Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter series.

Haunting

A scream pierced the dark stillness of Malfoy Manor. Narcissa's eyes snapped open at the sound, searched the surroundings as though to find the source. Chilling nothingness settled upon her heart. Shuddering, Narcissa thought the unhindered cry the stuff of her nightmare.

Beside Narcissa, however, Lucius stirred, discrediting this theory.

"Narcissa," he hissed, groping through the dark in search of his wand, "Did you scream? What's the matter?"

"Bella."

Narcissa pushed herself from the bed and grabbed her wand from the nightstand.

"I'll take care of her. Stay here."

She ignored Lucius's comments from behind and summoned a robe as she exited the room.

Narcissa rubbed her eyes as she walked quickly through the long hallway, lit eerily by a succession of flickering wall candles. Sleep had eluded her in the weeks following her sister's return from Azkaban. Before the incident, Narcissa had imagined that a stronger sense of security would wash over her with Bellatrix's presence. It always had before.

However, Narcissa had found no such peace. Neither, as the night's disturbance proved, had Bella. The skeleton of what Narcissa's sister had once been spent her days pacing and brooding. Those nights Narcissa did not smother out with sleeping potion, she heard Bella pacing and muttering through the darkness.

A scream was progressive. A scream meant Bellatrix had at least tried to sleep. Narcissa pushed her bitterness to the growing realm of her mind that harbored forbidden thoughts. Bellatrix deserved no such sardonic musings.

She's your sister.

Narcissa wondered why the urgency in her step came only from the need to assure that Bellatrix didn't wake the entire manor.

Bella can't help that she's… changed.

Bellatrix hadn't changed. Narcissa wondered if she herself had.

Bitterness, Narcissa, bitterness. That's not for your sister.

No, any ill feelings were to be held for Azkaban, because Azkaban made Bellatrix so weakened. For the Ministry, because they took away Narcissa's sister. For the Dark Lord, who rendered Bella a needy slave. For just about everyone else in Narcissa's life who didn't understand. But not for Bellatrix. No such bitterness for dear Bella.

Narcissa breathed in slowly as she paused in front of the closed door of her sister's bed chamber. She gripped her wand in case Bellatrix reacted without thinking; something she did with more and more frequency.

"Bella?" Narcissa asked, rapping the door swiftly.

The reply was a series of discomforting murmurs.
"Bella. Are you ok?" Narcissa's hand struck more purposefully.

Not wishing to alarm her sister, for reasons of both manners and personal safety, Narcissa turned the knob slowly. Stepping into the room, the coldness crashed upon her like a wave of the rigid North Sea. Narcissa drew her robe closer to her body, raised her wand slowly.

A dim glow illuminated Bellatrix. Her brow furrowed with an ever deepening frown. Occasionally, her mouth twitched with a barely audible word of protest. To what, Narcissa did not know, only that her sister's nightmares had not been left behind in that wretched prison.

"Bella," Narcissa urged gently. She took a step closer to the bed, sat tentatively on the edge of the mattress.

Bellatrix flinched harshly at the closeness of the light. Narcissa pulled the light away from her sister's face and Bella whimpered. This tremulous and fearful murmur of vulnerability thinned Narcissa's hope for Bellatrix's recovery more than any scream could.

"Bella," Narcissa whispered. "I'm here, you're fine, wake up. You're fine."

The statement lacked the reassurance Narcissa had attempted but sounded rather as a desperate plea.

Narcissa watched in horror as Bella began to thrash beneath the sheets pulled tightly around her body. Her murmurs turned into muffled shrieks, into full-fledged sobs of terror.

"Bella!" Narcissa shouted over her sister's bawling.

She grabbed Bella's shoulders, struggling as Bella fought against her with blind panic. Bellatrix managed to wrench an arm away from Narcissa's grip and clawed the air near Narcissa's face.

"Bella stop it!" Narcissa demanded, barely avoiding her sister's unsavory talons.

But Bella only resisted harder, screaming incoherently until Narcissa slapped her sister across the cheek.

Bellatrix gasped as she choked back her sobs. Her body fell limp with noisy weeping. Finding the hem of Narcissa's nightgown, Bella clutched the material as she cried.

"Cissy."

Bella used Narcissa's shoulders to pull herself away from the mattress. Narcissa wiped a tear from Bella's reddened cheek.

In the flickering light, Bellatrix's face looked sickly, feverish almost. Narcissa found herself taking the same unhappy inventory of her sister's appearance once again. Cheeks hallowed and skin grey, chaffed lips that spread thinly over rotted teeth. Eyes that reflected more horror than Narcissa could stand to look at.

"You were screaming again," Narcissa said quietly. Neither sister looked at the other.

Bella breathed shallow breaths but remained unspoken.

"I wish I could help you."

Bella scowled. "I am not so broken."

Narcissa drew a shaky breath and closed her eyes. Maybe she would believe the statement if she couldn't see Bellatrix. But the hoarseness of Bella's voice contradicted such delusions.

"Regardless," Narcissa replied with a poorly concealed grimace, "you still need rest."

"I can't sleep." Bella looked up at Narcissa through the dark shadows below her heavily lidded eyes.

"Merlin, Bella! I'd brew you a sleeping draught myself if you would drink it!" Narcissa exclaimed, exasperation coloring her words towards harshness.

Bellatrix's eyes slid from Narcissa's face to the dark tattoo on her pale arm. "I wouldn't be able to wake up if I took a potion," Bellatrix muttered.

Narcissa gaped. Maybe she was tired, maybe she was defensive, maybe she was scared, but Narcissa knew she was not so pathetic as Bellatrix in that moment.

"Have you lost it?" Narcissa hissed, her incredulity morphing into disgust.

Bella's eyes returned with a dangerous flash to Narcissa's face. But Narcissa remained righteously indignant even as Bellatrix's nostrils flared.

"Don't you realize what this is doing to you?" Narcissa exclaimed, grabbing her sister's wrist. "Or have you forgotten why you wasted fourteen years of your life in a prison?"

With a growl, Bellatrix pulled her arm away from Narcissa. "The Dark Lord's cause is making me stronger."

"His cause? Does not even your duty belong to you anymore, sister?"

"How dare you, Narcissa. It is not your place to suggest-"

"Not my place, Bella? I am your sister. I am the blood you seek to preserve," Narcissa spat, leering. "And I am wondering if you've even glanced at a mirror in the month since you escaped, because you look anything but strong! And now to think that you have sacrificed your health and your sanity for irrational lust rather than purpose!"

Bellatrix's hand shot to the nightstand, snatching her wand like it was an extension of herself. Narcissa's shield charm was a second too slow. The spell knocked Narcissa off the bed to the floor where she remained, glowering at her deranged sister. Bellatrix stepped from the bed and walked to Narcissa, wand still in hand.

"My purpose," Bella seethed, "remains as unwavering, if not more so, as when I became a Death Eater. If you think for a moment that I have forgotten, or have lost significant motivation to purge the world of its filth, I must wonder if you yourself have ever encountered a Dementor."

Narcissa did not speak. She didn't need to. Looking into the small bit of Bella left in the dark pits of her eye, Narcissa knew exactly what Bellatrix saw in the presence of Dementors; the very moment that had run off with Bella's soul long before the Dementors' influence. With a poorly disguised sigh, Bellatrix turned away from Narcissa to walk towards the large window.

Bella didn't apologize, and the fact stung Narcissa. But the younger woman pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind. Bella had reacted without thinking; Bella didn't mean it. Besides, there was no time for apologies in times of war.

Nevertheless, Narcissa watched her sister with dewy eyes. Bellatrix's hand wrapped around the window's latch, pulled the window open. An icy gust of wind struck the room and Narcissa hurried to stand, shivering, behind Bella.

"It was so cold."

Narcissa tried to stop her chattering teeth as her sister spoke.

"And so damp," Bellatrix continued, staring into the windy nighttime. "Everything tasted like salt."

Bellatrix slammed the window shut suddenly, stifled something of a dry sob, and walked to the vanity on the opposite end of the room. Narcissa remained at the rattling window, staring helplessly into the darkness as Bellatrix fell into rambles of insanity.

Narcissa lost herself in the whispers of the time that acted as an intoxicating prelude to Bella's worst memory. Even the time after, when Azkaban had not yet touched Bella; when Bellatrix could at least present a façade of strength to Narcissa.

The sound of shattering glass pulled Narcissa from her trance. Narcissa turned to find Bella, crumpled before her broken mirror, shards of glass shaking in trembling, skeletal hands.

"Bella. Bella, please, you'll hurt yourself." Narcissa rushed towards her sister, wand in hand and ready to repair.

But the look in Bella's eyes stopped Narcissa.

"I'm not a child, Narcissa!" Bellatrix screamed.

Narcissa swallowed as tears seeped from her closed eyes.

"Of course you're not, Bella," she whispered.

Bella stood, and with an angry yell, threw the shards of mirror into a barren fireplace. Flames leapt from the ashes as Bellatrix slashed her wand through the air.

Despite the newfound source of warmth, Narcissa felt a chill run down her spine at the image of her sister, silhouetted by barely controlled fire.

"I wonder," Bella began in an unnaturally high voice, her words touched by lunacy, "if she sees me in her mirror."

Narcissa tried to block the torrent of images that bombarded her at the rumination.

"You don't look like her anymore Bella."

Bellatrix laughed unpleasantly. "No, I suppose I have aged much more harshly."

"You don't look like anyone I used to know."

Bella turned her back to the fire slowly, considering Narcissa with a raised eyebrow.

"Then how do you know who I am?" Bella hissed.

Narcissa stared at the mad woman before her. The past screamed for acknowledgment, the present begged for ignorance, the future eluded Narcissa like a fog.

Narcissa sighed. "I only know who you used to be. Now…"

Bella sat on the floor so that her knees touched Narcissa's. She smirked as Narcissa frowned tremulously.

"Now I am merely the stuff of your nightmares."

Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the utter tardiness of this update; I should have more time to write in a matter of two weeks. I really wanted to post a Halloween chapter, and, after seeing the video clip from Malfoy Manor, I still want to... so that could be next. Reviews are appreciated! Hope everyone is enjoying the countdown to 'Part One'! :D