A/N – a VERY short chapter, I know, but necessary I feel. I am working on chapter 6 as fast as I can, but this worked better on its own for dramatic effect etc. As its own mini chapterlet it is dedicated to all my reviewers, but most particularly to Shaitanah who has given me FOUR reviews and the Wolf at Bay who has given me THREE. I love you both! Thank you to everyone else as well. I hope you like it.
Disclaimer – Harry Potter not mine.
The summer storm
The wind tore through the trees and the rain lashed Bellatrix's gardens. She stood in the middle of the lawn, arms spread to the heavens, feeling the warm summer rain washing over her as leaves flew around her. She loved Summer storms, adored the heat and passion of the elements they strove to beat the earth into submission. Her silk nightdress stuck to her, outlining her curvaceous figure. She hadn't bothered to dress for four days, ever since she recovered her memory. She laughed wildly as the rain flowed over her mad lips and tried to drown her. There was a word for this, wasn't there? When your emotions matched the elements. Pathetic fallacy. That was it. Bellatrix felt the storm within her beating a tattoo in response to its raging cousin as the drops slapped her face. She turned her face down as a small, forlorn figure struggled towards her. The House Elf bowed low when it reached her.
"Mistress, will you come in? You will make yourself iller." She laughed, longing for lighting, and reached down and seized the pitiful bundle.
"Since when do you give your mistress orders, slave? I shall stay in the rain until I wish to come in." She had to shout over the roar of the wind, over the creaking of the battered trees. The Elf flinched as thunder rolled overhead and Bellatrix threw her head back in horror. She had missed the lightning! She hurled the Elf from her forgotten, stretched her hands upwards and begged the black sky for another flash. Let it come! Let the power rend the sky in two. Let it tear the monster out of her.
Bellatrix Black shivered inside the cold night dress in terror. She could feel herself being pushed out, offered as a sacrifice to the brilliant lightning. Normally she didn't fear storms but this time she couldn't control the terror within her. Ever since she'd discovered the frivolity of her own existence…her mortality seemed terribly real.
And she was afraid for Harry.
Bellatrix Lestrange screamed in fury at the unwanted emotions rising within her and clutched at her chest as if she wanted to tear her own heart out.
I will rid myself of you, she swore. Somehow. I don't care how. I will kill you.