Disclaimer: I am not JKR nor do own any of her works, I am just someone whom loves to take a wand and stir in her magical world a bit. I do this merely for my own pleasure and that of the readers, not for money.

Author's Notes: Time for the second chapter after the lovely cliffhanger on the first. Thank you for the reviews so far, they do keep me going. As far as this chapter goes, there is a little bit more suspense happening but the next chapter is likely going to reveal a few answers. Have fun reading.

PADDING INTO BLACK FOOTSTEPS
chapter two: of cursing and frustrations

"I, Harry James Potter, hereby call upon the lifedebt of Bellatrix Druella Black and do so by taking her as my loyal wife… so mote it be."

The words almost echoed through the alley that silent it was, if even for the moment. Bellatrix's eyes were wide open by the time he was finished and her jaw had dropped slightly though it only lasted for a little bit as laughter set in. Enough so that the dark witch was having to fight off the desire to buckle over, this was simply far too amusing to her that even the fact that Potter was the one saying this was just being ignored by her. Harry on the other hand kept standing there, sure he could try to run but with her wand that close there was little chance of getting far, besides he felt like he had done already more than enough running.

"I dare say… interesting last words… they humor me but in my opinion ickle Harry should have picked something better to say… or at least shown the decency to try and run like any other would… but no… not the great Harry Potter…"

Bellatrix was still trying to fight off the laughter, which she slowly managed to do and further more needed to do as well in order to be convincing enough to finish things as she intended to, as amused as she was she was still feeling that desire to get rid of the pest in her life known as Potter. He'd had caused her more harm than good to be honest and tonight she was going to end that once and for all.

"Well then… time to say bye bye… be nice and wave to the audience…"

She couldn't help but to gloat about this victory, enough so that she didn't even worry about the Dark Lord's reaction to it at all. She would prove that Harry could be killed quite easily and that the whole prophecy was just one big joke, just like the seer whom had made it. Even she found Sybill Trelawny a rambling nutcase, she didn't even know why Dumbledork had made her a Professor at his 'precious' school either but now her mind was wandering again, she had a job to do.

"Try me…"

Harry responded to her words a bit too confident to her liking and that made the last chuckles she had from her earlier laughing fit disappear quite quickly. Like before her violet eyes were showing that hatred for the boy in front of her, exactly what she was needing for a perfect killing curse. All she did next was huff and utter the incantation for the dreaded spell.

"Avada Ked…"

The witch stopped in the middle of the words as she noticed how her talon-shaped wand was trembling. It threw her, because not even when she killed for the very first time she had trembled like this. In all honesty the only times she had been trembling was during Voldemort's wraths and this was supposed to be like slicing butter with a hot knife for her.

She stared at her wand for a few moments, her eyes narrowing as she tried to focus herself. Enough so that Harry could see how the female Death Eater tightened her grip on her wand, causing her knuckles to turn white as blood withdrew from them. A growl of frustration flowed from her lips as she turned her attention to Harry and once again tried to cast her spell.

"Avada K…"

"Avada Ked…"

"A-A-Avada Ked…"

She ended up trying several times but never did she finish the words on any of those attempts, making her only become more pissed at the boy in front of her. It didn't help that Harry was quite amused by what he was seeing, to the point he even wondered if she would start stomping on the floor and throw a tantrum right there.

Instead though she was looking at her wand again with an immense intensity, frustrations sky rocketing as she moved the wand to her other hand but refrained from uncurling her fist. She wanted to curse Harry, to punch Harry but all she managed to do was a simple slap across his cheek.

"What the hell did you do, Potter! Tell me! Which spell did you use on me? Tell me now!"

Harry was more focused on the stinging sensation in his cheek that the words the other was spitting out toward him, mostly because he hadn't expected her to do something like that. In hindsight it was something amusing where he was pretty much ready to face a killing curse from the witch yet wasn't ready for a simple slap.

Rubbing his cheek he couldn't help but to end up noticing the time on his watch, well Dudley's watch which he had borrowed for the night since he needed to be back in time before they would switch his guards on him. It made him realize that he couldn't waste too much time, even though he enjoyed seeing Bellatrix this annoyed at him.

"I already told you, Bella… but if you want a better answer then come to room thirteen of the Leaky Cauldron tomorrow night, I do suggest that you come alone or you might not get them… I did want to tell you tonight though but unfortunately I'm on a slight curfew, so I have to go… sorry…"

Okay he had a bit of a smug look on his face when he told her that, as for once he was a bit in control of the situation. At least this situation as he didn't want to come home late tonight, as he suspected that Mad Eye was going to be having the next shift in guarding him. So he calmly pulled out the portkey from his pocket, which would take him to the playgrounds near where the Dursleys and he lived.

"You! You aren't allowed to call me that, you brat!"

Bellatrix once again spat out but as she realized that he really intended to leave she dropped that part and went back to demanding answers.

"And you aren't going anywhere, Potter, not till you lift that damned hex of yours and tell me what you did!"

Angered pretty much to the bone she growled at the Boy-Who-Lived and in pure frustration she once again tried to curse him with all she got.

"AVADA KED…!"

Once again she couldn't finish the spell she almost desperately was trying to cast, though by the time her attempt failed this time Harry vanished in a flash, leaving behind one hell of a frustrated witch.

"Aaargh! Damn you Potter!"

She cursed out loud as she threw her wand onto the ground of the alley, just trying to relieve some of that tension which she was currently feeling. Of course it didn't help and to her annoyance she now had to pick up her wand too, but as she rose to her feet she knew that the only thing she could do right now was go back, after all Potter was gone. However she now knew where she could find him tomorrow and that was an interesting thing to know… or maybe even to share…