This is being cross-posted from Ao3. It was originally posted on 15 February 2020.

Huge thank you to GaeilgeRua for allowing me to use her Grammarly to beta this. Any other mistakes are definitely my own.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling, Bloomsbury, and Warner Bros. Marvel belongs to Disney. No copyright infringement is intended.

Prompt: #MMFRollAThon 2019 - Villains Roll: Bellatrix/Life Debt + Marvel Character and #MMFBingo19 B2: "Legilimens"

The Winter Soldier wandered listlessly through the strange little village he'd stumbled upon out of nowhere. Glancing back and forth, he noticed that most of the inhabitants wore strange attire and seemed to fear his presence even though they had no idea he was more than a mere human. Or, perhaps they did. The world was full of a myriad of strategies. He had learned that first-hand many years ago…

As he continued to ponder this question, the Soldier suddenly had the sneaking suspicion that he was being watched. Slowing his step, he pretended to peer into the store window of a little shop while using its reflection to further observe his surroundings. To him, nothing seemed amiss, and so he decided to leave the village and make camp in the woods out past the country road.

He would come back at night to break into the shops for supplies. Currently trekking through England, he had a few days before he was set to return to Siberia. Satisfied that he was not followed, the Soldier finds a small cave in which to rest and decides to sleep while he can. It won't be long before he leaves this area, after all.

Not expecting to fall into such a deep sleep, the Winter Soldier was entirely blown away to discover that someone had managed to sneak up on him. It was now fully dark, and a wild-eyed woman was standing above him, pointing what he could only surmise to be a wand at his face. Slowly, carefully, he stood, assessing the situation.

"Who are you?" The question was hissed at him in the darkness. "And why are you here?"

"You don't want to do this," he said by way of reply, already planning his escape. She may have a magic wand, but he was the Winter Soldier. He was trained to kill if he needed to. It didn't matter that the person threatening him was a woman. He will dispose of her if need be.

"I will only ask you once more," the woman sneered. "Who are you?" When the Winter Soldier made as if he wasn't going to comply, she waved her wand and shouted, "Legilimens!"

Immediately, he felt as if she'd entered right into his mind. Memories he hadn't thought of in years began to flash before his mind's eye. It wasn't often or ever that he felt fear, but there was a fear lurking within him now. This witch had indeed released something within him, and there was nothing he could do about it.

As she rifled through his mind, the Winter Soldier felt strange. It was almost as if she were unlocking doors that he had long since forgotten existed. As if seeing it from outside his body, he fell to his knees, the cold ground barely registering as he collided with it. Two hands, one regular and one metal, desperately grasped at his head as those doors were suddenly thrown open, and memories flooded his mind.

If he was screaming, he had no idea… His throat felt raw, and his head felt like it was about to explode. Faces of the people he'd murdered as a slave to HYDRA haunted him, as well as the faces of people he suspected knew him before his hideous transformation into the Winter Soldier. James Buchanon Barnes. A name he suspected was his own reverberated through his skull. No, wait… Bucky.

That was it. His name was Bucky, and he was a soldier in the 107th Infantry. He wasn't this monster… Or was he? No! Another name was coming through the painful fog now… Steve Rogers. Captain America. His best friend. 'Til the end of the line… That quote rocked him to his very soul. Bucky had fallen from that train and lost his arm and almost his life...

As quickly as the onslaught had been brought on, it was gone, and he was left a shivering, broken, and sobbing mess on the forest floor. The woman was still standing above him, but now her wand was lowered, and her eyes seemed more fearful than threatening. He tried to sit up, to move at all but found he was too shaken.

"What did I do to you?" she asked in a hushed voice.

Coughing to clear his throat, the Winter Soldier- No, Bucky, pushed to his knees and then a standing position. "I think… I think you just freed my mind from whatever has been controlling it all these years."

"You're a murderer," the woman said, seemingly stunned at the idea.

"Not of my own doing," Bucky said and wiped at the sweat that had gathered along with his brown. He was both hot and cold at the same time. Water. He needed some water from his pack. "Now that you know who I am, can you explain who you are and why you were holding a wand at me?"

Glancing briefly at her wand, Bellatrix said, "My name is Bellatrix. I suppose you've realized I am a witch. I live here with my new husband."

Bucky now rubbed his hand over his still pounding head. "What was that spell? I don't have magic. Just super strength."

"It was a mind-reading spell," the witch explained, her eyes never leaving Bucky's face. "I wanted to know who you were and why you were here."

"I was going to tell you," Bucky said and then grimaced. "Or, at least, I hope I would have."

"After seeing what was in your head, I'm not sure what would have happened. What do you think happened?"

"I think that your magic managed to release me from whatever hold those bastards at HYDRA had on my mind," Bucky said and rubbed again at his skull. "Whatever it was, I have to thank you. I owe you my life, I think."

Bellatrix merely shrugged. "Well, then, I suppose I am glad to have helped." Glancing around at the dark forest and visibly shuddered. "I need to be going, but I hope-" She paused here and again looked around the dark forest.

Sensing as if Bellatrix wasn't telling him something important and that she may be in danger the longer she remained in the forest, Bucky backed away and grabbed for his pack. "I need to keep moving. I had someplace I needed to be, but now I may need to go into hiding to get away from those people."

"Look, whatever you do, you should get far away from here," Bellatrix warned him. "I may not be the only one who saw you and wondered exactly what you were up to."

Buky could understand that. "I owe you my life," he said as he slipped his pack onto his back. "Now, you know my name. Someday, you may need something important, find a way to contact me, if you can, and I will get to you."

"Thank you," Bellatrix said with a small smile as she watched him begin to leave. "I will do just that."

Bucky nodded and then quite suddenly, Bellatrix was gone. With one more look around the dark forest, Bucky decided to get out of there as quickly as possible. He was thankful for Bellatrix's help, but he didn't want to linger with her warning fresh in his sensitive mind. He would repay his debt someday, though. He promised himself that.

To this day, no one is quite sure who exactly it was that broke Bellatrix Lestrange and the other Death Eaters out of Azkaban in January of 1996.