Plot: Harry is raised by Sirius and Bellatrix, and learns to hate the light side that pursues them. Highly AU, slash in future chapters won't say who, though!
Characters: Harry Potter, Sirius Black, and Bellatrix Black/Lestrange almost exclusively for the first few chapters.
Author's Notes: This is the revised version of the chapter, with better characterisation, I hope. Thanks for the patience!
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She landed in front of a silent house. The windows were lit and the front gate was open; fall leaves tumbled across the yard. There was something wrong about this - when she was called, it was never this way.
The mark wasn't hanging heavily in the sky, though, and she jumped as crying came from the house. Sound, even if it was crying or screaming, was better than silence.
She tried the front doorknob warily and drew her wand when it swung open. The hallway was quiet, domestic even, but for the body lying limply on the floor. She checked the pulse, just in case, avoiding the dead man's empty gaze - she had killed before, but never had to deal with the aftermath.. Even while looking away she could feel the fear in his still-clenched fists, one holding a wand tightly. The man's other hand had a simple gold band on the ring finger.
The crying continued, and she found the stairs and began to walk up them. There were photographs, still moving, as if to mock their occupants. Most were of three people: a dark-haired man with glasses, a redheaded woman with a kind smile, and a baby, with the dark hair of his father. She realized with a jolt that the man was already dead and felt a shiver go down her spine at his cheery smile in the photos. As she went up, step by step, the boy became older. In one of the last pictures he was laughing and stretching out his arms and he walked clumsily towards his mother.
Finally she reached the landing and turned her head away, trying to ignore the fact that she had been, only a few moments ago, preparing to kill another mother and father - and a boy, only a little baby, hardly older than the one in the photos -
She bent over and was sick.
After a few moments, coughing and spitting out the bad taste in her mouth, she managed to stand upright again. Steeling herself, she walked unsteadily down the hall.
The first door she passed opened to an empty room - a bedroom, she thought - and she kept walking, following the sound of the wailing to the second door, which was ajar slightly. Bellatrix stopped outside it, staring at the cheerily painted 'Harry's Room' on the door.
She couldn't remember the name of the Longbottoms' boy. It started with an N, she was sure - Nicholas? Nathan? No, Neville - that was it, she realized, and she made herself remember it.
When she opened the door she was shocked at the absolute chaos inside. Everything in the room was thrown against the walls, and the windows were shattered. The red-headed woman from the photos was lying across the floor, her arm stretched out and her fingers still curled slightly in a plea. Two rings - both silver - were on her ring finger.
Behind her, in a crib, sat the boy, crying loudly. She stepped over the woman's hand delicately and knelt down in front of the wooden bars. "Harry?" she said, and the boy hiccupped and sniffled, staring at her through teary eyes. There was a trickle of blood on his forehead.
"Mummy!" he wailed, pointing at the woman on the floor. Bellatrix stood up and lifted him from the crib, holding him close and shushing him awkwardly as he cried. Finally he began to calm down and looked up at her.
"Poor thing," she muttered, gently wiping the blood from his forehead, noticing absently that the cut it came from was shaped like a lightning bolt, and the tears from his cheeks, with the back of her hand.
Then, downstairs, a door slammed against a wall. She held Harry close and pulled her wand from her pocket. Frantic footsteps came up the stairs and down the hall, and a man came rushing into the doorway.
He was tall, with messy black hair, and handsome in a sort of unstudied way. His eyes flew to the body on the floor first, and he let out a dry sob before glaring up at her.
"You deatheater slime," he breathed, and pulled his wand from his pocket to point it at her.
"Sirius, dear cousin. What do you want?" she answered pleasantly. He snorted, and his eyes traveled to the baby, still held in her arm.
"Harry, are you okay?" he asked, and the little boy nodded. Sirius looked back to her angrily.
"Put him down, now, Bellatrix," he hissed, and she stiffened.
"And what right do you have to him?" Bellatrix asked angrily, raising her voice and leveling her wand at the dark-haired man.
"I'm his godfather. You, on the other hand, are a deatheater, which means the only thing you have the right to is a quick Kiss with a dementor!" he said grimly, and took a step forward, "And if you don't give him to me, I'll take him! Maybe then you'll miss the dementors entirely!"
"I'd like to see you try it!" she yelled, and Harry began to whimper. She looked down, distracted, and whispered, "Shh, Harry, it's okay - we're just talking, baby, -"
It didn't work, and he began to cry in earnest. Soon he was screaming loudly, his face covered in tears again. She tucked her wand in her pocket and began to rub his back, futilely.
"Give him to me," demanded Sirius over his cries, walking around the woman's body. Bellatrix looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. He held out his hands, holding her gaze, and finally she handed Harry to him, watching amazed as he quickly soothed him.
"He's an orphan now, isn't he?" she asked, trying and failing to sound dispassionate. He cousin shook his head.
"No, he's got me," Sirius answered. Bellatrix watched him, feeling something long-forgotten tighten in her chest as Harry nestled into the man's arms and began to suck his thumb.
Then, outside, she heard a deafening crack. Sirius swore and drew his wand, carrying Harry over to the shattered windows. Bellatrix followed and they looked out gingerly.
On the sidewalk, a gigantic man was standing. Belllatrix vaguely recognized him - he had been the groundskeeper of Hogwarts during her seven years there. He looked up at them and confusion crossed his heavily-bearded face. "Sirius? What're yeh doin' here?" he asked, and the caught sight of Bellatrix. The man's eyes widened beneath his messy hair, and then his face reddened with rage.
"Traitor! Yeh bloody bastard, 'ee was yer friend!" he roared, and they ducked as he pulled a tattered pink umbrella from in his furry coat and fired a spell. Sirius began cursing loudly and fluently, and Bellatrix coughed. He looked startled, then glanced at Harry and bit his lip.
"Take him back from the window," said Bellatrix hurriedly, pulling her wand and summoning things from the changing table and crib, catching them deftly as they flew towards her. He backed away, and only a few seconds later the windowframe was blown inward, sending the remaining glass flying. Bellatrix slung a diaper bag packed full over her shoulder and grabbed Sirius' elbow as he began to turn on the spot. Then the world around them spun away.