A/N: Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for all the fave adds & alerts :) I hope you're all as happy as I am, that I managed to finish another chapter right away, hope you like it! - enjoy.
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Fourth.
She felt the blonde's eyes on her, always. Whenever Saiph was around Draco's mother – no matter if she was alone or with Draco or Pansy, she could swear she always felt Narcissa's eyes moving across her back. But still, she never caught the blonde starring.
Since two days now, Saiph was walking along the corridors of Malfoy Manor, and it sometimes felt strangely familiar to her. Not only the rooms, or the Mansion in general also the people. Saiph felt comfortable around Narcissa, from the second she was introduced to her she had the feeling to be welcome. Even more, she had the feeling, she finally had arrived.
Maybe it was because of this, or because she was away from the library and Hogwarts, but the nightmares had stopped the night she had laid down in the very bed she was laying in right now.
Yawning she stretched her body, it was still dark outside, but she could tell the nature around the manor was slowly awaking. She'd been awake for a while now, just enjoying the silence and the darkness surrounding her. In Hogwarts it was never silent, not even over night. There were always noises.
Silently, she got up and finally decided to move all her belongings and clothes into the closet across from her bed. Opening the dark wooden doors, she hesitated for a minute. There was something inside the closet, something which shouldn't be there. After all, she was in a guestroom, wasn't she?
Carefully, she pulled the black dress out of the closet, starring at it in awe for what felt like a minute. It was completely back and simple, but still amazingly beautiful. She knew, whoever had forgotten this dress inside the closet, had a great taste.
Maybe she should tell Narcissa about the dress, and ask her to whom it belonged, later that day. Or maybe, she shouldn't…
Placing the dress back inside the closet, she decided to let her belongings inside the trunk for now, maybe she'd put them into the closet later.
After she got dressed, she sneaked out of her bed room and downstairs towards the kitchen. She was hungry, and not willing to wait till everyone was awake. Maybe she'd be able to find an elf, she could order to prepare her something for her early breakfast.
But Saiph never made it into the kitchen, something inside the living room, she passed on her way towards the kitchen caught her attention.
Carefully, she pushed the already slightly opened door open, and entered the room behind it. Slowly, she made her way towards the picture, which had caught her attention. She hadn't noticed it before, not on her first night at Malfoy Manor, not on her second. How could this be possible? She know, she would remember it if she would have seen it before. Why hadn't she noticed it before? The painting showed Narcissa, a very young Narcissa, standing close to an old Oak Tree, but it wasn't the blonde, who had caught Saiph's attention. It was the black haired next to Narcissa who had let the young witch stop in her tracks.
Black messy curls, deep brown – almost black, eyes and pale skin. If Saiph wouldn't have known better, she could believe she looked into a mirror. "How is this possible?" she breathed, raising her hand. 'This couldn't – her thought was cut off, "Miss Matthews?" turning around quickly, the young witch faced a curious looking Narcissa Malfoy, standing in the door frame. She didn't knew, how long Narcissa already had stood there, watching her.
"I am…sorry,…I was hungry…and wanted…" she never managed to finish her lame excuse. The look in Narcissa's eyes let her shut up immediately. "The kitchen, is across the hall" the blonde said coldly. "I…I am…sorry" Saiph tried again, bowing her head. She felt embarrassed, it had been a while since someone had caught her, sneaking around.
She looks so much like her mother, the blond thought. It was almost painfully, how much the young witch in front of Narcissa, reminded her on her own sister.
Saiph still faced the ground, probably fighting the anger from being caught. Just like Bellatrix, she had never feared the punishment awaiting her, still she always had faced the ground when she stood in front of mother, hiding the embarrassment and anger raising inside her cheeks.
"Who is she?"it almost sounded like Saiph had spoken through her teeth. Smiling, Narcissa knew she'd accomplished her mission. "My sister, Bellatrix Black Lestrange" Narcissa replied. Finally, Saiph looked up, finding the blonde's gaze. Narcissa could clearly read the question the young witch had, hidden inside her eyes. Why?
"Does the dress, inside my closet belong to her?" Saiph asked instead, ignored the question which burned on her tongue. A dress? Narcissa didn't knew there was a dress inside the closet, of the guestroom Saiph was staying in. Had Bellatrix left it there? Had she forgotten the dress, the day she left the Manor and never came back?
"I believe so" the blonde eventually replied after she'd gathered her thoughts. "Since she used to stay inside the room, you're staying in" she added. "Used to? Doesn't she any more?" Saiph asked, hoping not to sound too curious. "No she doesn't, not anymore. She left the Manson eleven years ago, and never returned" Narcissa replied, not willing to give more information away, just yet.
She was alive. Bellatrix didn't knew why, but she knew the one who haunted her dreams, still was alive. If she had counted right and hadn't lost track in between she should be over eleven by now. Did she attend Hogwarts? Did she even knew, that she was a witch? But would Dumbledore really take the risk to let her study at his school? If she wasn't at Hogwarts, where else could she be? Who had raised her? Was someone there to make sure she was raised right?
Questions over questions, and no one was there to answer.
Burring her head inside her hands, she tried again to remember her first and last Moment together with Saiph. She didn't remember much from the very night Saiph was born, but she knew she wasn't alone the second, her daughter had arrived.
As stubborn as Bellatrix was, she of course had refused to take her Lord's orders to rest instead of going on raids. Somehow she had always managed to find a way to join them. But at least, she was more careful, making sure no one would be able to hurt her unborn child. Instead of making sure her face was the last her victims would see before they closed their eyes forever, she rather watched them suffer and die from afar, hidden inside the shadows.
The night, Saiph was born, Bellatrix never arrived inside the Muggle village, they'd planned to do their little raid. Instead she laid on her living room floor, screaming in pain. Never before she had experienced what was about to happen. A cruciatus curse seemed like nothing in comparison what she was feeling since hours. Holding onto her baby bump, she was screaming herself through another wave of pain, till suddenly a dark hooded figure appeared next to her. A cold voice explained her to stay calm, while pale fingers moved across her body. "Almost" the voice had breathed. The next thing the black haired witch remembered was how she sat inside a corner, holding tightly onto bundle of towels and blankets. The figure was still somewhere inside her Manor, but no matter how hard she tried to remember who had been with her, she couldn't.
Whoever was there with her, the night Saiph was born, was the one who had taken her daughter out of her arms. She only hoped, whoever the dark hooded figure was, had made sure her daughter would be raised right.
Saiph hadn't asked any further questions about Bellatrix or why she looked so much like her. But Narcissa knew, that eventually she would ask further questions. And she could wait. She had waited for her niece to show up, the past eleven years, a day or a week more, didn't made any difference.
The young witch sat inside her guestroom, starring at the black dress, inside her closet. It had belonged to Bellatrix Black Lestrange. It had belonged to the witch, Saiph had seen the night a couple weeks ago, inside a book, a book she never found again. It had belonged to Narcissa's sister.
But why did she had left it here? Tilting her head slightly, she tried to process the information she had gained this morning. The young Slytherin looked like an exact copy of the blonde's sister, the sister who had left the mansion over eleven years ago and never came back. Why had she left the Manor? Why did she never came back? Why had she left her dress inside the closet? What had happened to Bellatrix Black Lestrange?
Saiph ignored the real reason, for her curiosity for the black haired witch she had seen on a picture earlier this day. She kept on telling herself that she only wanted to know more about Bellatrix, because she seemed mysterious, and Narcissa had created a secret around her, this morning.
She wasn't willing to admit to herself, that she hoped Bellatrix Black Lestrange, was her mother.
