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: Alright I present to you the third chapter and as promised it does reveal a little bit more, just a little bit though but don't worry I promise more will unfold soon. Either way thank you for your reviews so far and enjoy reading this next chapter.

PADDING INTO BLACK FOOTSTEPS
chapter three: nothing but death

Bella was seething as she paced through her chambers, she couldn't believe what happened and how she had let herself be lured into it. It was all a fluke, there was no other reason she could think of as Potter had to have come up with such a thing to throw her off. Worst of it all was that he had succeeded at it. The Dark Lord had been less than pleased as well and the fact that she'd endured several Cruciatus curses through their failure only added to her anger. The dark witch couldn't care about the failed attack on the Grangers at the moment, all she could think of was the arrogance Potter had treated her with.

Not just that was on her mind though, after all the boy had shown the audacity to invite her over for the following night. Merlin, it was so tempting to just tell Lord Voldemort about this and just swamp the place and capture if not kill Potter. As tempting as it was she couldn't help but to doubt Harry would show either, her mind simply doing overtime as she tried to figure out what the boy was heading at. After all the punishment for leading the Dark Lord to a possible location where Potter was only to find him not there wasn't one she was looking forward to. But what if he was there?

Frustration was building more and more as her mind went back and forth, it was enough to drive pretty much anyone insane except for Bellatrix since she was considered to be out of her mind already. All she could do was go see and hope for the best, after all if the boy would show then she could always rely on her mark to call her Lord. Yes, that seemed the most logical thing to her and definitely the thing to do. So her mind eased a little bit she waited till the hour was upon her and then apparated off to Diagon Alley.

Meanwhile Harry had been enduring the usual day of scolding, beating and other punishments from the Dursleys throughout the day. Often they made it seem like the Cruciatus curse was nothing and in turn Harry had shot more than enough deadly glares at them, or at least he wished that his looks could kill. However throughout the day he had also been thinking about the meeting with Bellatrix, it was a risky move but he knew that by sitting idle here during the summer he wouldn't achieve anything either, but he knew he could take away some risks using his invisibility cloak. Though before he could worry about the lunatic witch Harry had to deal with Shacklebolt, he couldn't sneak out until his shift would end in guarding him.

Harry grew impatient as he had to wait but finally he noticed that the change in shift had happened, after which he immediately called for Dobby whom 'popped' them over to the high street of Diagon Alley not much before Bellatrix was to make her appearance as well. Under the cover of his invisibility cloak he made it over to the Leaky Cauldron and to the room he'd rented for the night earlier. Inside he went for the empty corner of the room and waited there, still safely hidden under his cloak.

He couldn't help but to feel his heart pound in his chest as he waited for the dark witch, something which didn't take too long. Sure the seriousness of the risks he was taking was working his nerves, since as Bella entered the room he was almost expecting a few Death Eaters to follow. Harry watched how she cautiously walked into the room, examining all the possible hiding spots like under the bed and inside the closet. The Gryffindor waited a little bit longer just to make sure she wouldn't call in help and once he felt that he was safe enough, he took off his cloak as her back was turned to him.

Not hesitating he made sure to lock the door with a quick spell, along with a silencing charm just in case. Of course it made Bella spin around quite quickly with her own wand drawn as well.

"So you showed after all, ickle baby Potter… so foolish of you, as I'm not going to let you get away a second time."

Harry smirked a bit as he looked at the witch before replying, though keeping his own wand ready as well. That said he did lower it a bit to try and lessen the tension and risks for the moment as well.

"Who said something about me leaving yet? Besides you can check that I just placed some charms on the door which state the fact that I don't intend to leave. Next to that I did promise you some answers and unlike some I tend to keep my word."

Of course the latter was a slight lie as in the course of the past several weeks he'd learned that he would have to break a few words in order to be able to stand up for himself a bit more and to protect himself in the process.

Bella didn't lower her wand though, simply not trusting the boy in front of her and mostly because she didn't intend to keep playing his game anymore. However his words were satisfying enough for now to keep her from hexing and cursing the shit out of Potter.

"Then spit it out, Potter… because the Dark Lord's time is precious and my patience is wearing thin."

"The Dark Lord's time? Frankly you're more here for yourself Bella or you wouldn't have come here on your own."

"Don't call me Bella, Potter!"

The witch snapped at him and instantly began to curl up her sleeve, showing off that dark mark which was etched into her skin and created that bond to her Dark Lord. The fact that she pointed at it with her wand made her words pretty much redundant, but she chose to state the obvious none the less.

"Keep in mind that I can call him here any moment, Potter."

Harry was well aware of that fact but he believed that it was an idle threat for now, since the other had more than enough time and occasion to do so, which made it quite clear that he was safe for now and next to that he had his own backup plan as well ready when needed. But to keep her pleased he motioned her slowly to calm down a bit, not that it helped much seen the agitation of Bellatrix but in his mind it was the thought that counted.

"Very well then… though I think it's safe to guess that you had enough time to work out a few things on your own, Bella… trix."

Okay the slight pause was perhaps a little cruel and seeing her eyes infuriate more showed that he indeed needed to be careful yet her posture seemed to ease a bit. Sure it was only a little bit but it indeed told him that he had been right.

"I had some time to spare alright…"

She responded with a light snarl, since he was more than clearly taunting her there, making her grip her wand a bit firmer before continuing. After all kids were quite capable of making your blood boil and in Bella's opinion Harry was quite good at it, which almost sounded like admiration if she would ever admit such a thing.

"… however… I decided that you have almost nothing… nothing but lies. What you did the other night was merely catching me off guard, nothing more… Well perhaps there is something but that doesn't make a difference…"

Standing there Harry rose a slight eye brow which was mostly out of curiosity, next to that he had to agree that she was partially true there but there was far more to it though.

"And what would that be?"

"What does it matter to you, Potter?"

Bellatrix huffed in her own annoyance and decided then to spill it none the less, if only to try and pull the Boy-Who-Lived out of his little fairytale world.

"The fact that Rodolphus is dead…"