Chapter Eleven: Occulemency, Veritaserum, and Owls
Meanwhile, far away in his secret stronghold, Lord Voldemort sat alone in the dark, otherwise empty throne room. It was nearly midnight, and he had dismissed his servants hours ago, but he was too busy thinking for his mind to allow him the luxury of sleep, and so he remained where he was, mulling over the disastrous events of the day. Early that morning, he had been confident and very pleased. He had once more broken his inner circle out of prison and had a seemingly fool-proof plan to eliminate the threat posed by the apparently not-so-loyal Narcissa Malfoy. The plan had gone perfectly at first. His death eaters had stormed the residence of Narcissa's sister, Andromeda Tonks, killing the woman's husband and preparing to torture the witch herself, who was acting as Narcissa's secret keeper, into revealing her sister's location. Then, in a matter of minutes, the whole operation had been shot to hell. The dark lord fumed as he mentally reviewed the damage that had been done to his inner circle. In under an hour and a half, he had permanently lost his two most high-ranking followers. Out of the twelve he had sent on the mission, only five had returned: Avery, Nott, Wormtail, Snape, and the new spy which he had placed within the ministry. It had vexed him to no end that Snape and the spy were the only truly valuable servants who had managed to escape. Rookwood and Dolhov had been apprehended by the Ministry. The Lestrange brothers were no where to be found, and Lucius Malfoy was dead. To top that all off, Bellatrix Lestrange had turned traitor, Andromeda Tonks had gotten away to safety, and they were now far less close to capturing Narcissa Malfoy than they had been earlier that morning.
After hearing these reports, the Dark Lord had been too furious to even curse anyone without killing or at least maiming them. So he had dismissed all of his servants, ordering them to remain out of his presence until further notice. Very shortly after the dismissal, something had happened that at first puzzled and then actually worried him. The last of his death eaters had just apparated away when suddenly, he had felt one of his followers' marks flare up violently. How was that possible? Voldemort himself had done nothing! There was no way that anyone else could manipulate the dark mark, except perhaps the Potter boy. But the idea that the boy could possibly be aware of that ability was absolutely ludicrous. Still, just to be sure, Voldemort had reached out his mind through the link the two shared, planning to simply leaf through the boy's mind until he was satisfied with what he found. When he had reached the boundaries of Potter's consciousness, however, he was met with a solid steel wall. When the hell had the boy learned occulemency? Thinking it must be some kind of trick, he pushed at the wall, expecting them to brake, but they had proved impenetrable and, in the end, the Dark Lord had retreated back to the confines of his own mind. It appeared that before he died, the old fool must have taught the boy the art of occulemency.
That matter, combined with the possibly disastrous results of Bellatrix's betrayal had kept Voldemort awake. Casting a tempus charm, he saw that it was now quarter before one in the morning. With an irate hiss, he rose from his throne and stalked out of the room and down a series of unlit corridors before he arrived in his own chambers.
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Morning the next day was a sort of organized chaos at the Longbottom residence. It all began sometime around eight thirty when no less than four owls unexpectedly came soaring in the kitchen window. One of them was a tawny owl, which belonged to the headmistress of Hogwarts. One was the eagle owl that, they had learned, was in possession of Petunia Evans. The third was a non-descript barn owl. The last was the snowy owl, which Neville and Terry both recognized as Hedwig. The 'peck of owls', as Terry had termed it with a laugh, had arrived mid-breakfast, surprising all three of the people sitting at the table. Terry was sitting between the table and the wall and so would have had a hard time getting up. Neville, who saw this and didn't want his gran to trouble herself with getting up, was the one to take the letters that each of the owls had delivered. After their burdens had been removed, the owls departed via the window through which they had entered. Looking down at the four envelopes in his hands, Neville noticed that they were all addressed to Terry. He flipped through them, one by one, handing them to his friend as he read out loud who each letter was from.
"This one must be from your mum," Neville said, handing the other boy the letter the eagle owl had delivered. Terry glanced at the handwriting on the envelope.
"Actually, it's not. This isn't her handwriting. It must be from one of my aunts, who she wrote are living with her." In this presumption, Terry had been correct. Rose had been the one to write the letter. It explained that his mother was on an unexpected business trip –Terry had yet to learn what his mum's job was- and wouldn't be back for at least another day. The letter that Hedwig had delivered was from Petunia, to the confusion of all present parties. It said much the same as Rose's letter, adding that tomorrow, Petunia would be coming to pick her son up. The third letter, the one delivered by the barn owl, was from the ministry of magic. It read:
Mr. Terrence Evans,
Your request that your name legally be changed from Dudley Terrence Dursley to Terrence John Evans had been granted. From this point forward, all legal documents and records pertaining to your person shall address you as Terrence John Evans. Please be advised of this and take care to sign anything under that name. Any legal document signed under the name Dudley Dursley or any name save Terrence Evans will be considered void and/or fraud.
Rosanne Elizabeth Evans
Head of the Department of Records
The Ministry of Magic
"Wow," Neville commented after the other boy finished reading the letter outloud, "Your aunt is the head of the Department of Records."
"I guess she got her old job back," Terry stated. Then he looked up at Neville. "So who's the last one from?"
"Professor McGonagall," Neville replied, handing Terry the last letter, which was considerably thicker than the others had been. The emerald green ink and the handwriting both looked familiar. They reminded Terry of all the letters his cousin had been sent seven years ago. Turning the envelope over to open it, he saw that it was sealed with the Hogwarts crest. His eyes widened and he was suddenly nervous and excited. Holding his breath, he opened the envelope, pulling out the several page-long letter, and began to silently read the first page to himself.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
Of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmistress: MINERVA MCGONAGALL
Dear Mr. Evans,
After recent correspondence with your mother, Ms. Petunia Evans and your temporary guardian and instructor, Mrs. Augusta Longbottom, I am pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It has been decided, based on your transcript, that you shall be placed in third year once you have been sorted with the rest of this year once you have been sorted with the rest of this coming year's students. Please find, enclosed, a list of all the necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. Due to the peculiar nature of your admittance to this school, there is no need to send an owl in reply, as we have been assured that you will be attending.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Headmistress
When he finished reading the letter, Terry let out a loud whoop and somehow managed to jump up from his seat. "I did it Nev! I did it! I got in! I'm going to HOGWARTS!" Neville joined his overjoyed friend in cheering.
"Congratulations, Terry. I think you're the only person who has ever had their Hogwarts letter not only delivered by the headmistress' own owl, but had their letter written by the headmistress herself." Neville was correct. Terrence John Evans was the first student to ever receive his Hogwarts letter from the headmistress or headmaster. And as of that year, he would be the only student thus addressed, for all the other letters, to be delivered in one week's time, would be written by the new deputy headmaster, Professor Filius Flitwick.
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Morning at number twelve Grimwald Place, on the other hand, was a completely unrestrained chaos, or at least it started out that way. A good while after Petunia had sent Hedwig off with a letter to her son, at about the same time that letter arrived at its destination, the commotion started up. Petunia was in the kitchen with the quartet, Remus, and Tonks, sipping her morning tea contentedly when, suddenly, they heard a shriek, followed by a shout. The shriek had been a woman's voice and the shout had been Regulus. Realizing that one of her patients had woken up, Petunia swiftly got up and hurried to the foyer. An instant later, everyone else was on her heals, Harry closest behind and Tonks right after him. The scene that they were met with in the 'hospital ward' was one of confusion.
Regulus was standing in an offensive position, his wand raised, pointed at Bellatrix Lestrange. The supposed death eater was actually on her feet, backed up agains the wall, her eyes wide as she stared at the man who had her cornered. Unbeknownst to Regulus, Andromeda had also woken and she had her wand pointed at her cousin's back. Upon seeing the scene, everyone halted. For a moment, the onlookers were not sure what to do. Subtley, Harry brushed the minds of the two witches. Bellatrix was frightened, not only because she was unarmed and had a wand trained on her, but also because she thought, as had nearly everyone else at some point or another, that Regulus was Sirius. Andromeda knew who Regulus was and only had her wand trained on him because he was threatening her sister. Finally reaching a decision, Harry took out his wand. He muttered something and a loud bang sounded. "Everyone, put your wands down," he ordered in a loud, commanding voice. Regulus and Andromeda obeyed. As he looked at the woman responsible for his godfather's death, Harry only managed to restrain himself from harming her by reminding himself of the deatheaters' reports on the attack. That almost wasn't enough and he had to mentally repeat, as if it were a mantra, 'Information. She's worth nothing dead. She has information. She's worth nothing dead.' Other than turning to face him when he had set off the bang, none of the three had moved. Inwardly steeling himself for a task that would require all the self-control he could muster, he commanded, "Regulus, remove yourself to the doorway. I shall not have you terrorizing either of my aunt's patients. Mrs. Tonks, please lie back down and be at ease. You are still recovering from several injuries. I do believe Madame Pomfrey will have my head if I permit either your sister or yourself to further harm yourselves from overexertion." He watched with an expression of confident, calm authority as Andromeda slowly began lowering herself back down onto her bed. She must have seen her daughter because the slightly panicked expression left her face and she put her wand back on the end table that served as a bedside table. Turning his gaze to the other woman, who was still backed up against the wall, he said, "Likewise, Bella, if you would be so kind as to return to your bed?" He hadn't meant to cal her Bella, but it had rolled right off his tongue. Apparently, he had heard Voldemort use the nickname enough that the Dark Lord's habit of addressing her that way had become Harry's habit as well. His voice, when he spoke to her, was also a reflection of Voldemort, though it was actually one of Tom Riddle's mannerisms which Voldemort had just happened to retain. In response to the unexpected form of address and the question that was not really a question, the elder of the two sisters hesitantly obeyed. Once both women were both properly situated and Regulus was no longer viewed by either of them as a threat, Harry signaled for Petunia to go in and look each of them over. Tonks tried to follow her, but both Harry and Remus put an arm out to block her way. Outnumbered, the young woman waited impatiently as Petunia finished assessing their status.
"Mrs. Lestrange," Harry's aunt told him, in a detached, passive manner, "still needs to remain in bed, requires a blood replenishing potion, and should not attempt to exert herself at all for at least another twenty-four hours. Mrs. Tonks should also remain on bedrest for another day, but is otherwise recovered." Hearing that, Harry lowered his arm, as did Remus, and Tonks rushed in and threw her arms around her mother. Everyone else looked between Harry and Bellatrix, waiting to see what the former would do in regards to the latter.
"Once you have given her the blood-replenishing potion, which I'm sure you have on hand," Harry said in the calm, almost Dumbledore-like voice, seeing his aunt nod in affirmation, "will she be in a state fit for questioning?" Inwardly, Harry wondered where on earth his sudden self-control and calm attitude had come from.
"Yes," his aunt replied with another nod, "as long as 'questioning' only consists of interview under veritaserum."
"Very well then," the emerald-eyed teenager said in response, "Carry on." Then he turned to the others, realizing that he simply could not have them all standing around. "Remus, I trust you have some means of contacting Professor McGonagall. Would you please inform her –her, not Moody- that Bellatrix is awake. She will want to be present for the questioning. Also request that she bring a vial of veritaserum with her." Still unused to his surrogate godson's authoritative attitude, he went into the kitchen feeling slightly bewildered. "Regulus," would you mind very much disappearing to Privet Drive for a while? I think you presense here is disturbing both our 'guests'."
The man was wary about leaving his nephew alone with a witch that was a well known murderer and madwoman, but then he reminded himself that McGonagall, as well as Tonks and Remus would protect Harry if anything were to happen. "Sure," he answered after a moment's hesitation, "how long do you want me to disappear for?"
"Until I call you." Seeing the haunted look that crossed his uncle's face, Harry specified, "Until I fire-call you." The haunted look vanished. Regulus bid everyone farewell and used the parlor grate to floo to his wife's house. That left Hermione, Ginny, and Ron. Harry felt bad about making them leave, but knew that they would only distract him if they remained. He considered something for a moment before deciding the people he was thinking about could be trusted with the information. "Ron, do you know how to get to Neville's house?" His best friend nodded. "Good," Harry said, "Can you floo there and tell Neville and Mrs. Longbottom that the Lestranges have all been captured? Make sure they keep quiet about it though." A few minutes later, Ron had departed. Knowing the kind of information the Black Library held, and knowing that, despite the 'shady' subject, Hermione could not resist looking something up, especially in such an ancient library, Harry told her, "Mione, there's something I really need to know and I need you to look it up for me in the library." He had her full attention. "I need you to find out anything and everything you can about modified imperious curses." She frowned. "I think someone had one on Bellatrix." She didn't look too convinced. "Please, Mione? It's important." He put a pleading edge in his voice.
She sighed, "Oh, alright, Harry. But I'm going to need help since I don't have any idea where in the library to look."
'Two birds with one stone,' Harry thought as he turned to the other girl. "Gin?"
"Fine, I'll help, but you're telling us everything when we get back."
"Of course," he agreed with a smile. He watched as the two girls disappeared through the double doors on the other side of the hallway and into the expansive library. A few seconds later, Petunia had found and administered the blook replenishing potion and Remus had returned from the kitchen.
"Harry," the medi-witch called.
"Yes, Aunt Petunia?"
"They're both well enough that as long as they remain on bedrest for one more day, I don't think my presence is needed."
"Alright," he replied, "You're free to go home then. I'll make sure your medical orders are followed. Thank you for your help."
"You're welcome," she answered. Then she began packing up her supplies. When she finished, she told him, "If you need me, just fire-call Privet Drive. I'm off from work this week." He assured her he would and they said goodbye. Remus informed Harry that McGonagall would be arriving in about five more minutes, also announcing that he had to leave because his parents were visiting him later that day. After hugging the last of the Marauders goodbye –Harry didn't count Wormtail- he allowed Remus to return to his own house.
Knowing that Bellatrix would need to be essentially isolated during the interrogation, Harry had Tonks bring Andromeda upstairs, where she could rest more comfortably. Tonks herself had to return to the foyer, however, due to the fact that she was the only person present who had a valid license to administer veritaserum. While she was upstairs, Harry vanished the no longer necessary cot. Then, making sure that he had Bellatrix's wand securely in his robe pocket, Harry took a seat and studied the quite anxious witch who had been left alone with him. The urge to curse her began nagging him, but he quickly willed himself to stop thinking about that and crushed the impulse before he could act on it, shoving any similar temptations into the far recesses of his mind.
He couldn't help thinking about his godfather though. Luckily all the wrathful thoughts were quiet, or at least, quieter. Unbeknownst to him, the woman who was sitting up uncomfortably in her makeshift bed was also thinking about Sirius. She had started along her train of thought when she realized that Harry was likely to be thinking about her cousin. The same image was replaying itself in both of their minds: Sirius' death. For Harry, this brought his thoughts of wrath and fury back to forefront. No thoughts of how useful she would be alive could silence his anger now. He was fighting fiercely with himself. Unfortunately his more merciful side was looking and for the first time, he actually felt the magic that connected him, through his bond with Voldemort, to the dark mark. And on his end of the connection, an impulse of magic energy had sparked. Telling himself it was out of his control now, he just let the impulse travel along the connection. Just before the energy reached Bellatrix's end of the connection, however, he and the energy were pulled back into his own mind and awareness with quite a shock as the supposed death eather whispered two words Harry never would have dreamed she's day. "I'm sorry." The emotion in her voice was raw. Fear was present, and guilt, and sincerity.
"What?" Harry asked her to repeat herself. He could not fathom what she would possibly bother to ever apologize for.
"I'm sorry," she repeated, her voice choked with, if he was not mistaken, repressed tears. "I didn't mean to do it! I never would have done it on purpose, not if I had a choice! I was actually trying to-" Here her voice cracked and, to Harry's stupefaction, tears gathered in her eyes. "I just- and then he-" Bellatrix suddenly broke down and began sobbing. Not wanting the others –particularly Ginny and Hermione- to hear, Harry threw up an imperturbable charm around the room Turning back around to face his godfather's murderer, he discovered that bewilderment had replaced anger.
"What are you talkingabout?" He sincerely hoped she would stop sobbing and answer him, if only because seeing Bellatrix Lestrange cry was so disconcerting.
It took her a moment, but she regained enough control of her composure to allow her to speak, though tears still fell from her eyes, trickling down her cheeks like liquid diamonds. "I'm talking about Sirius. I didn't want him dead, I swear. If had, I wouldn't have been throwing stunners at him. Besides, I would never have killed Siri," –Harry's raised eyebrow disappeared into his hairline at this point- "unless it was a direct order from Rodolphus or the Dark Lord. Even in my madness, something in me still grieved for him. He was my favorite cousin. I liked the McNair side of the family well enough, except the one who became a deatheater, and Regulus was –isfine, but the McNair's actually believed what the Blacks only purported to believe. And Regulus was far too young to be anything except annoying when he was a child. Sirius and I were friends though. I don't think I would have even attacked him as viciously as I did if I hadn't had to circumnavigate the curse." She stopped and covered her face with her hands. Harry was so dumbfounded that he was rendered speechless.
It happened that Minerva McGonagall chose that precise moment to arrive. When she walked into the room, she stopped short, seeing the scene in front of her, and not having heard a single word of the conversation, it was a bizarre scene indeed. Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived was gaping, his chin proverbially on the floor, at Bellatrix Lestrange, who was sitting on the side of her bed with her face covered by her hands, crying. It took her a moment to absorb this. Then she announced her presence by clearing her throat in such a way that no one could claim she was the least reminiscent of Dolores Umbridge.
Harry shook himself free from his shocked paralysis and respectfully greated his professor that would make one think that nothing even remotely unusual was going on. "Good morning, Professor McGonagall. Thank you for coming at such short notice. Remus did pass the message along asking you to bring a vial of veritaserum with you, didn't he?"
"Yes, of course," Minerva replied in an equally calm and relaxed tone. She was not about to be outdone in the composure department by a sixteen year old boy –even if that boy happened to be one of her four favorite students. She pulled the vial from a pocket in her robe and placed it on the nearest end table.
"Alright then. One minute, Professor, I'll be right back. I'm going to get Tonks, since she's the only one with a valid license to administer veritaserum." With that, he departed. A minute later, he returned with the aforementioned auror in tow. Whatever story Andromeda had told her daughter must have put Bellatrix in a good light because Tonks didn't seem apprehensive of or intimidated by her aunt. Not bothering to go through all the formalities, Tonks just took the vial of truth serum off the end table.
Looking at Harry and McGonagall, the young auror asked, "Harry, you're going to be the one doing the questioning, right?" He nodded. "Then I suppose you're the witness, professor." With this having been agreed to, she approached the cot on which Bellatrix sat.
"Tonks," McGonagall warned, "you might want to keep your wand out."
Turning briefly back to look at her former professor, Tonks replied, "I don't think she'll try anything. Besides, Madame Pomfrey said she can't do magic yet." Then she faced the woman about to be questioned. "I think you know the deal, Aunt Bellatrix. You have to drink the entire thing. No protests, or I'll be forced to restrain you." Though she had been told she had nothing to fear from her aunt, Nymphadora still hadn't expected the witch to docily obey, as she was doing now. The three onlookers waited patiently for the potion to take effect. Once the glazed look came over the supposed deatheater's now dry eyes, Tonks quietly tiptoed out of the room and back upstairs. Without a word of explaination, Harry handed Bellatrix's wand, as well as his own wand to McGonagall, who looked at him questioningly, but did not say anything.
Stepping in front of the woman he was to interrogate, Harry gathered all the restraint he could before asking in an aloof, almost cold voice, the standard first question for an interrogation under veritaserum. "What are your name and age?"
"My name is Bellatrix Katrina Lestrange and I am forty-eight years old. Harry, for some reason, had expected her to be much younger and glanced at McGonagall for confirmation. When the statement was confirmed as true, he continued.
"Are you a deatheater?"
"No." Harry and McGonagall did a double-take. Howcould she claim- "I bear the dark mark, but I am not loyal to the Dark Lord and yesterday, I quite publicly defected. I do not consider myself a deatheater any longer." Harry had been expecting something like that, but McGonagall had not and so, the later became transfixed with the proceedings.
"Did you willing take the dark mark," Harry asked curiously.
"No. At first I refused. Then my husbad put me under the imperious curse and forced me to be marked against my will."
The Boy-Who-Lived was surprised at this answer. He had already been suspicious that someone had used a modified version of the imperious to control her, even before she herself mentioned it, but he had thought that she must have at least taken the mark of her own free-will. "Do you know why he went through all that trouble?"
"The Dark Lord wanted my dueling and legilimency skills." Harry and McGonagall both looked at each other in surprise. Neither had suspected that Bellatrix was a legilimens. "Naturally talented Legilimens are hard to find. That, combined with the fact that I'm a powerful and have a penchant for the dark arts made me the ideal soldier for him, if he could only control me." Though this answer had been unexpected, it certainly made sense. It was interesting, Harry thought, that she described herself as a dark witch, and yet was not a willing supporter of the Dark Lord. It was something he would have to look into later.
"How was it that your husband controlled you for such an extended period of time?" This question referred to Harry's theory and Bellatrix's earlier claims about Sirius' death.
"He and the Dark Lord used a combination of the imperious curse and powerful memory modification spells to basically brainwash me into thinking and acting like the perfect deatheater. It even made me forget what my true morals and beliefs were. Because it was a modified version of the imperious, both the Dark Lord and Rodolphus could have complete control over me if they wanted. The brainwashing made their job easier by influencing me to do what would be expected of my supposedly of my own accord."
"How did you break the curse," the emerald-eyed boy questioned, assuming that the curse must be broken in order for her to have defected.
"I knew that both of my sisters were in danger. I knew that if I did what Rodolphus ordered me to do, then both of them would die. The instant I realized that, part of me started trying to fight the curse, except that I was fighting the curse much harder than I ever had before. I suppose that the power of love is underestimated, because it was my love for my little sisters that allowed me to finally break the curse."
"If you hadn't been under the imperious, would you have committed any of the crimes you have?"
"No. I never actually supported the Dark Lord or his cause. In fact, I never even sympathized with it. I don't like Muggles, and I think they're a danger to the magical community, and I think we should avoid contact with them at all costs, but I don't think it's necessary to kill them all." Harry raised an eyebrow at this, but nodded for her to go on. "Regulus, Narcissa, and I just gave the impression of supporting his views in front of our parents. Andromeda and Sirius were the only ones brave enough to show their true colors."
He hadn't been planning to ask this question, but Harry was too interested in the concept of Regulus and Narcissa never even truly sympathizing with Voldemort not to ask it. "Why is it that Regulus and Narcissa supported if not outright served Voldemort, then?" Minerva was also very keen on hearing this explanation since both Regulus and Narcissa had betrayed Voldemort in the end too.
"Regulus was young, angry, and foolish. Poor Cissy was just blinded by love." Suddenly, Harry turned around to face Minerva.
"Professor McGonagall," the young wizard requested, "I may loose my temper. If I do, then take any measures necessary to restrain me." Slightly confused by this request until she recalled the previous day's Voldemort-like outburst, she nodded in affirmation and held her wand at the ready incase it was indeed necessary to restrain him. Steeling himself and taking a deep breath, Harry at last asked the question he had been holding off on. "Why did you kill Sirius Black?" Suddenly the Hogwarts headmistress understood why her student might need to be restrained. Luckily, Bellatrix said almost the same thing she had told Harry before McGonagall's arrival.
"I didn't intend to kill him. I just wanted to stun him. That way no one would pay him any attention and he was less likely to be caught or killed. I didn't know that the Veil was the Veil to the land of the dead. I didn't even know he would fall through it." For a moment, the room was silent as the interrogator and the witness tried to wrap their minds around the fact that Bellatrix had actually been trying, albeit in a very roundabout way, to protect Sirius at the Department of Mysteries a year ago.
Still finding that claim difficult to believe, Harry asked, "Having been brainwashed, why wouldn't you just kill him?"
Her voice still completely unaffected due to the potion, Bellatrix replied, "Sometimes, not very often, but sometimes, I would have my moments of clarity when I could circumnavigate or find a loophole in my condition."
"But after you killed him," Harry asked sharply, finally voicing the question that had been nagging him, "you acted as expected and mocked me. Why?"
"By then, my moment of clarity was over," Bellatrix explaned. "I could never fight the curse for more than five minutes or so. The only reason I was able to fight the conditioning while I was dulling him was because, technically, dueling him was within my conditioning, even if my intentions were not."
"You claim to have defied and betrayed Voldemort. If that is true, do you wish to support the light side?" By now both Harry and McGonagall had an idea of what she might say.
"Yes." Her reply was surprisingly firm. "Though my true ideals, the ones I dared not show until now, are much closer to neutral, neutrality is not an option. I would support the light side."
Thinking very carefully on how to phrase his last question, there was a over a minute of silence. Then finally, he asked the question that might very well decide the now ex-deatheater's fate. "If your allegiance lies with the light side, would you be willing to tell, under veritaserum if necessary, Voldemort's secrets and plans? And if so, why?"
"I would, gladly. The Dark Lord stole my free-will, he forced me to commit abhorrent crimes. He has made me a murderer. He took away my daughter and has made me sign away her freedom. He destroyed my life. I probably hate him as much as you do." And with that, her fate was all but sealed. Luckily for her, that fate worked very much in her favor.
"Daughter," McGonagall repeated, taking over the role as questioner. "You said Voldemort made you sign your daughter's freedom away. Who is your daughter? Where is she? Why has her freedom been jeopardized?" She asked the questions all at once so that Bellatrix could answer them all before the truth serum wore off.
"Her name is Kassandra. She lives with Rodolphus' younger sister, Samara, who is part of an operation in France. When Kassandra was born, I was forced to sign a contract saying that she would one day serve the Dark Lord and that if something ever happened to me, she would take my place in the inner circle. All the inner circle members had to sign contracts like that. Now I have defected and Lucius is dead, the Dark Lord is going to have Draco and Kassandra take out places. It might be too late to save Draco since he already bears the mark, but someone needs to get Kassandra before the Dark Lord does, or she will suffer the same fate as I did." Once Bellatrix finished saying this, the glazed look slowly began to fade from her eyes until she had returned to a normal state of thinking. And with this, returned her emotions. Looking at the floor near Harry, but not actually meeting his eyes, she asked, "So what will happen to me?"
Harry looked at her searchingly for a moment before responding with a question of his own. "Whose fate do you want to know first? Yours or your daughter's?"
"Kassandra's," Bellatrix answered desperately.
"Well then give me a moment," the emerald-eyed wizard said before concentrating on the mental plane. He searched through his memories from the later years of Tom Riddle's life and discovered that it was possible to activate a singular dark mark and summon the deatheater without causing pain. Harry knew he had said he would fire-call Regulus, but he was too curious. He had to know if this worked. He closed his eyes and followed his link to Voldemort to the other end and then to the end of a link that served as the collective center that connected all the dark marks. From there, he searched until he found the individual strand that went outward from the center and linked him to Regulus' mark specifically. Then he sent some of his magic along the path. When it reached it's destination and Regulus' dark mark was activated, Harry pulled back into his own mind and opened his eyes. "I'm sorry," he said to both Minerva and Bellatrix. "Regulus should be able to help you and I've just summoned him. He might not understand who is summoning him, so let us wait ten minutes. Bella, you're welcome to a chair if it is more desirable than your cot."
* * * * *
"So," Octavian asked his father, awed and impressed, "You stole something from You-Know-Who and his deatheaters couldn't find it even though it was in your pocket?" Regulus nodded. He prepared to continue with his story, but then something strange happened that distracted him and made him loose his train of thought. His dark mark had suddenly become warm. It wasn't the burning pain he was accustomed to. It was a benign warmth. The emotions behind it were not the usual anger and impatience. They were expectancy and concern. The magic behind it felt ever so slightly different. But what made it all fall into place was the picture that accompanied the tingling in his arm. The Dark Lord normally sent a picture of the place they were to apparate to along with the burning. This time the picture was of the foyer at Grimwald Place and the focal point of the image was his nephew. Stunned, Regulus realized that Harry had found a way to summon him through the dark mark. "Octavian," Regulus began, "I'm very sorry, but I've just realized it's time for me to get back to my 'job', if you know what I mean. I promise I'll come visit you as soon as I can. Alright?"
"Don't feel bad. Just make sure you visit again this week or Mum might have a search part sent out after you," the boy joked understandingly, completely at ease with his father. Regulus smiled gratefully, before he apparated into Grimwald Place.
* * * * *
So as not to startle anyone, Regulus apparated into the parlor instead of the foyer. He then entered the room through the archway connecting the two, a much less startling enterance. When his nephew saw him walk through the doorway, the boy's brow furrowed and he asked, "Were my 'coordinates' off?"
"No," Regulus replied, actually quite pleased with Harry, "You're coordinates were clear and perfectly accurate. I just didn't want to startle either of the ladies by apparating unannounced into the room, so I apparated into the foyer." Knowing that there would be time to discuss Harry's achievement later, and inferring that to summon him, Harry must need his assistance quite urgently, Regulus asked, "So what can I do for you, my friend?" The answer he got was a great deal longer than he had at first expected.
When Harry, Minerva, and Bellatrix were finally finished explaining the situation and the plan, Regulus took a moment to absorb it all and then asked, "So you want me to morph so that I look exactly like Rodolphus and portkey to Marseilles, France, where I am supposed to find Samara Lestrange and, pretending to be Rodolphus, rescue Kassandra and bring her back to England, where she will then automatically be put under the legal guardianship of Andromeda until Bellatrix is cleared, at which time Kassandra will be given into the custody of her mother?" Minerva seemed almost impressed that Regulus had summed it up so accurately and succinctly. Bellatrix just looked like she was trying not to get her hopes up.
Harry, on the other hand, smiled and nodded in confirmation, replying, "Basically, that's the general idea."
"You know, don't you, Harry, that you're absolutely out of your mind?" When he saw his nephew nod, he smiled too and finished by saying, "Good. I just wanted to make sure you were aware of that fact. As for going on this crazy assignment for your insane rescue mission, I say: What the Hell? Why not?"