A/N: hey guys, in honor of today being the birthday of many of the Wizarding World, I give you CHAPTER FOUR! :) i hope you enjoy it~ 3 please read, review, and all that other good stuff~
Chapter 4
*Flashback to the library*
"My Lord?"
"The prisoner has potential to be great, as I am certain you noticed." He paused, she nodded so that he would continue, he smiled in return. "You are right to think that she is more of an advantage than the rest of us had thought, myself included. I admire your ambition and appreciate the work you are doing for me, even if it stems from boredom." He stared at her for a while, assessing her, waiting for a reaction to what he said.
"Thank you for your trust, my Lord." He inclined his head to the side and resumed his speech.
"The girl reminds me a lot of you, dear Bella. She has power and skill. It is unfortunate that she is on the same side as the Trio, don't you think? I feel that it would be more beneficial to our cause if you would turn the pureblood into one of us. She would be a great match for you, dearest, regardless of her house and…gender." The Dark Lord saw Bellatrix flinch slightly, something that would have gone unnoticed by a stranger. "Do not fear, my Bella. No one else seems to think the way you have taken an interest in her has any other meaning than what you have told them, but I know you better. You are so much more then what you seem to be." Bellatrix locked her jaw and took a few deep breaths. This was not a revelation she had been willing to accept herself, and yet her Dark Lord was treating it as something he had expected. She looked in his eyes for some sign of doubt, some hint of mockery, finding nothing.
"She is dirty and sickly. Barely worth being treated as well as I do, especially since she is no more than a doll to me. Something to pass the time." Bellatrix had to choose her words carefully, not wanting to anger her Lord, but not wanting him to continue to believe that she would pursue the blonde. "I suppose that she is a better…match…than that pathetic excuse of a husband I got stuck with. However, I do not believe that she will think the same of me." Bellatrix held her head a little higher as she looked out to the moon in the window. "Even if I had a stronger interest in her." She added as an after-thought.
The Dark Lord grinned like a piranha. He now was certain that this would work. "Well, since you have already been spending time with her, I am sure she would be more comfortable with your advances rather than Draco's, or Narcissa's." Bellatrix's eyes sparked at the mention of her sister being brought into this. "I would like for you to try to win her over. Romantically or otherwise, I don't care. She would be a great benefit to us and I refuse to let your insights into her and the Trio slip away because the rest of the Death Eaters cannot see things the same way as us. I will order Lucius and Wormtail to obey every command of yours as it pertains to the prisoner. They will help you in every way. I will also ensure that your…pathetic husband… is away from here until the task is complete. If you wish him to disappear after that I'm afraid it will be up to you to make that happen. You may return to your room now." With a smile and a dismissive wave, Bellatrix stood and left the library.
*At dinner*
Bellatrix watched as Luna at. She was pretty, that much had been clear even in the dungeons. She had curly hair, just as Bellatrix herself did, which only added to the air of crazy that surrounded them both. The difference was that Luna didn't inspire fear with her looks the way the dark witch did. Luna ate slowly as always, savouring each bite as Bellatrix tried her best to eat with sophistication and be attractive at the same time. She would need to bring up the topic of the mother again, but she needed to find the perfect time…
Luna had her attention on the food. She tried hard to ignore the danger watching her from across the table. As entrancing as the woman was, she was also the most loyal of the Death Eaters and the closest to the Dark Lord. The silence was heavy as they ate, tangible in the air as a weight of anticipation hung over Luna. Thankfully, the food was incredible and became a delicious distraction lasting as long as the silence did, until Bellatrix broke it.
"I have more information on your mother." Silence. "I tried my best to compile it all for you. Photographs, news articles, all that I could find." Well, all that the two ninnies could find anyway. "Do you want me to show you after dinner?" She sipped her glass again and watched the blonde for a reaction. Luna tensed up and stared doe-eyed at the older woman.
A choice?! Is she really giving me a choice? I can say that I don't want to…but then that would be a lie. The only pictures father ever showed me of mother were family shots, and I didn't even know she was in the news! What do I say?
Bellatrix decided to play it cool as she used Legilimency to tip-toe around the girl's thoughts and find out why she was so silent. Ah! Shoot! I didn't even catch that…Well, at least she's curious. Bellatrix stopped the spell and waited for the answer she knew was coming.
"Yes. I mean, Could you please?" Luna spoke at last.
"It would be my pleasure. We shall go to the other room-" she gestured to the door directly behind her, "-after you've finished your ice cream."
A few minutes later, the two witches passed through the double doors in to a massive hall. The manor was incorrectly named, for even this single hallway was as impressive as one would expect of a castle for the royal family, not even Hogwarts was this magnificent. There were incredible chandeliers hanging intermittently from the vaulted ceiling, giving a crystalized shimmer to everything in view; The walls were cold marbled stone, black with veins of green and blue running through; The doors to each room were large, dark lacquered wood with silver and gold handles. Luna looked around in awe as they moved down the hall to where ever Bellatrix was taking her. She had heard that many pureblood families had wealth of the wizard and muggle kind and lived in lavish homes, yet her family was not amoung them so had never seen such luxury in her life. Bellatrix lead her down to the end of the hallway into a room which once would have been the servants' storage space and pointed to a file in the middle of a wooden table. Without saying anything, Luna took a seat and began to read as Bellatrix watched carefully from the doorway, judging every reaction.
It's working.
Luna sat and read page after page about her mother. There were so many things that her father had never told her, that no one wanted to talk about, that she would never have learned if not for the Death Eaters' constant watch over all pureblood families. Her mother was a great and powerful witch who could have done wonders in the wizarding world if not for that accident. Page after page, Luna absorbed every word, from the titles to the captions for the photographs until a single image stopped her. A young girls resembling Bellatrix stood between the skirts of two women, their mothers, with a caption that chilled Luna's blood; "Two young witches to split right before announcing their joint medical breakthrough for the ages". Her eyes widened as she pressed closer to the image, willing it to become clearer, willing it to age forward and prove to her that it was the dark woman standing at the door.
"It's not." Bellatrix answered her thoughts, "It's my older sister, Andromeda. The only one of us who had no father."
