
"Good!… I knew not to expect Wormtail, this is far too important to your Lord for him to fuck up somehow. I was expecting either a mindless Death Eater or Voldemort himself, but not you. I don't know why I didn't expect you to be the one to come, I just didn't. I suppose using Black as your last name would explain the initials in the letter, but not why you would use your maiden name."
Bellatrix just stood there looking at Harry with the same strange look on her face. Forgetting about Bellatrix's strange stare, Harry finally noticed something that he should have noticed strait away, she didn't have her Wand drawn.
Bellatrix had her Wand with her; Harry noticed it resting in its Holster attached on her right arm, ready to be summoned at a moment's notice. Harry turned his face away from Bellatrix for the first time since her arrival to look at his nightstand next to his bed.
"It would seem Bella, that you have me at a disadvantage…"
Bellatrix turned her head slowly to follow Harry's gaze, and rested on the nightstand. On a closer inspection, she realised to what Harry was referring to. His Wand was resting peacefully on his nightstand, well away from Harry's reach. And not for the first time that night, Bellatrix was confused. Turning her head back to Harry, she notice that he was already staring at her.
"Even if I had my Wand with me, and I decided to use it to defend myself against whatever you have planed for me… And won. The Ministry would probably hold a full criminal trial, hell bent on expelling me from Hogwarts or worse… Frankly I don't need the hassle or the publicity. Oh!… You should put silencing charms around my room, unless you want a couple of Muggles banging on the door, shouting their mouths off waking the entire neighbourhood."
At Harry's last word, Bellatrix drew her Wand and put strong silencing charms around the room and for good measure put a locking charm on the door. She looked over to Harry to find a smile on his face and giving her a slit nod of approval.
This look he gave her confused her even more if possible. Why was he acting this way? Was he so distraught that he wanted to die? Bellatrix turned away, and started walking away from Harry towards his nightstand. Picked the Wand with her left hand and examined it critically. Muttering long-winded words, she started doing strange motions with her own Wand towards his and a purple glow started emanating form Harry's Wand then died. She examined his Wand again looking satisfied then put her Wand back in it's resting place and started walking towards a slightly confused Harry.
"Every new Wand is enchanted with a special and strong spell designed to inform the Ministry of Magic of its use while not within a two mile radius of Hogwarts. When the owner of the Wand turns seventeen, the enchantment disables automatically. The Wand in question waits for a new underage owner to be its possessor before activating the spell again. What I've just done, is a very powerful Confundus charm to trick the Wand that it's owner and all of it's future owners are always over seventeen years of age."
Bellatrix said all of this in what Harry called a Hermione lecture voice. She stopped before Harry and handed him his Wand with a somewhat weary blank face.
Still sitting at his desk, Harry looked at his Wand in Bellatrix's outstretched hand, then looked up to her face…
Bellatrix was looking carefully at Harry who was staring at his Wand in her hand. He looked up, his eyes meeting hers and she gave him a slow nod.
Harry picked up the offered Wand and said with an unsure voice:
"Er… Thanks?"
"Your welcome Harry." Bellatrix said in a hesitant voice:
"So… I can use magic now without Fudge trying to send me to Azkaban?"
"Yes." Bellatrix said simply.
Harry gave a short flick of his Wand forgetting to say any words and his whole bed levitated a few feet above the floor before coming to rest again without a sound.
Bellatrix was dumbstruck, Harry Potter had just levitated his bed without any words or the correct Wand movements, and he did it like it was nothing. She was brought back to the situation at hand when Harry spoke again.
"Well, let's see if any Ministry Owls come by in the next five minutes… I swear they must keep some Owls on reserve just for me with pre-made expulsion letters already addressed and signed, waiting to be delivered."
Bellatrix gave a small inaudible chuckle at Harry's statement before bringing her emotional mask back on.
"Er… Excuse my confusion Bella, but why did you do that? Does Voldemort want to recruit me again or does he want a good show without Dumbledore or the Aurors showing up?"
"The Dark Lord didn't send me here Harry. He doesn't know about the letter or the Portkey I sent you. There is much he doesn't know where I'm concerned…"
"Like the fact that you arrived at his mortal enemy's bedroom half naked for a friendly little chat?"
At this, Bellatrix did something that Harry thought she couldn't physically do: she blushed and for the second time that night, her eyes found the floor quite entertaining.
"I was in bed asleep when you summoned me with the Reverse Portkey… I added something to the Portkey's design for the one being summoned to always arrive at their destination standing up. Otherwise if the one summoned were sitting or lying down like I was it wouldn't be a very comfortable landing. The Portkey's activation woke me up but I was still a little groggy, and it took a little while before I figured where I was and why. I didn't expect for you to use it, let alone so soon."
"Well that explains some of it. And here I was ready to be tortured and killed tonight… Well, the night is still young… What now?" Harry asked.
"Everything in my letter was the truth Harry, I meant it all. If you want, I'll perform a Witch's Oath for you right now if that's what it takes for you to believe and thrust me."
Harry had read about Witch's Oaths before. From what he remembered, it was a small ritual a willing Witch could perform to ensure the receiver of the ritual various promises by the caster's choosing. And if any of the promises were broken at any time after the ritual the consequences weren't very good. He didn't remember every detail but he knew it couldn't be reversed or conquered by anything,
"Alright Bella… I'd be willing to accept a Witch's Oath from you if you're willing to perform one."
At this Bellatrix gave Harry a surprise look, then gave way to a small smile. She hadn't thought it would be so easy to get Harry to listen to her. Then she frowned slightly and spoke to Harry in a questioning voice.
"You can use your Wand without getting in trouble Harry. I was sure that you would start cursing and yelling at me as soon as you saw me. Not sit there all calm and defenceless like you don't have a care in the world. Why aren't you cursing me into oblivion for Sirius's death? I won't stop you, I don't have the right."
"Simple, because I don't blame you for his death. I know you didn't mean to kill him Bella, I saw it in your eyes… But we can talk about that after the ritual."
Bellatrix slowly nodded, took her Wand out and conjured a strange knife with Runes on the hilt. Then returned her Wand back in its holster and took the knife in her right hand. She took a silent moment trying to find some resolve and said in a very serious voice:
"I Bellatrix Black, swear by my blood…"
At this point, Bellatrix slowly dragged the knife deeply all along her left forearm right through her Dark Mark and the blood from the deep cut flowed like a river to the floor.
"To speak only of truth evermore to Harry Potter by Penalty of…"
Bellatrix looked at Harry in a way that said: "Your choice."
Harry thought for a moment before speaking.
"Pain…"
Bellatrix nodded, put the knife in her left hand and continued.
"I Bellatrix Black, also swear by my blood…"
Again, Bellatrix slowly dragged the knife but this time deeply all along her right forearm and the blood joined it's brother on the floor to form an ever-expanding pool.
"To stay true and loyal evermore to Harry Potter by penalty of…"
"Death." Harry said without any hesitation.
Bellatrix simply nodded and dropped her knife to floor with a loud clang. She dropped both of her arms to her side, blood still flowing and closed her eyes.
Harry stared at the bleeding Bellatrix, unsure if the ritual was complete or not. She was standing there her eyes closed, the blood showing no sign of stopping. She was paler than she usually was and now started shaking slightly, weaving back and forth about to lose consciousness. Harry wasn't sure what to do; he tried to remember anything else about the ritual that he had read about in one of Hermione's study session years ago.
Then it finally came to him, the Witches who would perform the ritual would not stop bleeding until the ritual's receiver (In this case Harry) would heal the cuts thus accepting the Witch's Oath or let the Witch die from blood loss.
Harry quickly sat up and pointed his Wand at Bellatrix's left forearm and muttered a healing charm, which easily healed the deep cut across her Dark Mark. Then he turned his attention to her right forearm and did the same leaving only two faint scars.
Bellatrix's dizziness caused by the blood loss got the better of her started to fall but harry was at her side in an instant. Quickly grabbing her by her small waist tried to help her steady herself but quickly lost. She became a dead weight and could only fight to remain conscious. Harry dragged her to his bed, laid her in and tucked her under the covers.
Bellatrix was still conscious, but could do nothing else. Harry sat by her side and put his hand on her forehead not knowing what else to do. After a while he took her left forearm and examined one of the cuts she had made to herself. The cut ran right through her Dark Mark, then Harry noticed something rather strange. He wasn't sure; he didn't inspect Dark Mark's every day but Bellatrix's Dark Mark looked somehow different than it should be. He put it out of his mind for now and concentrated on Bellatrix's well being.
"Are you alright Bella?" Harry said in what he thought was a neutral voice.
"Yes, I just need to lie down for a minute, thank you for your concern."
Harry simply nodded.
"I didn't think you'd go through with it, I'm impressed."
Bellatrix gave Harry a small smile but said nothing. She lay there trying to gather herself for a few minutes before attempting what she had planned to say to Harry if ever he would summon her.
"Now that the Oath has been completed, I'll repeat what I said earlier… All of what I wrote to you in the letter was the truth. And every thing I stated tonight is also the truth. Would you help me sit up?"
Harry nodded and helped her sit up; he put the pillow behind her back so she could rest comfortably against the headboard of his bed.
"Thanks."
Bellatrix now looked right into Harry's eyes and became very serious.
"Harry, the best place to begin this story is at the beginning… I ask you to try to let me finish before you ask any questions. It's hard to talk about my past, and once I start it's easier if I just keep going."
Harry nodded and let her start, not intending to interrupt her.
"I have two older sisters, Andromeda who is the eldest, and Narcissa who the middle one. We were all very different from each other, but we all had two things in common; we were all expected by our family to join the 'Cause': To join with V-Voldemort… To rid the world of all Muggles, and enslave all Muggle-born Wizards until none were left. And secondly, we were all expected to marry on the day of our sixteenth birthday the Men that our parents had arranged for us. Having three daughters from 'The noble and most ancient house of Black' our parents had the pick of all the best and richest Pureblood families who had a son."
"But Andromeda had her own ideas, she didn't hate Muggles and she actually had a secret Muggle-born boyfriend. And also it didn't help that she and the black sheep of the family, Sirius were always good friends. The Pureblood she was promised to marry disgusted her. So the day before her sixteen birthday, the day she was supposed to marry her 'Perfect' little Death Eater, she ran away to live with her boyfriend's Muggle family. She married this Tonks fellow a year later, after graduating from Hogwarts."
"Well to say our mother wasn't happy would be the understatement of the century. But Narcissa would make our mother proud, and forget about Andromeda. She knew that Narcissa had Lucius Malfoy wrapped around her little finger and would never let go. But it wasn't always so, it took some hard work from Narcissa for it to be accomplished. The Malfoys were richer and more powerful than the Blacks had ever been. There union was considered was very, very important to our mother and father. So one day when Narcissa was eleven at her first year at Hogwarts, she sent home a letter to our mother saying that Lucius, who was in his seventh year at the time was thinking of backing out of the arranged Marriage."
"The 'wonderful' mother that she was, our mother sent her own 'eleven' year old daughter instructions to spread her legs and satisfy the seventeen year old Malfoy in any and every way he wanted. As much as she wanted to keep the Malfoy heir as her future husband, Narcissa was still an inexperienced eleven-year-old girl. So she did the only thing that a 'good' Black would do… She placed one of her fellow female classmates a week under the Imperius curse and gave them to Lucius on a silver platter while she watched and learned. After he was done, she would place healing charms to fix any damage made, a memory charm for good measure then would lift the Imperius curse and pretended like nothing had happened."
Harry stared at Bellatrix telling her story with a feeling of mounting disgust. How could a human being do something like that let alone a eleven year old girl? She was a monster, she had no conscience, and no wonder Draco was the way he was. But it wasn't an excuse… Harry was raise by some of the worse Muggles in Britain and he couldn't ever do half the things that Draco ever said or did, it wasn't in him… Was it?
Harry was brought out of his musings by Bellatrix's voice.
"Well after Lucius saw what a 'wonderful' asset she would be as a wife, he made sure he didn't lose her at any cost. Our mother was so proud at what Narcissa had done to keep the Malfoy heir from finding another wife; she gave Narcissa a huge party the next time she came home from Hogwarts. Imagine that, a mother celebrating their daughter's part in the rape of Merlin knows how many little girls. But what our mother was most proud about, was that Narcissa had managed to keep her own 'virtue' until their wedding night. I hear Lucius still likes them young, and Narcissa is only too happy to supply him with a fresh batch every now and then…"
"Well, for our mother this meant she had a traitor for a daughter, and another as a true Black, which left me somewhere in the middle. I didn't like Muggles but I didn't hate them either. I had met some Muggle-born wizards that had rubbed me the wrong way, but most were okay. I didn't see what the big deal was. I keep myself out of it, mostly spending my time in the library. I loved learning spells that were long thought forgotten and learning enchantments or curse of all kinds, I still do actually. I was just a big bookworm, the first in the history of the Blacks to be sorted in Ravenclaw."
"My mother knew that there was a chance I would turn traitor like Andromeda, so she made my decision for me. A week before my sixteenth birthday I had everything already planned and ready to go. I had contacted Andromeda in secret asking her for a place to live outside of Hogwarts until I turned seventeen. She and her husband had accepted instantly, and I was all ready and packed to leave that night in secret when my mother called for me. I arrived and she starts yelling at me, saying she knew that I had contacted Andromeda and was preparing to leave and turn traitor. Saying she would not stand there and let another one of her daughter give the Blacks a bad name by abandoning my engagement and my family…"
"My mother drew her Wand and before I knew what was happening, I was under the Imperius curse. She gave me pretty basic instructions, to go about my business like usual and to always do what the family expected of me. So there I was back in my room unpacking and sending a letter to Andromeda telling her that I had changed my mind and I was going through with the wedding. I knew everything that was doing on but I just didn't care in my state of bliss, except for my mother's orders. I just didn't care, so much so that I didn't even try to fight the curse at first."
"A week later, my husband to be and I were getting married. Outside I was the happiest that I had ever been, but on the inside the bliss was starting to lift just a little. After the wedding, my mother asked to speak to Rodolphus and me alone, he thought that she wanted to give us some marriage advice like his mother had just done a few minutes before. But she explained to him of what she had done to me the week before and why. My mother had been worried about his reaction but to her delight he was ecstatic about it. He had just gotten himself a wife that would do anything he commanded with her mother's blessing to boot. The only thing he had to do, was to periodically re-enforce the curse, give me my instructions again and add a few of his own if he wanted."
"And he didn't wait long before giving me some of his own instructions, I can assure you of that. Rodolphus was a fanatical supporter of the Dark Lord and of the 'Cause'. So first thing he did was to instruct me to obey the Dark Lord and to do anything in my power to help him achieve his goal at any cost, so I did. I joined the Death Eaters, I went up in rank very quickly, I volunteered for every crazy mission that no one in their right mind would want to take and I did them well. Of course I did them, I was out of my mind, and the only thing I wanted to do was to please my Master."
"I was powerful, skilful and brutal… I showed no mercy, every Auror alive feared me almost as much as they feared the Dark Lord himself. Soon my 'Lord' noticed, and began to teach me every thing he knew. I was his best and most lethal Death Eater. I had proven myself beyond all others, and I was rewarded with vast amount of dark knowledge. To tell you the truth Harry… Even if I hated what I was doing under the Imperius curse, I loved learning obscure spells so much, it was almost worth it…"
Bellatrix went silent, put her chin on her chest and looked anywhere except towards Harry. He knew she was ashamed about feeling that way, but Harry understood all to well; He was far from perfect himself. The odd thoughts of power and revenge were always in his mind but he just chose to not act or dwell too much on them.
Harry took Bellatrix's chin in his hand and raised it so they could look in each other's eyes. In a reassuring and calming voice Harry spoke.
"Go on Bella… I'm listening."
Bellatrix's pupils grew wide and gave Harry a big thankful smile. That was exactly what she had needed to hear at that very moment.
"A year after joining the Death Eaters, I experienced the worst day of my life, but it lead to best years of my life. It was not long after you conquered over V-Voldemort… It was barley a year since my wedding; I was only seventeen… Harry, have you… Have you ever heard what I was caught by the Aurors doing? What I was put in Azkaban for?"
Harry nodded and said only two words:
"The Longbottoms."
Bellatrix nodded grimly.
"Good… I… I didn't want to have to relive it again. Well as you probably know that I was found guilty and was sent to Azkaban but for the first time in over a year, I was free. My mother never told anyone not even my father of what she had done to me. Rodolphus was the same, he never even told his brother Rabastan of his little secret. Even V-V-Voldemort… Voldemort, Voldemort, Voldemort!!!"
Bellatrix almost screamed the last one, her voice full of determination.
"There… I… I think I can move on now. Like I was saying, even Voldemort never suspected I was acting under the Imperius. I broke free after about a month in Azkaban, I was finally free. The Dementors didn't affect me that bad either, they made me relive all that last year under the curse but I knew they were just memories. Reliving memories of your past actions no matter what actions they are, is far better than being under the Imperius curse."
"I spent fourteen wonderful years of freedom in Azkaban, don't get me wrong Harry, I didn't like Azkaban but I had seen worse. Then he came for us… As fate would have it, he freed Rodolphus first and gave him a Wand and told him to free the rest of us. Well, he was maybe more insane than before, but Rodolphus hadn't forgotten about me. He came to me first and placed the Imperius curse back on me, then we freed the others together. So it began, my nightmare started over again. I lost all hope Harry, I gave up and stopped fighting the curse completely."
"Then three weeks ago we fought against you and your friends at the Department of Mysteries, and a miracle happened… I saw Sirius again. If there were any single person who would understand my situation, it would be Sirius. Who better than my dear cousin to reveal all that had happen to me? I knew it would be a hard for even him to believe me, but if anyone would believe me, it would be Sirius, and he was my only hope."
"I fought against the curse like I had never fought before, I had to speak to Sirius, and I had to make him understand. Then we started to duel with each other, I couldn't stop myself, and the only thing I could manage to do was to keep myself from using dark magic on him. And when I was an inch away from finally braking the curse, it was to see Sirius fall into the veil… I was too late… He was gone… I had lost my beloved cousin and my only hope. The curse took full hold of me again, and I think you know the rest of what happened that night."
It was Harry's turn to nod grimly.
"Then fate finally smiled at me, a little too late but I took it all the same. My mother had died during my stay at Azkaban and Rodolphus was again siting in an Azkaban cell. There was no one left to re-enforce the curse, or even knew of my condition. A week after our battle at the Department of Mysteries, I was able to completely break free of the curse. I acted like the usual crazy bitch I was, I didn't wait this long just to get killed by Voldemort if he found out the truth. I didn't know where to go or what to do, but then it suddenly came to me, Harry Potter… You! It was hard to get here, but here I am…"
"Er… Harry, I caused my own cousin's death because my will wasn't strong enough to fight the curse. I removed your godfather from this world, I took him away from you Harry… I'm so sorry Harry. If I could go back in time Harry , I would go and kill myself in Azkaban and nothing of this would have happened, and he'd still be alive. It didn't go the way I would have liked it to, but thanks to you Harry, I'm free and in your debt forever. If I could bring back Sirius, believe me I would Harry, but I can't. The only thing that I can give you is my life…"
"Well I think I'm done Harry, you gave me a chance to explain all my past actions to you and I think I just did. Thank you for not interrupting Harry, and because of the Witch's Oath, I am unable to lie or betray you for now and forever. Now it's time for my part of the bargain… I submit my mind, body and soul to your will Harry. My fate is in your hands, for now and forever. Torture me, kill me, do anything to me or ask anything of me, I am yours, and yours alone."
Bellatrix drew her Wand and presented it to Harry who took it.
"I give you my Wand Harry, I have no right to have a mean to defend myself against your will."
"Bella… take your Wand back, I have no desire to torture you or to kill you. You gave me a Witch's Oath guaranteeing me your honesty and your loyalty forever… then you willingly give me your body, mind and soul to do as I wish, again forever. I have a great need of someone that I can trust at the moment and I just can't trust my so-called friends… Their loyalty is to Dumbledore. And to Dumbledore and his Order I'm just a weapon to be used and forgotten, if not worse. All the rest of them use me for their own ambitions, not caring the toll it takes on me."
For the first time that night, Harry looked down instead of staring at Bellatrix.
"I need someone to share my battles and my secrets with… Someone to share my… Share my life with. If you accept, I would like that person to be you Bella. I honestly think that Sirius would have believed you, and would understand my need to have someone like you in my life. I've been lied to and betrayed so many times that I need someone who wouldn't be able to even if they wanted to. And I might be wrong but I get the feeling that you might need me more than I could ever need you. You seem to be desperate to have any kind of normalcy in your life. But that is something I know I can't give you Bella… My life is anything but normal."
"You're wrong Harry… You're… You're just what I need… If you're serious about your offer, I accept without hesitation. I promise to always be by your side no matter what. Battles against Voldemort or Dumbledore I don't care, I shall be by your side. I shall take all secrets you deem me worthy of to my grave. And I would like us to share our lives together in 'any' way you feel is right, for as long as you'll have me."
Harry, finally looked up and gave Bellatrix a genuine smile.
"I was and am serious about my offer, welcome to my life Bella, with everything it entails."
Bellatrix gave a huge smile at this, threw herself at Harry and smothered him in a bone-crushing hug. She rested her head on his chest and started to cry tears of joy. Her meeting with Harry had gone a million times better than she could have ever imagined. She was so happy; she couldn't remember the last time she had felt half this happy, if ever.
"You won't regret it Harry, I promise… I promise… If it's the last thing I do, I'll make you happy, I swear."
"I know Bella, I know… Now, would you be so kind as explain a little more about this."
Harry opened his left fist and revealed to her the small ring he had used that night to summon her.
"There were many hurdles before we could meet face to face Harry. It took a little time before I could figure out a way to get here and meet with you. With all the different Wards in place around your house and also around your entire neighbourhood, I couldn't get a mile near here with any of the regular means with or without alerting Dumbledore and his little Order. I needed something new to get by the wards and Dumbledore, and for once being a know-it-all bookworm had its uses. It took me a week to dream up and build that Reverse Portkey and another week to find the right words to write to you in the letter I sent… And now I'm finally here."
Bellatrix gave Harry a shy smile, then suddenly frowned as if realising something and continued.
"Even now that I'm in your bedroom Harry, I'm stuck here. The wards keep me unable to leave by regular means, and if I did try, I'm sure Dumbledore would be alerted immediately. The only thing I can think of, is that you would have to step outside all the Wards and summon me with the ring again. That Portkey is permanent you know, and I still wear its double. As long as you keep your half, you will always be able to summon me at your location no mater where I am or where you are."
Hiding his embarrassment at being so ignorant about his still New World, Harry asked:
"Er… Bella? What about different kinds of magic's… I know for a fact that House Elves can Apparate in and out of this house, just like they do at Hogwarts."
"Yeah… What's your point Harry?"
"Well, what about Goblin magic?"
"Well yeah, it's about the same, both House Elf and Goblin magic work on different principals than Wizard magic. So they have no problems going through Wizard made Wards of almost any kind. But I don't see how it helps us leave here undetected, if at all."
Harry gave a reassuring smile to Bellatrix, and answered her question with a question of his own.
"So a Goblin Portkey would get both of us through all the Wards here undetected?"
Bellatrix gave him a curious look for a moment, then finally asked:
"Er…yeah, it would… Don't tell me you have a Goblin Portkey?"
"Yeah I do actually, they sent me one yesterday with a letter saying I had to go to Gringotts because I needed to fill some paperwork and some… Other things…"
"Wow! I've never even heard of someone that owned one, I wasn't even sure they were real. Harry, Goblins only give those out supposedly to their most trusted and I mean really most trusted clients. They supposedly bypass all of the Goblin Wards around Gringotts. They've given you a way to enter Gringotts day or night, anytime you want. They don't just give those out to just anyone, no matter who and how rich they are. And if I'm not mistaken, Goblin Portkeys are permanent and also work both ways. Meaning, you can enter Gringotts anytime you want by saying the given activation keyword, and you can return to wherever you left from in the first place by just saying an other given keyword. What the bloody hell did you have to do for them to give you one of those? They give those out for life too; it's almost like they made you an honorary Goblin or something. But they hate Wizards… I don't know why they would give you one of…"
Bellatrix suddenly stopped and realised that Harry had said something peculiar earlier and asked:
"Harry? Er… What… What other things?"
"Sirius's last will." Harry said simply."
"Oh! Harry, I'm so sorry…"
"It's okay Bella, it wasn't your fault, I don't blame you."
They both paused for a moment, and then Harry said:
"Well, I don't know about you Bella but I'm pretty tired, I've been up half the night."
"Yeah, I'm pretty tired too…"
"I know it's a small bed but do you mind sharing it with me Bella? I don't feel like sleeping on the floor. And I swear I won't grab anything or anything…"
"I don't mind sharing the bed with you Harry, and to tell you the truth, I think… I think I'd even enjoy it…"
Bellatrix gave Harry a very suggestive smile that Harry could not interpret for the life of him. While lying down, Bellatrix moved over to make room on the bed, and waited for Harry to slip inside the covers.
Harry returned his Wand to his nightstand and with a distracted wave of his hand, the light illuminating the room coming from the candle on his desk extinguished. Lying down, he turned on his side to face Bellatrix, and even in the darkness he could see that she too was resting on her side facing him. With nothing to lose and feeling pretty brave at the moment, Harry reached for Bellatrix, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in tightly to cuddle her.
Bellatrix's body tensed up immediately but as she thought about the person who was holding her, her body relaxed and welcomed the new sensation. She wrapped her arms around Harry and pulled him if possible even closer than he already had her. She felt safer than she had ever been anywhere or with anyone else. Ecstatic about the fact that she was cuddling for the very first time in her life, she rested her head next to Harry's and whispered in his ear.
"Harry… You can grab anything you want you know… For now and forever, everything I have belongs to you… And only you."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Over 6000 words… If any of my former school teachers could see me now…
Thanks to those who reviewed, I was pleasantly surprised at the reception the first chapter received only a few days after I posted it. I won't be acknowledging or responding to reviews unless I use one of their suggestions (That I was not already planning on using before reading the review) in a future chapter or if they point me to where I messed up (Holes in my plot). I prefer to concentrate my free time on writing the story. But don't think that reviews are not appreciated, because they are. I hope you all understand.
I hope all of those who liked the first chapter, will like the direction I'm heading with my story after reading the second chapter. As you can probably tell by now, my version of Bellatrix is still a dark witch, just not insanely pure evil like in OotP. My version of Harry will definitely be dark and will eventually do some very bad things but just won't be a Voldemort clone trying to take over the world. And because Bellatrix will be Harry's "love interest", she can't remain an insane evil bitch (Unless Harry is evil too), so I had to change her somehow. The Imperius curse was just the first thing I thought of…
Just so you all know, I don't have a great big plot all planed out. I'm just going chapter to chapter trying not to mess up the story too much. I have a general (Very vague) idea to where I'm going with this story but it could all change at any time.