Round : Eight
School : Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry
Year : Three
Theme : King's Cross
Main Prompt : [Plot Point] Unlikely Friendship
Additional Prompts : [Word] Superior
Special Rule :
Word Count : 1002
You are Bellatrix Lestrange.
(You were Bellatrix Black once upon a time not very long ago. You were very different then.)
Currently, you are torturing your childhood best friend and her husband in their own home, Alice's screams filling the hallways like a nightmare that neither of you cannot escape from.
You are not quite certain what you are feeling, watching her suffering like this at your own hand.
You are not quite certain how you could have fallen so far either. You used to be different, brighter. You used to enjoy things in a life which did not involve torturing or murdering people. You used to be someone Alice Fawley would have gladly called her best friend as you two would walk around the castle halls hand in the hand, laughing about the misfortune of others. Alright, so maybe you have never been an adorable sunshine like Andromeda had been. But you have been a better person that you are now.
You realize that this is wrong, but it is simply far too late to decide to turn back right now. Nobody you had ever loved is willing to forgive you now after everything you have done to them.
Not even aunt Walburga.
("You killed him!" She had screamed at you during the funeral of your baby cousin, falling to her knees. "You killed my boy! I never should have convinced him that listening to you was the right choice. My beautiful boy!" You would never have thought she had cared until then, what would happen to him, to either of her sons but then again, she had never been the type to show such any weakness, let alone one like this.)
"Bella, please!" Alice screams against your force yourself to shut your eyes and endure, your wand at her throat. You try not to flinch at the sound of her voice. "Bella!"
("Bella!" Young Alice Fawley ran through the forest, always the quick one on her feet. You could never quite catch up to her. "Try to catch me!" But no matter how much you try, she was always too far to reach, like a sunshine which shone too bright for you to handle. You give up trying half way through, satisfied to stand there in the darkness.)
"Bellatrix," your husband says, his dark eyes falling on you quite worryingly. "It's okay. We can handle it from here." His words are reassuring, but you shake your head, forcing a small smile.
You have started it, you might as well finish it. It isn't like there is much of a choice around the matter either.
("Rodolphus Lestrange, I assume?" There is a smirk on your lips when you greet him, a tobacco in the hand.
His answering grin is a heart stopping as he bends down to put a single lingering kiss on your hand. "And you are, of course, Lady Bellatrix. I have heard so many things about you, Lady Bellatrix."
"All scandalous, I hope?"
He winks. "Most certainly.")
You resist the urge to shut your eyes again, and silently mutter, "Crucio." And she screams again, making your heart twist painfully in your chest. "Crucio." She suddenly pulls at the hem of your dressing robes with her small fingers, those blue eyes staring up at you determinedly. It's as if she is trying to let you know that she would not lose regardless of whatever you would do to her.
You wish, selfishly, that she would just give up and make it all easier on you, but then again Alice had never been the one to make their jobs easier for the other people.
("You really believe that?" Alice was swinging her legs up and down as she sat on the wooden desk of the abandoned classroom. "That we are superior to muggles?"
You stop chewing on the candy in your mouth to stare at her disbelievingly. "Of course I do." You raise your eyebrows at her in the challenge. "Are you saying you do not?" Alice laughs as if that's the funniest thing she had ever heard, but ever since that day, you could not stop the sinking feeling that she was hiding something very important from you.)
Your hands go against the wood of your wand even tighter than before as you force yourself to focus on every lie she had told, every way she had betrayed you. "You betrayed me." The words feel strange against your tongue, for after all, you are the last person who should accuse anyone of betrayal. You have betrayed many in your lifeline, all because you can never refuse your lord, can never think to disobey any wish he may have.
Even if it meant it came with the cost of losing your soul.
("Alice, my Alice, tell me that you are joking."
But Alice shakes her head, pulling her hand from your hands. "I do not care what you say, Bella." She sighs, looking tired. "I am marrying Frank."
"Longbottom?" You frown. "But what about Rabastan?"
"That was never my choice, and you know that, but Frank is my choice." She goes to stalk away before you can say anything else.)
Alice's screams die at her throat, but her eyes are still open. She is still breathing, still alive. Only the light in her bright, blue eyes had been replaced with a certain dimness, with an emptiness that if you had a heart left, would have broken your heart. You move slowly towards the ground to touch her face lightly with the tip of her fingers, tears you never would have shed had it anywhere else, begging for forgiveness she can no longer give you. "I am sorry, Alice," you say, but there is very little weight to your words. "I wish there was another way. I am so very sorry." With one last look at you, Rodolphus leaves with Barty and Rabastan in the tow (they must be done with Frank), shutting the door on their way out.