Fall into Darkness

Chapter 20: Appeasement

It had been almost a year since Hermione had 'convinced' her that getting a job would be good for her. And it had been over a year since she had started a part-time job at 'Sorcerous Sundries'. 'Sorcerous Sundries' was a general store servicing the needs of wizarding population of Helena. Helena had a muggle population of 60.000 and a wizarding population of just over a hundred. As such the store didn't get all that many visitors. That was, until Bellatrix had questioned Hermione about a delivery of books to their house one day.

Hermione had explained that she had ordered those books from a store 'online' and then had them delivered to their house. It had given her an idea which she discussed with the owner of the store. The store's business model had changed significantly since then: 'Sorcerous Sundries' had changed into a 'floo-delivery'-service store. Customers would put in orders through owl or floo and, once the orders had come in, Bellatrix would simply package the orders up with a small cantrip, yell the address and toss them into the fireplace. That way, the store was able to service a much larger area with far less effort involved.

These days, 'Sorcerous Sundries' was mostly a warehouse with a much smaller storefront left which only those magical folks living in the neighborhood still visited. However, the store was more profitable than ever. Best thing yet, Bellatrix could spend most of her time at work writing, painting or even cooking at the small pantry because she would simply wait for enough orders to come in and then send out the boxes at set times.

In fact, she was doing just that when the store owner came in. Toussaint Gervais was a truly old African-American wizard who was close to his bi-centennial birthday and had a grey beard which reached to his belt, to a point that the kids in the neighborhood had started calling him 'Black Gandalf' which apparently amused the old wizard to no end. "Ah, that smells wonderful," he spoke with a gravely Southern twang.

Bellatrix removed the tray from the oven and put it in the window to cool. "Proper English sticky toffee pudding. Fresh from the oven. You're welcome to a slice, but let it cool a bit first."

"I've been meaning to talk to you, Bellatrix," said Toussaint as the two of them stepped back into the warehouse where the stored good were held on shelves. Plenty of empty boxes stood next to Bellatrix's workstation. An owl had just flown in through the small flap made in the side of the building and dropped another order on top of the pile in her inbox. Next to the big floo another stack of orders had been forming. Bellatrix quickly counted twenty at the least and would have to start packing up more boxes soon.

"Oh?" asked Bellatrix. "If this is about me throwing out that shoplifter out on her ear…"

"Oh, no, no, no," said Toussaint. "Thing is. Amelia and I have been talking it over and, well, we've decided to go back to Louisiana soon. The place we were both born."

Bellatrix frowned, stopping in her tracks. "You're leaving Montana?"

"When a man's twilight years come, it is time to return to one's roots," said Toussaint. "You might not think it now, but there will come a time when you feel the end is near and you will want to return to the land of your birth. Such times have come for us now. That only leaves the fate of the store."

Bellatrix sighed, glancing around the warehouse and the boxes. "Well. It was good while it lasted, I suppose."

Toussaint's eyebrows raised in surprise. "No, no, no, Bellatrix, I'm not planning to close the door. I'm planning to sell it. To you, in fact."

The dark witch frowned for a moment. "Me? Why?"

"Why not? You're practically running the store already. You've turned an ailing shop which was becoming more of a financial burden into something thriving," he said. "I'd say you've earned a first chance at taking it over. And from what you've told me, you can easily afford it. Don't worry, I won't price-gouge you. Fair market price, I promise."

Bellatrix looked around. "My… store. My store?" she let the idea, almost alien to her, roll through her head.

Toussaint smiled. "You don't have to decide right now. It's a big decision. Talk it over with Hermione. And say hi from me while you're at it."

The idea of becoming the proper owner of 'Sorcerous Sundries' was never far off her mind for the rest of her working hours packing boxes. Or writing. Or painting. Or cooking. In fact, when it was time to knock off work early in the afternoon, she packed what remained of the sticky toffee pudding, changed into her running kit and began her afternoon run, it was still on her mind. She ran through the streets of Helena, across bridges and rivers, through fields until the ranch was in sight.

The ranch. Her home. Their home. By now she had fully acclimatised and fully embraced living in Montana as her permanent home. Or, at least, until her twilight years if Toussaint was to be believed. Bellatrix rushed into the house and only then stopped running. She kicked off her shoes, dropped her kit and entered the shower near the mudroom to get rid of her running sweat. The shower was always unbelievably comforting to her muscles after a long run. Still, from the constant exercise her body was in peak physical condition for a woman her age… only more evident in the fact that her wonderful Hermione simply loved to run her hands over her abs and the sculpted muscles of her legs. A nice bonus for living healthy right there.

She excited the shower wearing a comfortable robe and was still drying her curly hair with a cantrip when she made her way further into the house. "Pet, are you in?" she called. No answer.

Of course, she would find Hermione in her library office, a large room filled with overflowing bookcases. Not behind her desk, Hermione was sat in her cozy reading nook: a bay window with soft satin seats, pillows and a comforter, looking out on their lovely English garden outside the window. As expected, Hermione was with her nose in a book. It was a book Bellatrix had seen Hermione reading before, catching the title. 'The Creator's Dilemma'. Odd. Hermione was a quick reader and she went through books faster than Anathema Zabini went through husbands. To see her reading the same book for several days was… odd. Was she rereading it? That would be even stranger.

She dismissed the notion for now as there were more important issues to deal with. "Ah, pet, here you are," she grinned. "First, I have a fresh batch of sticky toffee pudding meant for your stomach. Second, Toussaint is selling the store. To me! Can you believe that? Bellatrix Black, respected business owner. How about that, hm? Those stuffy idiots in charge of the Program will have to be to be impressed by that."

Hermione looked up from her book, the same look of disdain and concern she had had for some time now.

"Still?" Bellatrix sighed heavily. "It's been two days!"

"You almost killed those boys, Belle…" Hermione spoke matter-of-factly.

Bellatrix let out a frustrated groan. "We've gone over this! Again and again! They were trespassing. They were destroying our property!"

Scant two days ago, during a power failure, there had been a commotion outside. Three teenage boys she didn't recognise had climbed over the fence and were kicking over flower-pots in their garden. The English garden which she had Pete landscape to combat Hermione's homesickness, the very English garden Hermione had been looking at just moments ago. Bellatrix had gone outside to confront them. The boys, high on whatever meth or alcohol they had taken, had made the mistake of further provoking Bellatrix. Her reaction had been… violent.

"They got off lightly!" Bellatrix challenged. "They were threatening us first! If they'd had tried that at Pete's house, he'd have shot them dead on the spot!"

"You are not Pete!" Hermione retorted sharply. "And Pete isn't in a strictly regimented Rehabilitation Program! God, if I hadn't stepped in…"

Bellatrix grit her teeth, letting the anger roll off her back as per the many exercises Hermione had taught her to control her temper. "I was well within my rights to defend myself, you and our house!"

Hermione shook her head. "You went much further than just defending yourself and you know it! God, don't you realize what position you put me in?! I wiped those kids minds, I falsified the records, I'm hiding things I'm supposed to report! Because I know what will happen if I do!"

Rage bubbled to the surface. "FINE!" Bellatrix yelled back. "I COCKED IT UP! AND I'M SORRY! How many bloody times to you want me to say it?!"

Hermione threw the book to the side, jumped up and rushed towards Bellatrix to her firmly in the eye! "As many times as it takes for it to get through that thick skull of yours that you can't do that anymore! Not now, not tomorrow, NOT EVER! Because if you do and I'm not there to stop you, they'll clap in irons and ferry you straight back to prison for the rest of your life and I can't bear the thought of losing you like that because I LOVE YOU SO BLOODY MUCH!"

Before Bellatrix could respond, Hermione threw herself in her arms, crushing her lips against hers. The kiss was wild, demanding and possessive. Hermione was relentless, kissing her like a madwoman while yanking her robe open. Bellatrix felt herself being pushed onto the divan. Hermione dove on top of her, pinning down. Her girl straddled her as she rose herself up and lifted her jumper over her head, revealing creamy skin and lovely breasts.

Bellatrix would let Hermione ravish her. She needed it. Hermione was living proof of the cliche that good girls were naughty and perverted behind closed doors. This was both evidenced by the sheer number of toys she had locked away in their bedroom closet, but also her appetites. Hermione was almost always up for sex, to a point that it had become a stress relief for her. And, ever since the incident the upset Hermione had been denying herself. Well, Bellatrix would let her girl ravish her today, as she seemed to really need it.

Hermione made love to her as if she were a passionate wild animal. Only after she'd had her fill did Bellatrix return the favour, pleasuring her in a much slower though no less passionate pace. They lay there spent on the divan underneath a comforter, Bellatrix being the big spoon as Hermione's back lay pressed against her. Her girl was still panting from the exertion, staring out the windows to their English garden.

"What are you really afraid of, hm?" Bellatrix asked with the gentlest tone she could muster while gently stroking Hermione's neck and shoulder, pushing some brown hair away.

Hermione closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. Her voice wavered a little. "You've made so much progress the past ten years. It's beyond amazing. It's like you're a different person, in a way. That was you. All you. Your hard work."

"And yours."

"And that's the problem. I am. There's still one thing that can set you off. One thing that can bring out the Bellatrix of the past. And it's me."

"You?"

Hermione body started to shake as she sobbed. "You had everything under control. Everything. You stood there in front of those boys, fended every quip, forcefully told them to leave or you would call the police. Perfectly normal reactions. But then… one of those boys made the mistake of calling me a bitch. And you just… lost it. If… If I hadn't stopped you… I…"

Bellatrix sighed. "So that's what this is all about."

"One day I'm not going to be there," said Hermione. "Or I'm going to be to slow to respond. And then you might do something you can't take back. They'll throw you out of the Program and lock you up for the rest of your life. All your hard work will be undone, all your freedoms taken away. I'll lose you and it'll be all my fault…"

"Sssshhh," whispered Bellatrix, nibbling on her ear. "You worry to much about things that might happen. This is just another hurdle. You'll come up with a plan or a therapy or whatever it is you psychologists do and we'll work on it. You never gave up on me and I'll never give up on you. Because you're mine, little girl and don't you forget it."

Hermione laughed in spite of herself. "You always know what to say, Belle."

"Does that mean I'm your therapist now? Bit of an odd role-reversal."

"I think we've been good for each other over the past years, no?" Hermione whispered back just as Bellatrix leaned over to kiss her on the lips. Hermione giggled briefly before the two of them lay together for a bit longer. She had gotten quite comfortable holding her girl over the years.

"Belle?" asked Hermione. "I… I think we need a vacation."

"A vacation?"

"Yeah," said Hermione. "There's this place I've read about called Bright Falls, in Washington State."

"Washington?"

"It sounds lovely and quiet. There's mountains and wonderful forests."

Bellatrix snorted. "We have mountains and forests right here. It doesn't sound very different."

"You know what I mean," Hermione protested. "It's just… after all that's happened, it'll be good to get away from it all and have a bit of a change of scenery, don't you agree? We haven't had a vacation in two years, I think. Not since we got our green cards. We never celebrated that anyway."

Bellatrix smiled. "Fine, if it pleases you. But I have to ask Toussaint for some time off. Or just buy the store and give myself time off."

If Hermione wanted to go to Bright Falls, Bellatrix had no objections. Hermione always knew what was best for them and, well, it had been a long time since they had gone somewhere different. It might be quite nice to have a little cabin in the woods for a week or so. She was starting to like the idea of visiting this 'Bright Falls' town more and more already.

Bellatrix opened her eyes, finding herself sat on the mattress where Nymphadora had lain. Her back was a little stiff from sleeping while sat against cold concrete, but otherwise she felt surprisingly well-rested. And, honestly, she felt as if was going to need it.

Max had fallen asleep next to her and she took a moment to pet the dog who promptly wagged tail in his sleep. Bellatrix felt as if things would come to a head soon and now that she had her wand back, the odds had been somewhat evened. She wasn't going to question how her own wand ended up put in a shoebox in the Seventies and locked in a vault filled with lightbulbs guarded by a crazy lady for almost forty years. All she needed to know that she had it and that she needed to go to Cauldron Lake.

Around her, the others were either also sleeping or milling about. Nymphadora seemed to be up and about, pacing impatiently as she did. Albeit with a very noticeable limp. Cynthia Weaver was still standing vigil near the round vault door, lantern in hand as always. The moment her niece saw that she was up, her eyed widened as she strode towards her. Before Bellatrix had a chance to say anything, Nymphadora grabbed her by the shoulders. "Whatever you're thinking, wherever you're going, I'm coming with you!"

Bellatrix took one look at her leg and certainly didn't miss the grimace that would form whenever her niece shifted her weight.

"No, you're not," Bellatrix shook her head. "You can barely stand. Need I remind you was a bone sticking out of your thigh scant a few hours ago."

Nymphadora opened her mouth to protest, only to almost fall over the moment she set a foot forward at an unexpected angle. The dark witch reached out and grabbed her before she could smash to the ground. The moment her niece steaded herself she ripped herself free from her grasp. "I can still…"

"You're a liability!" Bellatrix hissed, causing her niece to give her a stricken look. But there was method to Bellatrix' cruelty. During her younger days, Bellatrix had seen the worst of urban wizarding warfare. She was very much aware that the other side had a lot of eager young people who were inexperienced or injured but had insisted on joining the fight out of some misguided view on heroism. Bellatrix used to look for those people on the battlefield and picked them off… one by one… Not only did it thin the herds of the enemy, but it also forced far more competent and experienced fighters into a defensive posture since they were suddenly forced into a position where they had to watch both their own backs and that of their younger comrades. The Dark Presence was smart. Bellatrix knew it and she was certain her niece knew it too. It would undoubtedly exploit the situation and get the both of them killed or worse.

Nymphadora breathed heavily, narrowing her eyes and looked as if she was about to throw a tantrum. Until she threw up her hands and let out an elongated sigh. "FINE!" she hissed.

"Smart," Bellatrix chuckled. "Maybe there's enough Black in you after all."

"Oh, bugger off."

"I will," Bellatrix offered a glance at the door, holding up her wand.

Nymphadora motioned at the wand. "Under the circumstances, I can let you keep that, but when this is over I'm still expecting you to hand that in."

The dark witch rolled her eyes and sighed through her nose. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an eldritch horror to confront."

"It just… doesn't feel right letting you face it alone."

Bellatrix didn't miss the glance Nymphadora gave to Rose. The blonde waitress slept on the mattress, looking rather peaceful under the circumstances. Her niece had completely fallen for this woman over the course of barely a week. But then again, love did work under mysterious circumstances. "You have to protect your girl," Bellatrix smirked. "Now that is something I understand. And I also understand what you're thinking right now."

Nymphadora seemed stricken. "What do you mean?"

"You're thinking what you're going to do if fail," Bellatrix put her hands on her niece's shoulders. A slight blush appeared on Nymphadora's cheeks. "Well," Bellatrix said. "I'll tell you what you're going to do if I fail. You are going to stay in this room until daylight breaks. You are going to take Rose, Breaker, Grant and Max and you're going to find the nearest floo. Bollocks to the Secrecy Statute. All five of you are going to step through it and move yourselves to the other side of the country. Put as much distance between yourselves and that thing first and then come back with an army. Because I swear, if I won't manage to defeat that thing, an army is exactly what you're going to need."

"Arrogant…"

"What you call arrogance I call accuracy in self-assessment," Bellatrix smirked. "I'm going to defeat that creature and free Hermione or I am going to die. There is no third outcome."

Her niece looked at her intently. Rather unexpectedly, Nymphadora wrapped two arms around her and gave her an embrace. It was more than a little awkward at first. She had always been at odds with her niece, there had always been fire of hatred in her eyes. But now? Bellatrix stood there, unsure what to do at first before until she slowly raised her hands and returned the embrace. "You have changed, auntie," said her niece. "You can count on me to keep everybody safe."

After they broke the embrace, Bellatrix came to the not-unpleasant conclusion that, after over thirty years, the two of them had finally accepted each other as family. It was… a surprisingly good feeling.

"Do you even have a plan?" Nymphadora chuckled as the two of them started walking towards the round vault door where Cynthia was stood vigil.

"You read the page from the box too," said Bellatrix. "I'm going back to the lake to finish this. I'm going to write an ending to this story on my own terms."

"Why can't you just write it here?"

"Don't you get it, it's not the diary, it's the lake! I need to be at the lake or nothing will change! It needs to be done right. Zane tried to cut some corners and it didn't end well for him! And we'll all still suffering for it!"

Nymphadora sighed, finally accepting the truth of what had to be done. "Good luck, auntie. Stay alive."

Weaver was expecting her to leave. Though it was rather hard to keep track of time in a closed off room without windows, Weaver assured her that it was morning. Good. That should make travel a lot easier. The vault door opened with consummate ease, swinging into the corridor. With wand in hand, Bellatrix stepped into it. The corridor was quite a bit darker and, after having spent half a night in the Well-Lit Room, her eyes had to adjust to the darker space. She was half expecting to be jumped by shadow-creatures yet again. Thankfully, the corridor remained mercifully silent and peaceful as the vault door was closing behind her. Even as light was fading away, Bellatrix took a deep breath. This must have been how Orpheus had felt when he set out to delve into the depths of the Underworld to reclaim Eurydice. Though Bellatrix would definitely hope for a better ending than he had gotten at the end of his tale.

A bark sounded behind her. Bellatrix spun around just to see Max jump through the even shrinking gap of the unrelenting vault as it closed and, for a moment, Bellatrix worried that Max might lose his tail to the door. Thankfully, no such tragedy happened and Max was sat panting in front of her, looking up with big brown eyes and a seemingly happy expression on his face.

Bellatrix closed her eyes and sighed, a smile forming on her lips. "Well, well, well," Bellatrix crossed her arms. "I guess you're coming with me then."

"Arf!"

"Very well," said Bellatrix. "You're probably more useful than Nymphadora anyway."

"Arf!" confirmed Max.

Together, the witch and her dog walked towards the service elevator and the surface beyond, knowing full well that daylight would likely not be enough to protect them.

Once the elevator reached the top, Bellatrix and Max were met with a scene of absolute devastation. The surface of the dam was stripped of most of the asphalt while shards of jagged metal were still embedded into the concrete where they had fallen. Cracks had started to from in the side due to the massive pressures forced upon the dam, though it luckily showed no signs of breaking. All around her, not a single tree was still standing while far below, the old power station Weaver had turned into a home had been completely levelled. Bellatrix simply stood there, taking in the sights for a moment. Seeing all this, it was a bit of a comfort to see the sun rising above the mountains and feeling the warmth of its rays on her skin.

If she had to hazard a guess, Cauldron Lake was easily a day of travel away on foot. She sighed and set off into the right direction.

"You know, Max," Bellatrix told her travelling companion as he sauntered next to her, often stopping to sniff some of the fallen debris. "There's a couple of reasons why someone might cause such devastation. When I first escaped Azkaban, I went on a complete rampage. I took out fourteen years of pain and misery on those weaker than me. I found the closest muggle town and rained destruction upon then. I wasn't even trying to kill them, no, that wouldn't be fun. I needed to let loose. Hermione taught me how shameful and self-destructive that behaviour is."

The dog looked up at her, cocking his head slightly.

"Another reason might be simply taking out its anger on the surroundings when it couldn't get to us," said Bellatrix. "Or maybe it's just something we can't understand because that thing is so alien to us. I suppose it doesn't matter. What I do know is that it knows we're coming. And it has all the advantage."

Bellatrix was quickly getting frustrated. Some quick calculations in her head and she concluded she could never be able to reach Cauldron Lake before nightfall even if she managed to jog all the way there. Of course that would also leave her far too exhausted to put up a proper fight. Holing up for the night and waiting until next morning wouldn't do either: the creature would come and find her. Considering the current state of the world, it would crush every place she could possibly hide in. She was at a bit of a frustrating impasse.

It was then that she spotted a Range Rover at the side of the road, flung nose-first into a ditch. Aside from a few dents, the car seemed to be intact and in working order. Hell, the keys were even left in the ignition and there was no sign of the driver. The dark witch quickly used her wand to raise the car from the ditch and onto the road.

Oh, she could have done that in a few seconds, but the feeling of magic flowing through her arms and into her wand to a single point of power was a feeling she hadn't felt in years. So she wanted to savour it.

Almost on a whim, she sat down in the driver's seat and wondered just what the hell she was doing. She had never learned how to drive. Hermione did, of course, but she herself had never seen the need. And yet… she looked at the dashboard. The clutch, the wheel, the gauges, the foot pedals… she knew what all these meant and what all these did. She put her hands on the wheel and it felt familiar. She leaned back in the seat and it felt as if she should be there. Bellatrix reached over to the seatbelt and clicked it in place, almost instinctively.

Bellatrix… knew how to drive.

Her mind went back to her alcohol-induced fever dream, her escape from the cabin. She had driven Hermione's car… and she had told herself at the time 'how hard could it be?' after having seen Hermione do it so often before. But could it really be that? She had driven Hermione's car for quite a long stretch until, well, until she regained consciousness and promptly crashed.

The dark witch wasn't about to question it. She had a problem and this car offered a solution to that problem. She'd sort out the why of it later.

Max, by now, had sat himself down in the passenger seat and looked ahead through the windshield. Bellatrix gave him a sideway glance and waved her hand. The seatbelt emerged and folded neatly over the dog's chest, clicking into place. And so, Bellatrix started to drive. The car moved forward, slow at first, until Bellatrix realized it just came natural to her as if she had driven for decades. She smiled and thought of Hermione, and how impressed she was going to be. Of course, the Range Rover was quite a bit bigger than Hermione's beloved Toyota Sienna.

"Well, look at that," Bellatrix told the dog next to her. "Maybe Hermione won't be so angry that I wrecked that car of hers if I give her this one."

"Arf," replied Max.

Bellatrix bit her lip. "You're right. What the hell happened to this car's driver?"

And so, the witch and her dog drove through the mountains, passing lodges, logging camps and fields. It quickly became clear that the devastation she had witnessed as the dam wasn't merely local. It was everywhere she looked and guessed it would be so all the way back to the lake. Decimated forests, destroyed buildings, strange crop circles in the fields of grain. All was eerily silent as well. There were so many abandoned cars at the side of the road or on the road that Bellatrix often had to swerve the Range Rover around them. So far, hers was the only moving car on the road.

"Wuf."

"You're asking the right question," Bellatrix said. "What happened to the people?"

Truth be told, Bellatrix had a fair idea what had happened to them.

The dark witch increased speed. For now, she had to take advantage of the sunlight to get to the lake. But aside from Max, she was utterly alone, in daylight, surrounded by the Pacific West landscape which, despite all the destruction, still held its beauty. Being alone filled her heart with a nagging doubt. What's been happening to her was insane, that much was clear. Could it be that Hartman was right? That all of this could be a story playing out in her head? That she had gone mad with grief over Hermione's drowning?

Perhaps she was still at the Lodge, under Hartman's 'gentle' care. Maybe she had never left and all of this was a medicine induced fever dream. Maybe she was still dead drunk on the floor of the Anderson farm. Or perhaps she had never left Azkaban and the past twenty years had been nothing but a fantasy in her head so she could cope.

Bellatrix decided that it didn't matter. Fantasy or not, her course was set and there was only one way forward.

"Arf," sounded next to her.

Bellatrix chuckled, reaching over to rub his head. "I always wanted a dog like you, Max," said Bellatrix. "Ever since I was a little girl. I'd daydream about running through the yard, throwing balls, having fun finding sticks, all that good stuff. But then Andy had her allergies and then my life went to shit after Hogwarts. Well… and now here you are. Better late than never, ey, Max?"

"Wuf."

"You know, Max," said Bellatrix. The golden retriever next to her sat panting and wagging his tail. "I think I finally understand why you were never adopted. You simply didn't let yourself be adopted."

"Wuf," replied Max.

"Because you're a free spirit. Just like I am. We are kindred souls, you and I."

"Wuf!"

"Oh, make no mistake," said Bellatrix. "You are coming home to the ranch with us. But I'm not going to tie you down. I will enchant the back door to open and close for you so you can come and go as you please. If you want to spend your nights lying at the foot of our bed, you're welcome to do so. But if you want to run outside to chase rabbits instead, well, you can do that too."

"Wuf!" replied Max, panting a little while Bellatrix took a moment to scratch him behind the ear.

"I'm never going to put you on a leash. Never," said Bellatrix. "In fact, I sincerely apologize for allowing my niece to leash you back at the trailer park. I should have said something about it then."

"Wuf."

"But when you live with us, I will expect you to join me on my runs," said Bellatrix. "So we can both laugh at Hermione's awful endurance."

"Wuf."

Bellatrix sighed. "Of course, this is all assuming we will survive this next bloody night of horrors first."

After an hour of driving and passing more scenes of destruction, a rather frightening sight loomed in the distance: the road led to a tunnel carved into the mountains. Fearless as she was, Bellatrix wouldn't have been afraid of something silly like driving into a tunnel. But, knowing what could be lurking in the darkness of that gaping maw filled her with no small amount of trepidation. She looked over to Max and saw the dog was likewise agitated somewhat. Still, the only way through was forward so she steeled herself as the car entered the tunnel.

Moving slowly, she turned on the headlines and saw a pile-up of cars ahead in a scene not entirely dissimilar to those outside. Slowly, but certainly, she swerved around the mess. Still no people in sight, but thankfully no shadow creatures in sight either. Bellatrix breathed easily when she came out of the other hand, though for a moment she thought she was still insane.

"Bloody… what?" Bellatrix whispered to herself when she pulled the Range Rover to a complete stop. The skies above her was darker than any night sky should be. The air was thick and that awful smell assaulted her nostrils. Max started to bark and whine at the sight of acute darkness in front of them. Stranger still, Mirror Peak right next to Cauldron Lake could be seen from a short distance. But how could that be? How could any of this be? Mirror Peak should be dozens of miles away still. How was it night when the car's chronometer still said it was nearly ten in the morning?

Bellatrix looked over her shoulder and saw that she had indeed just emerged from the tunnel.

Whatever was happening, reality had started to fall apart. Bellatrix she realized she wouldn't make sense of this because this couldn't make sense.

Next to Mirror Peak, she noticed part of the sky was even darker than the rest. A column of pure vantablack living darkness spewed forth from the caldera lake forming in a mushroom cloud of darkness. It had started to rain, but rather than water, it rained more of those thick globules of living darkness. They splattered on the roads, the fields and pounded on the roof of the car. They formed splotches of darkness on the ground like the ink on a page.

So much for the easy daylight trip to the lake. "You fucking whot, mate?!" she exclaimed angrily before slamming her fists on the steering wheel in frustration.

Worse yet, she felt the Dark Presence ahead. The darkness had touched her. There was a link between them. Bellatrix closed her eyes and sighed. When she told Nymphadora her plan at the Well-Lit room, she'd acted as if she knew what she was doing. She didn't. She was operating on the shifting logic of a dream. She was going to have to fight herself to the lake. She had to write a happy ending to a horror story. She had to save Hermione from the horrors of the dark prison she was being held in. That was all that mattered now.

She pushed the peddle down and made the car speed over the road towards the lake. Faster and faster she went. All around her, the results of the Dark Presence going mental became clearer. Rusted, rotten boats fell out of the sky as she passed the ravaged countryside. These boats looked to have been underwater for ages. Detrius from the bottom of the lake, perhaps? The bottom of Cauldron Lake must have been a graveyard of things the lake had claimed in one way or another over the decades. The Dark Presence brought them up in its wake, scattering the rotten, waterlogged hull of an old boat here and the remains of a long-ago crashed airplane there. Whatever trees still standing shattered under the impact. The very earth itself groaned under the strain. This was the Dark Presence at its most powerful.

The living darkness squelched underneath the wheels of the Range Rover as she sped ever closer to Cauldron Lake, past the old coal mine, a site now utterly devastated. She drove onto the road surrounding the lake only to take in the sight of liquid darkness flowing upward into the sky, as if it was a massive spurting oil-well with the circumference of the entirety of the lake. Max started barking and growling angrily.

Bellatrix stopped the Range Rover at the remnants of the Cauldron Lake Lodge. What had once been a glorious log building had been reduced to a pile of splintered wood. If she looked carefully, she'd been able to deduce the former layout of the lodge and the remnants of a once very nice garden. As it stood, she and Max walked through what once had been the lounge to the stone deck. Though most of this deck had also been destroyed, the massive decorative sundial in the ground was still there, along with the Latin words 'In Tenebras Cadere'.

Fall Into Darkness.

Fitting.

She was so close to the maelstrom of darkness that she could almost reach out touch it. Probably not a good idea to do that. Instead, she drew her wand and let the power flow through her. It was here where she would make her final assault.

Max started to bark loudly. Indeed, it seemed the Dark Presence finally deigned to acknowledge her presence.

Shadows formed and took shape. Hundreds of them. Slowly they formed into people. Hundreds of people. Once-people. All those whom had been Taken over the course of so many years. Now they stood here once more, pale skin and dark eyes, bodies dripping with living darkness. Campers, hunters, poaches, hippies, loggers, tourists, natives. Looking at their clothing, she could see fashion from the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties, to dress going seemingly further back. Some if not most of them looked distinctively… fresher. Well, that answered the question of what happened to all the people from the abandoned cars on the road here.

At the head of it all, stood her old friend the wendigo. Missing a limb, it seemed. It looked to be ready for a rematch.

Bellatrix gripped her wand tightly, looking over the hundreds of creatures and the wall of darkness behind her. A thought came to her. Memories of a war long ago, a tactic she and her Death Eater buddies had used: Simultaneous strikes of groups of three in separate cities, doing as much damage as possible before retreating. The Death Eaters had always been a small group, but such tactics were used to make their forces seem larger than they truly are. Never play your hand in advance, keep your enemies guessing, was the tactic. Well, the Dark Presence had played its hand and suddenly things became a lot clearer.

This had all been a big show for her benefit. Oh, the creature was still powerful, that much was obvious, but all of this reeked of desperation. Luring her here, impotently causing a lot of devastation and using all its resources to try to scare her into submission.

Bellatrix turned around to face the maelstrom, a grin on her face. "You are afraid…" she whispered.

Tendrils shot out and Bellatrix instantly flitted away magically, just as a massive tentacle of darkness smashed down upon the sundial. The wendigo let out a howl and rushed forward, as did dozens of the shadow-creatures. Bellatrix raised a shield to block incoming thrown objects which the creatures were wont to toss at her, just as she avoided another incoming tentacle bearing down upon her. Her heart pounded in her chest as she felt the magic swirl inside of her of a magnitude she hadn't felt in ten years. She pumped out her wand-arm and unleashed a massive ray of light, obliterating at least half a dozen of the shadow-creatures and momentarily bathing the remnants of the lodge in bright white light.

A massive howl sounded from the maelstrom of darkness as a tentacle of living darkness swept over the deck. Bellatrix was too late to flit away and raised a shield just as it hit her. It felt as if she'd been hit by a wrecking ball and was sent flying across the ground. The dark witch rolled on impact and groaned as she got to her feet. If any bone had been broken, she didn't care and deal with it later. She raised her wand and fired off a ray of light on another inky-black tentacle about to slam down on her. She poured all her energy into it as the tentacle hung over her like a massive pile-driver. The magic burned at the darkness, bringing forth an ear-shattering roar. Bellatrix grit her teeth and let out a cry from the depths of her lungs as she fought against the massive thing pressing down upon her until she managed to push it back long enough to escape.

Max' bark alerted her to the fact that the wendigo had been sneaking up on her ever since her battle of wills and the rotting husk of a creature was uncomfortably close. She took in the situation and realized that Max harrassing him was the only reason why it hadn't reached her yet. And said creature was about to slash at the poor dog with a raised claw.

A crack sounded as a whip shot from the tip of Bellatrix' wand and wrapped around the rotting creature's wrist, holding it into place and saving the poor dog from being sliced to ribbons. Bellatrix shrieked and followed up her assault with a blast of light and a bolt of energy before the creature could recover. The creature's arm was severed just as the bolt slammed a fist-sized hole through its neck and torso.

Bellatrix let out a cackle as the wendigo started to dissolve into nothingness, deciding it was not so tough after all.

Dozens more of the shadow-creatures advanced in unison as she stood in the dark shadow of the darker column of living darkness. Bellatrix grit her teeth and went on the attack. Old soldier instincts had been returning the past few days and this was no exception. Back during the first war, there had been times when she had faced overwhelming odds. At one time, she had holed herself up in a kiosk in a tube-station and weathered an assault by ten enemy phoenix members, with most of them either ending up either in the hospital or the morgue during her escape. Just like then, she'd been acting purely on instinct, focused purely on the kill and using her deadliest spells without mercy or regrets. Two hippies were shredded, three tourists were blasted, four hunters were sent hurtling down over the edge of the platform to whatever fate awaited them. Her heart pounded in her chest as she moved with the grace of a cat from target to target.

Unfortunately, even for someone as formidable as her, there were limits to what she could handle on her own. That point was brought home rather painfully as something thrown passed through her shield. Pain shot though her body: she looked down to see a bloodied tomahawk embedded in her bicep. Bellatrix let out a cry of anger, ripped the tomahawk from her arm and threw it right back into the creature's face. She ignored the blood spewing forth from the wound and retaliated with deadly precision. Looking down at herself, it was far from the only wound she had gained so far, but it was the first one she'd actually noticed. Cuts all over her body oozed blood.

A sharp pain exploded from the back of her head and Bellatrix fell to her arms and knees. Her vision blurred as she head pounded and she forced herself to remain conscious. Panting, trying to focus, she was barely aware of the taken poacher stood over her with a club in hand. Just as the creature was about to deliver a killing blow, growls and barks became louder. When Bellatrix could form coherent thought again, she saw the creature pulling on its club while Max had his jaws firmly clamped on the other end. One quick blast from her wand and the creature dissolved into ashes. She gave the dog a quick pat and swiftly destroyed yet another shadow-creature by blasting it off the platform.

The was a rumbling behind her and the wall of darkness parted. And there is was. The Dark Presence was floating amid the living darkness, still wearing the distorted face of the girl she loved. The Thing That Was Hermione looked down upon her with an dispassionate glare. It's voice, a distorted mix of Hermione and whatever was behind the mask, reverberated through every fibre of her being. "SUBMIT! DO AS YOU ARE TOLD!"

The Thing That Was Hermione raised one hand and, from its five fingers shot tendrils as dark as night. Bellatrix was not quick enough to avoid them and felt them coil around her arm and torso. She hissed as the living darkness burned into her skin, to a point that she heard her own flesh start to sizzle. She struggled but the coils' hold was simply too great. Anger burned hotter than her flesh did as she forced her wand to point towards the Dark Presence, that Thing Which Was Hermione. Tired as she was, she poured every last bit of her energy, fueled by her burning hatred, tempered by her anger. Bellatrix shrieked as a bolt of pure light spewed forth and sped towards the creature. It howled and the world shook. Bellatrix was freed from her bonds and though the pain from her wounds was excruciating, this was the exactly opening she had been hoping for. Bellatrix got to her feet and started running to the edge of the platform while the creature was exposed and vulnerable.

Her body bruised and battered, her lungs heaving from the exertion, her clothes wet and warm with blood, Bellatrix Black locked eyes with the Darkness. She was even more determined to find the love of her life, The girl, the one person who believed in her when no one else would, had given everything for her. And Bellatrix would return the favour. She would not leave Hermione to be trapped in the depths of the lake. She would move heaven and earth itself to get her back. Though she had tried hard to shed her inner darkness, she would awaken her dormant past to strengthen herself resolve and do the things she needed to do. For years she had been a soldier in service of darkness. Now she would turn that inner darkness upon Darkness itself. She was stood there, at the edge of Cauldron Lake, diary in hand. Bellatrix had no doubts, no regrets. She was ready to finish the story.

She took one last deep breath.

And jumped.