Department of Mysteries Chapter PART D (Chapter 21)

"What? What do you mean?" I demanded in terror.

"The prophecy smashed when I was trying to get Neville up the steps! What do you think Voldemort'll say about that, then?"

All reason fled from my mind. I had been obeying him. I had come to retrieve the prophecy. I had done everything in my power to obtain what he desired. Would he punish me for this? Punish me when I had not been in charge of this mission?

"LIAR!" I screamed, grasping at the only thing I could. I refused to believe what Potter was telling me. If I didn't believe it, it wasn't true. "YOU'VE GOT IT POTTER, AND YOU WILL GIVE IT TO ME – Accio Prophecy! ACCIO PROPHECY!"

My efforts proved futile. There was nothing for me to summon. Potter was indeed telling me the truth. I could barely breath.

"Nothing there!" Potter cackled. "Nothing to summon! It smashed and nobody heard what it said, tell your boss that– "

"NO!" I shouted in denial. "It isn't true, you're lying – MASTER, I TRIED, I TRIED – DO NOT PUNISH ME– "

Terror was evident in my voice and I knew that if he bothered to look at me he would have seen the blind terror in my eyes. Potter seemed to be in some kind of pain, but he continued to taunt me.

"Don't waste your breath! He can't hear you from here!" Potter shrieked.

"Can't I, Potter?" Voldemort asked, from the middle of the hall. A terror to match mine shone brightly in the boy's eyes. "So you smashed my prophecy? No Bella, he is not lying...I see the truth looking at me from within his worthless mind...Months of preparation, months of effort...and my Death Eaters have let Harry Potter thwart me again..."

Tears began to fall freely from my eyes and I sank to the floor at Voldemort's feet.

"Master, I am sorry, I knew not, I was fighting the Animagus Black!" I choked out between sobs.

Then I remembered suddenly. Dumbledore. He was downstairs at this very moment. I knew that I should have remained silent, but my master needed to be warned. If I didn't try to warn him, my punishment would be even worse. "Master, you should know– "My voice was desperate and I knew that I was begging.

"Be quiet, Bella," Voldemort snapped, looking down at me with a dangerous and frightening look in his eyes. "I shall deal with you in a moment. Do you think I have entered the Ministry of Magic to hear your sniveling apologies?"

"But Master – He is here – he is below– "

He ignored me.

I tried to think of something, anything to do to help. But it was too late. Dumbledore had arrived, and in only seconds I found myself trapped on the floor beneath a heavy gold statue of a witch.

Just perfect, I thought sourly. I watched the battle rage on around me as I struggled not to be overcome with the multitude of emotions that rushed through me. I watched as Voldemort took possession of Potter and taunted Dumbledore.

Then, my master took hold of my arm and we were gone from the ministry.

I knew that none of the others had escaped the Ministry of Magic. Voldemort had taken only me with him when he left. I stood still in shock while I tried to work my way through what had just happened. Voldemort paced the room before sinking slowly into a large armchair. He rested his face in his hands, looking tired and angry.

I looked over to where

"Bella, how could you all have failed so miserably?" He asked quietly.

I pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes.

"Sweet Merlin, I wish I knew,"I whispered, sinking to the floor only inches from where my master sat.

"So many were again lost to Azkaban this night,"he muttered, lifting hi face and staring up at the ceiling. "How can we hope to succeed with so many setbacks?"

The question was rhetoric, and I chose to remain silent.

The silence lasted for some time, until finally, I couldn't contain myself any longer.

"How could you trust such an important mission to Lucius?" I shouted, surging to my feet. Voldemort stared at me, obviously shocked that I would speak to him in such a tone. "How could you be so stupid as to believe that Lucius would properly execute the mission? Didn't he lose, no not lose, completely destroy one of your horcruxes?" I shrieked, stomping my foot in anger. "Why will you never trust me with anything? Oh, I'm good enough to be your plaything, but when it comes to actually showing that you have any confidence in me, actually trusting me with anything worthwhile, you can't do it!" My voice rang through the sparsely decorated chamber, followed by my ragged breathing.

Voldemort stared at me in shocked silence. He rose to his feet and paced first away from me, then back to stand only inches away from where I stood.

"Bella, it is not that I don't trust you," he said quietly, frowning slightly.

"Do not lie to me," I snapped, my eyes blazing.

His gaze snapped up to mine.

"You would do well to watch your tone, Bellatrix," he snarled.

"Do not lie to me," I repeated just as forcefully.

"I do not allow you to lead missions because I know that none of the others would follow you," he said quietly. "They will not take orders from a woman. You know them all. You know I speak the truth. It has nothing to do with your perceived lack of trust and everything to do with loyalty and stability. Why do you think I included you in every planning and detail session? Because I suspected that Lucius would listen to you. Perhaps he would have, had I not acted so rashly in punishing him."

I sighed heavily and shoved my hair over my shoulders.

"Master, I am so very tired," I whispered, turning to look at him.

His arms came around my shoulders.

"Yes, my Bella, I know."

He pressed his lips to mine and held my face in his hands for a moment.

"Go to your sister's home. I shall summon you in the morning."

I nodded, and apparated away.

When I walked into Malfor Manor, Narcissa was waiting for me.

"Where is Lucius?"


Dancer -- Haha, color me stupid! I was far too involved in dramatic timing to pay attention to reality. My bad. You are completely right, of course,Bellatrix should have battled with Tonks also. Oops!

Electra -- Ok. You make a valid point. J.K. Rowling does indeed say that the first jet of light/spell (which Sirius dodges) is red. However, she NEVER specifies the color of the second spell (the one that hits him). She merely refers to it as "the second jet of light." Therefore, it could have been any spell one would like to believe. One could infer that the second spell was the same as the first, OR one could infer that heromission ofa discriptor for the second spell was intentional and therefore that the two spells are supposed to be different ones.It's a sticky situation, I'llbe the first to admit that I don't know what the spells are supposed to have been. I, personally, like to think that she used two different spells. I could, of course, easily be wrong. :)