Magical Miracle
by Teddylonglong

Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.


By the time Bella's view returned to normal, she found herself in what seemed to be a dark dungeon room. Glancing around in shock, she inwardly groaned upon realising that none other than the Lestrange brothers were standing in front of her.

"You seem to have forgotten," Rodolphus drawled, "that you're my betrothed."

"No," Bella replied, shaking her head.

"Then you go to Hogsmeade on a date with a Gryffindor?" his brother Rabastan scoffed. "Are you a whore or what?"

"No," Bella replied in a firm voice. 'I should apologize, but I don't want to,' she thought. 'I really need to speak with Father and somehow try to get out of that contract,' she resolved, even if she knew that such an effort would most likely remain as unfruitful as all previous attempts.

"We're going to have a meeting with the Dark Lord soon," Rodolphus informed her in a firm voice, "and as my betrothed and a pureblood witch, you're going to attend."

The thought 'I could transform into my Animagus form and simply puff away' crossed her mind; however, she did not want to let the two morons know about her Animagus form if not absolutely necessary. Instead, she nodded, weakly, and allowed the boys to take her into a larger room, where around fifty people were gathered. Most of them were adults; however, she also recognised several of her older housemates. To her shock, even her parents as well as her uncles and aunts were present.

She was still silently looking around, taking in the people present in annoyance, when everyone suddenly began to cheer and bow in apparent respect. Looking up in surprise, she noticed that a man of about thirty or forty had stepped onto a podium in the front of the room.

"I am Lord Voldemort," he announced, causing the crowd to cheer.

'He looks handsome,' Bella thought, 'although not better than Arthur or Edgar, even if completely different. I wonder what is so special about him.'

When the noise subsided, the man began to hold a long monologue about purity of magical blood, purebloods, half-bloods and mudbloods.

'How can someone be so stupid?' Bella wondered. 'Why does purity of blood matter? The only thing important is that people can do magic. He's even worse than Father.' Nevertheless, the crowd hung on the man's lips and cheered, when he was finally finished talking. She only inwardly shook her head, knowing better than to voice her opinion. 'Only Drommie and my friends will understand,' she thought, resolving to tell them everything later on.

With the words "I shall see you here again during Hogwarts' next Hogsmeade day," the Dark Lord dismissed the crowd, and everyone quickly apparated away.

"Come on, Bellatrix, let's go," Rodolphus addressed her, just when she was about to transform into her dragon form and puff away.

"Thanks," Bella replied, as she held on to the Portkey that took her and the two brothers back onto the main street in Hogsmeade. "Where were we?" she remembered to ask, causing Rabastan to scoff.

"Malfoy Manor, where else did you think it was?"

Bella shrugged, glad upon hearing a voice frantically call her name.

"Bella, where have you been? We were so worried."

It was Amelia. Bella sighed in relief, as the older girl pulled her into a light hug.

"I took my betrothed to a small date," Rodolphus replied in a firm voice, before he gave Bella a warning look and strode away together with his brother.

Interpreting the Lestrange brothers' warning looks correctly, Bella simply mouthed, "I'll tell you later."

"Are you all right?" Arthur enquired, giving her a concerned look.

"Yes," Bella replied, smiling, as she feverishly tried to suppress the tears that welled up in her eyes upon her friends' kindness.

HP

From that evening onwards, the Prewett twins joined the group of friends in the library on a daily basis. On this day, however, Amelia suggested, "Shall we move to the Room of Requirement, so that Bella can tell us what happened?"

Everyone agreed, and thirty minutes later, everyone swore an oath on their magic to keep everything that Bella told them to themselves if Bella did not decide otherwise.

Letting out a deep sigh, Bella told them everything about this first meeting of the purebloods with the so-called Dark Lord.

"So they're going to meet again…"

"… at Malfoy Manor during the next Hogsmeade visit?" the twins clarified, questioningly.

Bella shrugged. "I suppose so," she replied, sighing, only to add as an afterthought, "As much as I enjoyed the morning in Hogsmeade, I think I'm going to feign sick the next time."

"Wouldn't it be better to inform our parents about this, so that they can inform the Department of Magical Law Enforcement?" Molly spoke up.

"Remember your oath," Arthur warned her. "You can't speak about it, as long as Bellatrix won't allow you to do so, and she certainly won't. If anyone finds out that it was her who told us, they might go as far as kill her."

Bella gave Arthur a grateful nod. "The Aurors won't be able to do anything about it anyway," she stated. "Abraxas Malfoy certainly invited the Dark Lord to Malfoy Manor, and if the Aurors tried to do anything against him or the purebloods, they or even the manor itself would be able to hurt them badly if not worse."

"Excuse me," Edward spoke up, questioningly, "what can a building do to kill someone? I'm sorry," he turned to Bella, "but as a muggleborn, this is difficult for me to understand."

"Bellatrix is correct," Andromeda replied, letting out a long sigh, before she explained, "The manors of the old, dark families, such as the Malfoys or, I'm sorry to say the Blacks, are integrated into the family by very strong magic. If anyone inside the building attacks the head of the family, the building itself will do anything to protect them. Even if the Aurors knew about the meeting, they would not be able to even get into the manor without invitation let alone do anything against its owners or their guests."

"I have an idea," Amelia spoke up, seemingly pensive. "My father is good friends with Unspeakable Croaker. Would you mind me informing Croaker about the matter? The Unspeakables will certainly have a way to get into the manor and attend the meeting." She looked at Bella in apparent expectation.

"That is a wonderful idea," Bella said, warmly. "I don't even think an invitation is needed to attend the meeting, as I certainly didn't know about the matter in advance. The Lestrange brothers simply abducted me there."

"Don't let anyone intercept that owl," Rita warned the fifth-year prefect, who cast her a glare in return.

"Of course not," Amelia replied, rolling her eyes in apparent annoyance. "I will simply send him a letter and ask him to come to see me at his earliest convenience, and I will tell him in private."

HP

A few days later, Amelia informed the friends that Croaker had agreed to personally attend each of Lord Voldemort's assemblies.

'Thank Merlin,' Bella thought. 'That soothes my bad conscience about the matter. I've at least informed them without anyone but my friends knowing about it.'

Nevertheless, she decided to skip the next meeting and asked the Prewett twins to somehow prank her, so that she could simply spend the morning in Madam Pomfrey's domain.

"But only the morning," she told the twins in a firm voice, "not the whole weekend."

"You can prank me too, so that the Lestranges won't become suspicious," Edward offered, and Andromeda immediately agreed.

"I'm in, too. We aren't allowed to go to Hogsmeade anyway," she added, smirking.

"Me too if you need more people," Lisa spoke up, smiling.

"Thank you all," Bella replied, feeling very much reassured by her sister's and her friends' reassurance.

HP

Even if she missed the November meeting of the Dark Lord and his followers, the next meeting took place during the last Hogsmeade visit before Christmas.

"Meet us at one o'clock in front of the Three Broomsticks," Rodolphus instructed Bella, who simply nodded in agreement.

She spent the morning with Arthur like before and profusely thanked him for keeping her and the three first-years company in the hospital wing during the last Hogsmeade day. They spent an hour buying Christmas presents for their family and friends. Afterwards, they transformed into their Animagi forms and spent a few hours roaming the outskirts of the village as invisible miniature dragons, before they met with their friends at the Three Broomsticks for lunch.

Finally, Bella excused herself, receiving pitying looks and kind words from her friends, before she met with the Lestrange brothers outside of the pub.

"All right, are you ready?" Rodolphus enquired and, upon seeing her nod, activated the portkey.

An instant later, they found themselves in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor.

'Do not attract any attention,' Bella told herself, as she absentmindedly greeted her parents and then returned to Rodolphus' side, as seemed to be expected from her.

The Dark Lord climbed onto the podium and spoke to them just like during the first meeting, and Bella slowly relaxed. 'If it's only talking, it's not so bad, even if it's all rubbish,' she thought, as she impatiently waited for the man to finish his monologue.

However, before the Dark Lord ended the meeting, he requested everyone of age, who was certain that she or he wished to follow him and receive his support, attention and wealth, to attend a branding meeting at the end of December.

"On December 31st, we shall meet here again, and everyone who shows that they are worthy of being my follower, shall receive my Dark Mark," the Dark Lord informed them. "Please tell your children to wait until they will be of age though."

'Thank Merlin,' Bella thought. 'They can't force me to take his mark, at least not yet, as I'm only thirteen. Hopefully, in four years' time, the Unspeakables will have finished this nonsense.'

She knew, however, that if not, there was no way she could refuse to take the Dark Mark, as the Lestranges would force her to accept it by any means. 'The morons would abduct me again or even put me under the Imperius curse,' she thought in annoyance. 'Perhaps, I should ask Amelia to introduce me to Croaker and ask him if there was any way to get out of a betrothal contract.'

HP

Bella immediately liked Unspeakable Croaker. While he did not reveal his face, he was very friendly and responded to her question in kind understanding.

"If I understand it correctly," he told her, however, "there is no way to cancel a contract if your parents or your head of house does not agree with it. In each contract, there usually is a clause concerning cancellation; however, in most cases, high fines apply. That means that your parents probably would have to pay a lot of money, perhaps even other fines, to get you out of the contract. Therefore, you would have to make them agree to the cancellation in the first place."

Bella let out a deep sigh. "Thank you, sir, but my parents will never agree to such a thing. My father seems incredibly proud about his daughter getting married into the Lestrange family for some reason."

"I can ask Buckbean about the matter, just to be certain," Croaker suggested. "He is a goblin, however, works closely together with the Unspeakables. If anyone was able to find a loophole, it would be him."

"But my parents or the Lestranges won't hear about it?" Bella asked in concern.

"No dear," Croaker confirmed, and while she could not see his face, she had the impression as if he was smiling at her.

"Thank you, sir," Bella replied, returning a smile.

"I believe that I owe you a thanks for informing me about the meetings at Malfoy Manor," Croaker replied in a firm voice. "I appreciate it very much, as do the other Unspeakables. If you, in the worst case, have to take his mark, the Unspeakables know that you did not willingly agree to it and might ask you to spy on his followers, considering that I would be happy if I did not have to take it solely for the reason of spying."

Bella nodded in understanding. "Yes sir, I understand, and if I must take the Dark Mark, I will be ready to spy for the Unspeakables, provided that no one will get to know about it."

"The Unspeakables will keep your secret," Croaker promised. "Shall I provide you with a Portkey to the Unspeakables' office in case you need to contact me urgently?"

"I am a Miniature Obsidian Magic Dragon Animagus," Bella admitted. "I should be able to puff myself into the Unspeakables' office if necessary."

"Ask Amelia to teach you how to send a Patronus," Croaker instructed her, and Bella nodded in agreement, before the Unspeakable cancelled all the silencing charms he had applied to the unused classroom and took his leave.

'How cool is that?' Bella thought, when she returned to the library to meet with her friends. 'Whatever happens, in the worst case, I can simply become a spy for the Unspeakables.'

HP

On New Year's Eve, Bella and Andromeda observed together with their sister Narcissa how their parents got ready for their meeting with the Dark Lord.

"Can I go with you?" nine-year-old Narcissa asked, pleadingly. "If it's such an honour like Father said earlier, I'd love to watch.

"No, my dear, your sisters can't come either, because tonight's meeting is only for adults," their mother replied, casting her youngest a pitying look.

"I wouldn't even want to attend," Bella informed her sisters, once their parents had left.

"Nor would I," Andromeda added in a firm voice.

"I would," Narcissa emphasized, glaring at her sisters. "The two of you are boring," she complained, letting out a deep sigh.

"I suppose," Bella quipped, causing Andromeda to grin.

Shortly before midnight, their parents returned, and Bella realised in shock that both were clutching their left arms as if they were in pain.

"Are you all right?" she asked in concern.

"Of course," her father replied in a firm voice. "It is a great honour to work for the Dark Lord. As soon as you will be of age, you will take his mark, too, so that Lord Lestrange will not be able to complain."

Her mother merely nodded her consent.

HP

Only when school commenced again two days later, Bella heard in the common room that every wizard, who wanted to take the Dark Mark, had to murder a muggle, before the Dark Lord would accept them as his follower and grant them the Dark Mark.

"What about the witches?" Andromeda asked, timidly.

"I don't know," the seventh-year, who had spread the news, replied, shrugging. "I am not a witch."

HP

Even if neither of them except for a few seventh-years, who were already of age, had been able to take the Dark Mark yet, the students coming from the dark families were still supposed to attend the meetings that were taking place during their Hogsmeade visits.

To Bella's relief, the meetings always took place after lunch, when their group of friends used to roam the village together, and it never took longer than an hour.

'At least I can spend the mornings with Arthur,' she thought, feeling extremely happy about the time, which she could spend alone with the Gryffindor.

It was on a sunny day at the end of May that Arthur led her onto a playground, which they had once discovered in their dragon forms.

=Would you mind transforming back into your human form for a moment?= he asked, unexpectedly.

=Of course,= Bella replied and immediately transformed, while Arthur followed swiftly.

"Bella," Arthur spoke up, gently taking her hand into his own, "you're a beautiful young witch, and I like you very much. I'm sorry, I am not good at this. Anyway, I know that you're betrothed to Rodolphus, but I still hope that you'll manage to cancel the contract with him, before it's going to take effect. Would you perhaps like to become my girlfriend, even if only unofficial and in secret for the time being?"

"I'd love that," Bella blurted out and happily accepted that Arthur slid a small, silver ring onto the ring finger of her left hand.

"It's only a friendship ring," he told her, pointing out that he was wearing the same ring on his own finger, "but it'll enable us to converse by telepathy and to get informed when the other is in danger."

"Thank you," Bella replied, feeling absolutely ecstatic at the idea of being Arthur's girlfriend. "I like you, too," she admitted, "and I will do so always, even if I don't know what's going to happen. With the betrothal contract and all," she added, letting out a long sigh.

"I know," Arthur replied, before he leaned closer and pressed his lips against her mouth in a gentle kiss.

HP

Their friends were the only students, who heard about them being girlfriend and boyfriend, and everyone was very happy for them. Bella could tell that Molly's happiness was only feigned and that the girl was extremely upset at the matter.

'So sorry, but I won,' she thought, inwardly grinning. 'I only wished that I could do something about that betrothal contract.'

Not trusting the annoying redhead to keep the matter a secret, she unobtrusively and wandlessly cast a spell at the girl that made her unable to speak with anyone about the matter. 'Otherwise, she might tell the Lestrange brothers just to have them separate me from Arthur,' she thought.

HP

Unfortunately for Bella, as the sister of two capable twin brothers with overflowing ideas, Molly had other means to retaliate.

tbc ?

Thanks to the few kind readers for reviewing the previous chapter. Please share your thoughts about this story with me.