A/N: I am so sorry about the wait! I also want to apologize for how short this chapter is...and how not fun.The stuffin italics is from JK Rowling's novels, so please please don't sue me, because I did acknowledge it by italicizing, right? And I really can't claim it for my own...wishI could...


Department of Mysteries Chapter PART A (Chapter 18)

"You're certain that everything is as well planned as we can make it?" I asked again, pacing nervously up and down the sidewalk across the street from the Ministry of Magic. "I don't understand why we can't just pry it out of his pathetic little hands. Or stun him, or something!" I muttered.

"Bellatrix, if you don't stand still you are going to give us all away. We can't forcibly take it from him because we can't risk it being smashed," Lucius snarled, anger over what had happened earlier between Voldemort and myselfclear in his tone.

Anger boiled through my veins. It wasn't my fault that had occurred.

"Potter is practically a baby, Lucius, why should we bother with this pretense? He's not going to realize that we're here until we've followed him into the Department of Mysteries," I shot back angrily. "I wonder if he'll even show up. I can't believe he's that devoted to my pathetic cousin."

"Potter is not a baby, Bella," Nott told me coldly.

"Oh, but he is, he is," I replied just as coldly. "Watch, he won't even notice me." I said calmly, leaning against a shop front.

Moments later, Potter and his little friends flew in on Thestrals. I was a bit surprised to see that there were six children instead of just the three that we had been expecting. I shrugged it off – they were just children. Hardly more than infants by the looks of it. I watched as they entered the Ministry of Magic, and smiled evilly at Lucius. They had been more preoccupied with their silly Thestrals than with really taking note of their surroundings.

"See, Lucius?" I asked snidely, tossing my hair and sauntering toward the establishment. "They had no idea I was here."

Lucius shot me an angry glare and stormed ahead of me into the Ministry. I rolled my eyes. This was hardly the time to let our emotions reign over our actions.

"We should allow them to enter the Department of Mysteries before we follow them," Lucius said calmly.

"Naturally, Lucius," I snapped. "What, did you think we were going to go up and hold their hands?"

"Bella, I have had just about enough of your attitude," he snarled. "You seem to forget that I know our master only made you a Death Eater so he could get some," he whispered in my ear.

I pressed my lips together tightly and glared at Lucius angrily.

"That is not true. You just don't understand and you never will. He made me take that vow when I became a Death Eater so that he would always have at least one completely devoted and loyal servant who would attempt to always do whatever he told her to." I hissed back at him, my voice just a quiet as his.

"Do you mind? I believe that we need to be moving along," Nott asked coldly from the elevator.

Without another word, I swept over to the elevator and into the small chamber. Lucius stood beside me, clearly pondering what I had said. He and I were in charge of this mission, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to work well with him. He had withdrawn substantially since Voldemort had demonstrated the extent of my Unbreakable Vow.

We moved down to the Department of Mysteries quickly, and it became apparent that Potter had already determined which doors were the appropriate ones. It would be easy enough to follow their footsteps and voices, which we did. We followed them directly into the Hall of Prophecy, and saw that Potter stood with his little friends and he was holding the prophecy.

Lucius motioned for me to remain still.

"Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."

The children were clearly shocked and frightened by our presence. I felt a surge of ecstasy. Somebody else was going to feel worse than I did at that moment.

"To me, Potter," Lucius said once again, holding out his hand for the prophecy.

Potter did not move at all. I felt irritation boiling inside of me. This...infant was going to try to defy Lucius and myself?

"To me," Lucius was getting impatient.

"Where's Sirius?" Potter demanded, still clutching the prophecy.

Rodolphus and Nott laughed at his statement, and I felt my jaw drop slightly.

"The Dark Lord always knows," I said, somewhat shocked.

"Always," Lucius agreed, not really acknowledging mypresence."Now, give me the prophecy, Potter."

"I want to know where Sirius is!" Potter cried. It was obvious to me at that moment that Potter was not going to be cooperating with us. Irritation swept through my mind. Who did he think he was? He was lucky that we had been as nice as we were! We were being downright pleasant in this encounter! Well that was going to end now.

"I want to know where Sirius is!" I cried in a mocking tone.

"You've got him. He's here. I know he is."

"The little baby woke up fwightened and fort what it dweamed was twoo," I cooed, feeling a blessed release of irritation.

Potter began giving out instructions to his little friends, and irritation surged through me again. He wanted to play that way? Fine. I'd just keep mocking him until he made some sort of a mistake.

"You hear him? You hear him?" I cried, looking at my comrades. "Giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of fighting us!" Amusement seemed to crackle in my voice.

"Oh, you don't know Potter as I do, Bellatrix. He has a great weakness for heroics, the Dark Lord understands this about him." Lucius explained to me calmly. "Now give me the prophecy!" he snarled at Potter.

I began to tune out the bantering between Potter and Lucius. I was feeling a little disappointed that Lucius couldn't even coax a fifteen year-old into giving him the prophecy. I was starting to get nervous about successfully completing our mission, and I was trying to formulate some kind of back-up plan. This was becoming exceptionally tedious.

"Accio proph--"I began, but Potter threw up a shielding charm before I could get the words out. "Oh, he knows how to play, little bitty baby potter," I murmured, looking at the boy appraisingly. "Very well, then--"

"I TOLD YOU NO!" Lucius shouted, his gaze shooting over to me for just a moment. He had told me no what? Oh, that I couldn't take the prophecy through force because of the risk that it would be damaged. Anger swelled through my form at his inability to treat me as an equal.

I stepped toward Lucius, and therefore toward Potter. "You need more persuasion? Very well – take the smallest one. Let him watch while we torture the little girl. I'll do it," I whispered, a grin twisting my features.

Potter moved quickly, placing himself between the girl and myself. "You'll have to smash this if you want to attack any of us. I don't think your boss will be too pleased if you come back with out it, will he?" It was a jab, and I stopped, trying to find a way out of the current situation.

"So, what kind of prophecy are we talking about anyway?"

Shock and disbelief rolled through my brain. He didn't know what kind of prophecy it was? He didn't know what it was about? Surely he was teasing us. He had to know, Dumbledore would have told him, the meddling old fool.

"What kind of prophecy?" I asked, my face falling into a mask of surprise. "You jest, Harry Potter," I whispered.

"Nope, not jesting. How come Voldemort wants it?" I was once again struck with shock.

"You dare speak his name?" I hissed. Nobody I had ever met was willing to say his name, and it angered me that this boy should feel that he was worthy of speaking my master's name.

"Yeah, yeah, I've got no problem saying Vol--"

"Shut your mouth!" I screamed angrily, red seeping into the edges of my field of vision. This filthy little half-blood child wasnot going to stand there declaringmy master's name over and over again."You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you dare--" I was ranting like a psychotic. But I couldn't regain control of myself!

"Did you know he's a half-blood too? Voldemort? Yeah, his mother was a witch but his dad was a Muggle – or has he been telling you lot he's pureblood?"

Rage blinded me. Voldemort was not a pureblood? He had been parading me around and forcing me to do his work for purification and he was not even a pureblood himself?

"Stupef--" I began, enraged past the point of rational thought.

"NO!" Lucius shouted, deflecting my curse.

What was his problem anyway? I could tell that we would soon lose control of the situation and I was ready to take action. Why wouldn't he let me do anything?


So, there we have it. Part A of the Department of Mysteries chapter. Please leave me your comments, CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM, people. If you think it sucks, tell me how to improve it. I'm sorry that I had to end this chapterhere, butI've got a TON of homework this semester, and I swear I'll be updating with the second half of this chapterASAP.

fr0ggy -- well, I hope that this will hold you over for a while! Thanks, I'm glad that you like my story...and I'm in much the same boat...I don't really know who to feel sorry for either!

Electra -- Ok, so I did read both of your reviews and I'm glad that you got some of your questions cleared up by re-reading it. I'll try to help you out...when I first started writing this story the original idea was that Bella's reason for wanting to join the D.E. was to make Severus fall in love with her. However, Voldemort's reason for accepting her and making her a D.E. was because he wanted a...pretty toy, which he then demonstrated to Lucius. Lol, that's a horrible image...but yeah. Does that make sense? And as for the "pure hate" between Bella and Severus in the Spinner's End chapter...well, we'll see how I get there, lol. I'm a big advocate of the "Harry Filter" in JKR's books...you know, we see everything from Harry's pov and often miss out on subtle things and the reality of the situation...so that she can reveal everything to us in the end. I kind of think that maybe things were misrepresented in that chapter due to the "harry filter." But who knows? I'm going to be re-reading that chapter very very soon so that I can bring this kind of back into synch with JKR's books.

dancer8428 -- Haha, I know, I just can't resist leaving myself reviews. Glad you liked the chapter! Yeah, Lucius is a little dense...but maybe that'll change. Who knows?

Me -- good to hear from you again! Um, the age of Bellatrix? Well, it kind of jumps a bit. We start out with her in her last year of Hogwarts, then we encounter her at the Potter's home...and now I'm at the end of book five. So...I don't really know how old she is. I'm of the opinion that she's in the same age range as Severus, Sirius, James Potter, Remus Lupin, etc. Which is where my age issue comes into play -- popular opinion is that Lucius is supposed to be older than Severus, but I madethem the same age. Eek.