XII. THIS IS MURDER
Six Months Earlier
"Hello Pet," Voldemort slithered into the room smiling at Harry, she had been here for just under a month and was already so close to giving up. Everything hurt, everything hurt all the time.
"I'm giving your training to Bellatrix; you're taking much longer than the others." He ran a hand through her hair, and it took all of her strength to move away from him. Her scar stun, tears prickled at her eyes. She didn't feel proud for resisting the torture she felt bone weary and afraid. He left, and barely a minuet later Bellatrix came into the room.
"Is baby Potter sore and scared?" She cackled, Harriet didn't dignify that with an answer, because she wouldn't or couldn't didn't matter.
Bellatrix knelt next to her, grabbing her hair and yanking her head up to pour something down her throat. Harry felt like a spectator, letting it happen; what's the worst they could do now? She suddenly felt lighter, and the pain had numbed considerably. Relief flodded through her sore bones in such an uplifting fashion she couldn't help her sigh.
"Does that feel better ickle Potter?" was Bella's scathing question. Harry nodded subconsciously, to tired and now to relieved to do much else.
"So you're feeling better?" Bella asked again, "That's good, I'm letting you go!" Bella still was using her baby voice. She opened the cage and put Harry's wand on a table near the door.
Harry looked a Bella, who genuinely smiled at her. This had to be a trick, the hope that tricked through her heart was a finer thing as she'd ever felt, something so pure bought about by such a horrible trick. Harry clinged to that hope like a lifeline, that last special piece of her, then she burried it deep within herself, so it might never ever be touched, she burried it so deep in her heart and mind - that hope of escaping this and the hope of seeing her friends and family again - that even Harriet couldn't find it anymore.
"You don't want to get up?" Bellatrix asked her, "Poor Harry," She said sympathetically, "Poor, poor Harry." Bella patted her hair gently. "Stay here, if you can't get up, just stay here."
Harry was barely aware of the tingling sensation from Bella's fingers into her scalp, and she looked at the open door with so much distain, why was it so far away, when she was so hurt? Making her work like everyone else, holding back until it was absolutely necessary to tell her things, to give her things, if they had began the training when she really needed it she wouldn't even be here.
"And that's why Sirius died? Isn't it?" Bellatrix lovingly whispered in her ear.
Harriet nodded, tears coming to her eyes. She closed her eyes and laid her head in Bella's lap.
Draco was attending his first Order Meeting, Sasha had told him about Harry, and he had hidden away for a week to come to terms with the information.
The way the order was structured was in factions, his was potions, along with Bill Weasley.
"I don't see how we can help here," Draco said, referring to Bill and himself and their potion skill. They were discussing healing Harry, and the other five who were taken.
"I think we should get them back here and then asses the damage, at least that way we have the opportunity to test things instead of just guess." Bill muttered - his sister was taken too.
"How will we get them back?" Hermione asked, Blaise stepped forward.
"The manor," He announced.
"Yes," Luna said, as if everything made sense now.
"Buildings that old with so much magic in them become sentient," Blaise said, to the disbelief of the group.
"It's because of the magic," Luna explained, though her explination was lacking.
"Now Malfoy Manor we can assume is full of Dark Magic, but the Death Eaters have been giving Narcissa such a hard time it will side with us, and we need Narcissa out of there, she's far more useful here, unless we swap her with someone else." Blaise said, Draco felt for the briefest moment indignat that Blaise had assumed the ancient magic of his family's manor was dark, but then the rest of the conversation caught up with him.
"You mean to rescue my mother?" He asked hopefully, there was a stiff nod around the table.
"I'll go," Echo offered.
"It's too risky!" Anastasia said frowning at her. Echo rolled her eyes. Draco thought it odd no one would make a point of saying that Echo was only a child.
The group looked at each other, "Draco," Blaise turned to him, "Could you guide us?"
Draco nodded, still wondering what the 'spirit of his house' had to do with all this. But it was unspoken that no one questioned Luna and Blaise; Draco had no idea why, they were both different types of crazy.
Now Anastasia brought up that Echo was perhaps the wrong person for the job, to which Echo argued.
"She is Snape's daughter." Someone pointed out. There was a pause in the order's arguments.
"I want to go." She said, resolved. Draco, for the briefest moment thought she might have been suicidal to voluenteer for such a mission.
Bellatrix squirmed uncomfortably. She was in muggle clothes, in muggle London. She knew Azkaban had ruined her quality, her keen sense and brilliant deductive mind; she went mad and was no longer a respectable soldier, just a scary psychopath. It was hardly her fault. Being incapable of walking down a muggle street without wanting to kill every muggle there was probably a problem with the muggles. She wandered for a long time, looking around trying to clear her head and it worked, it was a moderately warm day, there were many happy people around her and she really took the time to forget Azkaban.
She was sure there were hundreds of people who wondered what memory sent Bellatrix Black mad, it was the loss of her daughter. Her firstborn, her miracle child; the one that came even though Rodolphus was infertile. She was with Rodolphus, going to dinner and they needed to go through a muggle street, she went into labour and a muggle called an ambulance, which was there in no time and took her away to hospital.
She was put to sleep, when she got there and when she woke up, there was a muggle woman holding her daughter. She asked to hold her and asked what happened. They had cut her baby from her, she still had the horrible scar, a constant reminder of what she lost.
The little girl was going to be called Mintika, a feminine form of Mintaka, a star in Orion's belt in honor of her Uncle Orion and her Black heritage - a prouder family than the Lestranges. Bellatrix was not and had never been a sentimental woman, She felt very little for her husband - their work for the dark lord kept them together, really but their daughter whould make her love her husband, a beautiful baby girl, with her hair black and thick and her face looked so like Narcissa - Narcissa her baby sister. Bellatrix loved the little girl straight away. But they took her to an area with lots of little muggle children and one of the babies got sick, and so did her daughter and the other child got better, but Bellatrix's daughter died. It was a couple of days she spent there, Roldolphus never came for her, coward that he was, the muggles kept her dosed up on heavy pain medication. Her daughter died.
Bella swiped a tear away from her eyes. In Azkaban she saw the memory over and over, her baby girl dying, her worst memory.
Bellatrix followed a muggle man down an alley way she was overcome with the need to kill something. They went deeper into the dirty alleyway, and Bella could hear gruff grunting and scraping noises. She narrowed her eyes.
"Alright Bryce, its my turn," The man she had followed into the alley undid his pants and knelt down, Bryce stood and moved away, he saw Bellatrix and she quickly cast the killing curse at him, the other man jumped up, Bellatrix ran around the dumpster he had been behind and saw a young girl, not much older than Harry. Her skirt was pushed up and her hands and feet were bound, she had a shiny bit of material attached to her mouth and was crying, screaming, her eyes as mad and animal as the ginger girl currently in Bella's care. The living muggle man made to run away, and Bellatrix took no time in torturing him. For what they did, what they were doing, they deserved this - it made the torture hollow, when one was deserving, they seemed to know deep down and ever fought.
In a bright flash of green light she killed the muggle. Bellatrix made to leave, but the girl cried to her, as loud as she could with the thing obstructing her mouth. Bellatrix turned back to the muggle; she knelt by the girl and undid her hands and feet, and pulled the tape from her mouth. It was silver-muggle tape. The girl scrambled, confused for a moment before launching herself into Bellatrix's arms.
"Thank-you, thank-thankyou," She cried then she stood, and fell again. Bellatrix grabbed her arm not unkindly and without a word led her from the alley. She stumbled a lot and whimpered, so Bella scooped her up and carried her to a hospital - a muggle needed a muggle hospital after all. She remembered the place, it was not the same hospital but the muggle ones were all the same, they smelt too clean, and felt like death. Bellatrix couldn't face the place, helping a muggle, whatwas wrong with her. She left the girl on the ground a stone's throw from the front doors. Still crying, thanking her, and crying.
It was a quick trip back to Malfoy Manor, Bellatrix apparated first chance she got and quickly made her way to her room. Harriet was on the bed there, and when she walked in the girl cried out and threw herself to the floor, apologies spilling from her mouth so fast Bella couldn't understand what she was saying.
"Enough, what happened?" Bellatrix grabbed her hair and sat her on the bed next to her.
"I was tortured," Harriet said, "I did everything he said and he still tortured me. I'm so sore, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
"Quiet." Bellatrix snapped, Harriet flinched but fell silent immedeatley. Her eyelids were drooping and without thinking about it Bella forced her to lie down, the messy hair spilling across her lap. Bellatrix absently stroked that hair like one would a cat. She, for the first time in a long time felt angry at her Lord.
He tortured them all, he cliamed they were his family and he tortured them when the mood took him, when he was having a bad day, if one of them failed or if he fancied it. He'd tortured her, her sister and her nephew and now he was torturing her Harry.
Five Months Earlier.
Harriet was hanging upside down from a high ceiling. Bellatrix spun the girl around making her situation so much more uncomfortable.
"Who's fault is it really, that you're here, girl?" Bellatrix smiled, "That old man made you live with people who despise you, made you live in ignorance. You still have problems because of your past, look how small you are."
Harry growled at her.
Bellatrix waved her wand at the rope and Harriet fell to the floor with a sickening thump.
"Come on Potter, tell me about your past." Bellatrix threw her to the ground when she had stood up.
"No," Harry growled defiantly, trying to stand again.
Bella put her wand on Harry's skin and wordlessly cast a burning charm, Harriet screamed.
"Ok!" she cried, "I'll tell you!"
Bella pulled Harry up by the hair and pushed her onto a lounge, sittlig by her, even offering her tea, sugar and milk, she knew how Harry Potter took her tea. Harriet accepted and launched into the tale.
"I lived with my mother's sister and her family, at 4 Privet Drive Surrey. My uncle beat me, and I lived in a cupboard, they lied to me about who I was, I was beat for getting higher grades than Dudley, my cousin, and I was beat for accidental magic, I had to cook and clean for them, I was beat for fun, Dudley used to chase me down and beat me up, Petunia was sometimes compassionate, she slipped me food and did some of my chores so I wouldn't have to but other than that nothing. They didn't feed me enough, ever, sometimes they wouldn't feed me until I was almost dead, I needed to steal food, I needed to steal everything."
Bella pat Harry's hair, "Good girl," She whispered, "Here," Bella put a plate of treacle tart under Harry's nose.
"Don't eat to fast, or you'll make yourself sick."
"Thank you," Harry said, more sincerely than she had ever said it. "Thank you."
"Mother!" Draco ran into Narcissa's arms, she cried his name and hugged her son. The blonde woman was dirty and covered in scrapes and bruises, her shaking hands held Draco's face. Echo stood by, watching them with something akin to jealousy in her eyes.
"You have saved my life dear girl." Narcissa said to her, using her wand to slice a large chunk of hair from her head, Echo put a single hair in a flask and put the rest in a small pouch secured around her neck on a cord.
She took a swig from the flask and got taller, her hair straightened, her nose shrunk, she became thinner, her left arm elongated and finished in a hand.
"Malfoy Manor!" Echo called into the fireplace and vanished in a blaze of green flame, not saying another word to the pair.
"Oh my Draco!" Narcissa exclaimed and hugged her son again.
"I want to have another baby, Rodolphus." Bellatrix was sitting on the lounge in front of the fire with her husband; Harriet was curled up on a mat on the floor, fast asleep.
The Dark Lord seemed to have lost interest in everything, no longer having a goal in life, believing he achieved immortality, Dumbledore was dead and Harriet Potter was no better than one of his death eater's pets.
"Trixie," Rodolphus said, Bella cringed at the awful nickname. "We're both unable to have children, it's impossible, and it's for the better, disgusting babies and the noise and smell, why would you want that?" Rodolphus stretched, "Besides, why would you need more than me?" He winked and began to unbutton his pants.
"I have a headache, dear," Bella shot at him, "Not tonight, besides, Harriet's in the room."
Bella stood to leave.
"She's not your daughter, Bella," Rodolphus said, "you had a daughter, she's dead now, muggles made sure of that."
Bella frowned, an odd feeling welling up in her stomach. Then a tear slid down her cheek, Bella choked, a lump was in her throat and she couldn't breathe, she cried, Rodolphus stood and walked over to her.
"What the fuck, stop it!" he shouted at her, she took a deep breath and tried but couldn't, her whole chest hurt, her head hurt, her eyes hurt, she wiped the tears away and they were only replaced by fresh ones. Rodolphus raised his hand and backhanded her. She fell to the ground, her wand skittering across the floor.
"You're my wife and you will do what I say," He said, kicking her in the ribs.
"I," another kick, "Like you," Two more," Because, you, suck, my, dick," More kicking, Bella heard a crack and suddenly felt like she wasn't getting enough air.
"And, because, you, don't, cry, like, a, fucking, little, girl!" Bella cried out loud now, he kicked at her face and back and she tried to crawl away.
There was a bang, and a noise and a flash of green light and Rodolphus fell to the ground, dead. There was a sickening thump next to her, and cracking because he landed so awkwardly.
Harry knelt by her then, "Are you alright?" She said, and Bella almost believed that this was the real Harry Potter, not the pet she was creating.
"You killed him," Bellatrix said thickly through the blood in her mouth, Harry was holding her wand, and pointed it at Bella, she muttered a few healing spells and Bella could feel the pain melting away.
"I'm sorry mistress, he was being so horrible."
"Thank you Harry." Bellatrix sat up slowly and looked disdainfully at her husband's corpse.
"Give me my wand, Harry," Bellatrix said and Harry paused for a minuet before slowly passing it over. She transfigured the body into a log.
"Put him on the fire," Bellatrix ordered and while Harry did that Bella slowly crawled into her bed.
"Do you miss your mother Harry?" Bella asked when she was laying down.
"All the time," Harry said. She went back to her mat on the floor.
"Harry," Bellatrix called, "You saved me tonight, that deserves a reward," Bella patted the bed next to her; "You can stay in here tonight." Harry made her way to the bed cautiously; then curled up at the foot of the bed like a cat, Bella grabbed her hand and pulled her up to lie down properly.
"I never knew you had a baby." Harry said quietly.
"She was barely a week old when she died." Bella whispered softly Harriet stayed quiet. "Do you love me Harry?" Bellatrix whispered next, Harry answered immediately.
"I love my mistress."
"Will you call me mother?" Bellatrix asked next, holding her breath as she waited for Harry's answer.
"Yes Mother." Harry said, leaving Bellatrix with a hollow feeling in her chest becasue she couldn't tell if Harry was being sincere or following orders.