I hate insomnia, today is gonna suck, ugh, regardless here is the end result of a sleepless night.
This is all about the Black Sisters and their place in the world, sort of an info dump but I tried to make it as compelling as possible. Something I want to make clear before anyone tries to point it out, yes Harry and Bellatrix really get each other. None of that soul mate BS but they are certainly people who have been screwed over and used enough that they are aware and thus comfortable around someone who 'gets it'.
Please, enjoy and if you feel up to it, review!
"-and after that I didn't see a real point to sticking around any longer so once Hermione gave me her blessing I threw caution to the wind and well...here I am..."
An hour after he had begun the abridged version of his life story Bellatrix found herself leaning back into the soft cushions of Andi's living room couch trying her best to absorb the freely offered information. Glancing towards the recently conjured crib housing the now napping Harriet, or rather, Violet, she eventually turned her tired gaze back towards Harry who was now fiddling around with his long empty coffee mug.
"This is... quite a bit to take in Harry. Not that I don't believe you or anything like that I just need to, well, process this..."
He scoffed at that, "Ok pull the other one, it has bells, there has to be more reason why you're buying this insane story. Or..." Smirking he met her gaze as his brows raised slightly,"You can admit to exactly what you spiked my drink with?"
Well he wasn't a dullard at least.
"Just a babbling potion and a single drop of veritaserum, enough for you to be truthful and forthright but not enough for you to spill your deepest darkest secrets. I had to be sure and all... So you knew?"
Harry gave her an incredulous look before drawling out, "You're a Black, of course I knew you wouldn't just take my word for it, but I needed you to trust me so I went along with this whole-" he twirled a finger towards the sky, "-thing." Her respect for the man before her increased slightly as she nodded slowly before replying.
"True enough, but it does bring up about ten thousand questions, primary of which is how useful is your future knowledge going to be? I mean you've only interacted with me and we've already proven how different things are between our worlds."
Harry nodded slowly at that, "True enough, you're...almost nothing like your counterpart, aside from the being obviously dangerously intelligent and drop dead gorgeous thing that is."
She preened at that a bit, Bellatrix did try after all, though curiosity finally got the better of her as she cocked her head to the side sending raven black ringlets swaying in the process.
"What was I like Harry? You really glossed over that."
He froze up then glanced away, damn the potions had obviously worn off at this point.
"I... Bellatrix do you really want more than the brief overview? It isn't pretty..."
Fiddling around with her own empty mug she eventually let out a huffing sigh before nodding to herself, "Yes... I need to know."
That is when she had her entire worldview shattered at the revelation of what one Bellatrix LeStrange had done with her life.
Psychotic Death Eater, child murderer, kin slayer, life term Azkaban convict and eventual escapee, the monster mothers warned their children about if they didn't eat their veggies, the whole nine yards as the yanks put it.
Be good or Bellatrix will come for you in the night and leave your cold corpse for your mother to find.
She was, in one word...
Ugh...
...Evil.
She was destined to be evil incarnate, or had been, if Voldemort and her father had their way, although this time around it likely would have been Andi in her position which meant...
"Andi was stronger than me... Whatever they had planned for her is what your world did to me, and instead of succumbing and becoming a...a... monster... Andromeda killed practically everyone involved and walked away from the burning house smiling..."
There was a tense silence before Harry let out a light scoff regaining Bellatrix's attention as he shot her a grin, "Come on don't sell yourself short, this is Andi we're talking about here. Can you honestly think of anyone else that would be the absolutely worst choice to try and bend to their will?"
At that Bellatrix let out a snickering laugh doing her best not to wake up Violet; no the very idea of anyone making Andromeda do something she didn't want to was ludicrous at best.
Eventually she went silent and stared up at the ceiling for a time before turning back to Harry who seemed to be lost in thought, deciding that she would rather have the wayward wizard be on her side she coughed into her hand and offered him a smile.
She didn't inwardly squeal at the fact that said smile made him blush bashfully, really.
"Would...would you like to know what makes me different from Trixie?"
Harry scoffed at that as he cocked his head to the side, "Trixie?"
She shrugged, "I despise being called that, so to be blunt the bitch deserves the designation don't you think?"
Harry was silent a moment before his cheek twitched and the right side of his face curled up into a sadistically amused smirk that just...
Ugh...down girl.
"Yeah...yeah Trixie works for the psychotic bitch, Bella."
What. The. Fuck.
Butterflies, leave stomach, now.
"Glad you approve," she stated with a nod keeping face as she crossed her legs and leaned further into the couch, "now are you interested?"
Harry stared at her a moment then nodded, so she continued on.
"Well, Andi is the real catalyst here I think. Cissa and I always looked up to her you see, she always used...heh...well your grandmother as a role model."
Harry looked surprised at that, "My grandmother?"
She nodded smiling happily at that, "Oh yes, Great Aunt Dorea was a hellcat that terrified the wits out of our father so she was most certainly someone to look up to. She actually had a war crimes trial against her along with your grandfather after the second world war. Apparently Nazi hunting was a favorite pastime of the pair."
Harry laughed a bit there, "No shit?"
She giggled in turn, "No shit, Great Uncle Charlus called the Third Reich the gift that kept on giving, it never got boring killing the fascist bastards."
Harry made a choking noise as he tried to hold in his laughter so Bellatrix continued, "Anyway father arranged a marriage to the LeStranges and Andi apparently went along with it. Her supposed obedience meant there was no rush on the subject until graduation which went as planned by her since she really had no intention of marrying the pig."
Harry cut in there, "Because she was already dating Ted Tonks right?"
She shook her head, "Engaged, actually, Ted thought the entire farce was ridiculous but he was born in the real world so that isn't surprising really."
Thinking of Hermione and her progressive views on the wizarding world with a wistful smile Harry couldn't help but agree as he motioned for her to continue on.
"Anyway after she passed her NEWTs and the school year came to an end Rudy and a few of his hangers on somehow managed to isolate Andi and proceeded to assault and molest her. I don't know the details of what happened afterwords I just know her robes were blood stained and in tatters when she stumbled into the dorms.
"Cissa and I managed to get the rags off her and got her into a bath while force feeding her potions, all we got out of her was that her assailants were, to quote, "Spider food" and then she passed out. We managed to get her cleaned, dressed, and in her dorm before anyone noticed. After that...things...well...changed for me."
She turned to meet Harry's gaze and shrugged, "I had long given up on earning my father's love and very much looked up to my sister, and with my mum giving me her silent approval I followed in her wake. She graduated top of her class, and along with her 'secret' lover disappeared from the magical world, thing is? She took me with her."
Harry tilted his head to the side at that, "Oh?"
She smiled as she stretched out catlike and kept her personal amusement to herself as the man next to her tried to discretely stare at her chest as her shirt was pulled taut before continuing.
He was both cute and fun to tease, this could...work out...
"Andi is three years older than me," she began, "I entered my OWL year after she graduated and in the wake of her betrothed ending up all kinds of corpsified the near endless marriage contract offers dried up for a time."
Harry, much to her pleasure snickered to himself at her 'corpsified' comment, preening she continued on.
"So anyway, shocker of shocks the summer after her graduation Cissa, mum, and myself were invited to a private ceremony, Andi was getting married. I'll spare you the drama, suffice it to say she was pregnant and that kid was not going to be born out of wedlock."
Harry smirked at that while nodding, "And what a kid she turned out to be."
Bellatrix tilted her head to the side a bit, Lilac eyes looking inquisitive, "Oh, you hadn't mentioned her before. What happened to my niece?"
Harry stared at her a few moments before coming to a decision, the truth always came out after all so no point in hiding it.
"Trixie murdered her and her husband..."
Bella remained silent a time before glancing away, "Oh..."
Harry perked up a few moments later, "But she became an auror, apprenticed to Mad-Eye Moody of all people, and became a vicious fighter to boot. I...Tonks and I... I think she might have been one of the few real friends I ever had honestly. I loved her, not the romantic way mind you, my grasp on that is shoddy but as family...she was there for me. She even made me Godfather of her son..."
After a time he let out a withering sigh while shaking his head and shot Bellatrix a wane smile, "Sorry, downer, please keep going."
At the thought of murdering her own niece Bella had to reel in the urge to vomit before continuing, after a time she managed to just move along.
"Right, well mum and Andi didn't trust father to not try anything with me or Cissa so they gave us both rings that could work as portkeys or emergency beacons, neither of us really thought much about it till later... Anyway for the next three years Cissa and I spent most of our hols at Andi's place and with Ted's help we kind of became..."
She paused as she tilted her head to the side before shrugging slightly, "Mugglified I suppose. Ted's mum, wonderful woman you'll like Samantha by the way, talked Cissa and I into pursuing our A levels and get our GCE's." She smirked while meeting Harry's emerald gaze, "We did so. Anyway as my NEWT exams approached my seventh year father in his infinite wisdom tried to whore me off to the Selwyns to recoup his losses from the LeStranges..."
Harry remained silent as she shook her head back and forth before letting out a sigh, "They got me, which is so Goddess damned embarrassing I can't even begin to describe it. Regardless, they blindsided me. I barely managed to activate Andi's ring before I was hit with a half dozen stunners and was dragged off to be bound to a Hades contract."
Harry's brow scrunched up a bit at that, "A Hades contract?"
For some reason it pleased her quite a bit that he'd never heard of that abomination.
"Ever read the old legands about Hades and Persephone?"
He nodded slowly then his eyes almost comically widened, "Ohhhh..."
Bellatrix snorted, "Yeah, anyway everything is a blur after that, all I remember is waking up naked bound to a table covered in blood runes and..."
Her throat tightened as she glanced to the side, "Mum, Andi, Cissa, Grandfather Arcturus, Uncle Alphard, Auntie Cassiopeia, cousins Regulus and Sirius were standing there with my father's prone form twitching in the corner, along with half of Lord Selwyn's corpse left at their feet. No idea what happened to the rest of the bastard, nor do I care."
At some point in the conversation Harry had wrapped an arm around her shoulder and she had snuggled her head into the crook of his neck, neither noticed this as she continued on.
"After that, Grandfather stripped father of all his titles and privileges, Aunt Walburga raised a shit storm about this of course so he did the same to her which was..."
Harry spoke up for the first time in a quietly pleased way, "Incredibly satisifying?"
She giggled, "You have no idea. Anyway Grandfather retook the title of Lord Black since father and Uncle Orion were seen as unfit, and since he listened to the Black Call to get me out of that mess Sirius was declared his heir. Despite what his bitch mother said otherwise about being banished from the family mind you. Anyway after graduation I said to hell with the magical world and moved in here getting a sort of hybrid Magical/Mundane education. That's me in a nutshell..."
They sat there in silence for a time before Harry eventually spoke, "Bella, all that aside for the time being, I need to track down Sirius. Everyone thinks he was my parents secret keeper and-"
She did her best not to respond to the familiar form of her name as she replied with, "And he is going to get his arse thrown into Azkaban without a trial after getting framed, I got you. Expecto Patronum!"
Her curved wand spat forth a lithe panther that stared up at her in all of its silver tinged glory.
Harry couldn't help but feel the waves of affection pulsing off of the magical creation as Bellatrix spoke to it, "Message to Sirius Black as follows, 'Get your mangy arse to Andi's now, forget the rat this is a family matter'."
With a silent roar the giant cat sprung off the ground and flew through the wall, quiet enveloped the pair as they sat there for a time before Harry broke the silence.
"Err...should we change Violet's nappy? Also shouldn't Dora be-"
There was a crash heard from up above them, then the pitter patter of little feet running down a flight of stairs before a magenta haired ball of energy stopped before the pair letting out an excited squeal of delight.
"BABY!" Nymphadora cheered as she rushed Violet's crib and pulled the raven haired toddler up into her grasping arms while laughing in delight.
Harry and Bellatrix exchanged looks, glanced back at the seven year old girl and her new prisoner, and both broke out laughing as their heads rested together.
This was the scene one Doctor Andromeda Tonks nee Black walked into, and she really didn't know what to say other than...
"Uhm...I'm going to need a drink, aren't I?"