Life resumed its boring course… Only Bella found that it was considerably less boring now Lucius wasn't playing the part of a plant anymore. He had a pleasantly snarky sense of humour -something she had always mistaken for malice in his old self-, and despite having lost his memory he made interesting conversation. He hadn't lost any knowledge or abilities, just personal memories. He could by example recall the recipe of polyjuice potion, but he had no idea who the last minister of magic was, even though he knew there was one. Bellatrix remembered that the one time she had legilimensed Lucius she had compared the mental damage to obliviation. It was quite accurate. Someone or something had successfully obliviated the entire personal life of Lucius Malfoy from his mind, without touching anything else. An amazing feat… Bella would probably have made great conversation with the responsible witch or wizard, if not for the minor detail of said person killing her sister.

She didn't want to like Lucius, but she found that she did. It wasn't obvious at all; she cursed at him, she threw things at his head, she even cruciated him from time to time, but nevertheless… she found that she liked him. Not just the fact she had company, but him, as a person. During the day she kept herself from pondering too deeply, but at night… at night she went over the amount of things she had counted that day, and every night there were less things. No matter how angry she got with Lucius, she couldn't have been really angry. When she was angry or agitated, she counted. Somehow, Lucius kept her from counting things.

(Pagebreak)

Although things fell into a routine pattern again, Bella found herself having an extra problem. The ache in her leg that caused her to limp had always been quickly numbed with a small charm, but lately she found she had to renew the charm more and more often. On top of that the ache had changed in nature. At the start it had been a bothersome, dull pain, a bit like a big bruise you kept poking. Now it flared up with cruciatus-like strength at the most unexpected times, stiffening her whole leg and making her grind her teeth in agony. She wouldn't scream around Malfoy. She wouldn't. Whenever she felt threatened by his presence, be it her life or her dignity that was at stake, he turned from Lucius into Malfoy. It was better to keep people at a distance in moments of weakness.

"I'm going for a hunt."

"Are you okay?"

"Do I look like I'm not?"

"Err…"

"Fuck off, Malfoy."

She didn't feel okay; her leg hurt like a bitch, but she knew the endorphin kick of torturing a couple unsuspecting muggles would probably help her through the day. She was still grateful that she had taken that obliviation course so many years ago; it wouldn't do to have her exploits discovered by the aurors because of some traumatized and overly talkative muggle filth. This time she didn't make it to one of the picnick spots or walking trails though; all of a sudden the pain shot up from her leg straight to her head, or so it seemed. She let out a scream and dropped to her knees. The sound seemed to echo both through the woods and in her head, colours flashed in front of her eyes, she couldn't breathe, and for a moment there Bella thought she was going to die. Then the pain subsided, just enough to clear her head and make her crawl up again. She needed to get back to the cabin, she knew that much... In this state she couldn't torture anyone. Supporting herself on nearby trees, she stumbled back, step by step. She could try to apparate, but right now she didn't trust herself not to splinch herself. Then another bout of pain made her lose her balance. Bellatrix could take pain, she had been on the wrong end of a cruciatus often enough to have some tolerance, but the unpredictable jolts of agony that travelled from her leg to seemingly every other body part she had were more than she could take. It took her an hour to reach the cabin, and by that time she was crawling, biting her lip until she tasted blood to prevent her from screaming out. At the door her wish not to appear weak in front of Malfoy won it from the pain for a moment, and she pulled herself up on the cabin wall and opened the door. Lucius was sitting on the couch, reading a book. The moment she entered, he looked up and dropped his book on the spot.

"Bella! Are you all right? Did someone attack you?"

The pain flamed through her leg again, and she crumpled to the floor, answering him with a pitiful moan. Immediately he was by her side, helping her on the couch. Bella wanted to get up again, but the pain prevented her, making it hard to even think straight. Lucius sat bent over her, looking concerned.

"Bella, answer me. What happened?"

The tone of his voice was oddly familiar… in her pain-addled state Bellatrix realized he sounded exactly like the old Malfoy, agitated yet detached and formal. It made her grin, although another jolt turned that grin into a contorted grimace. She choked out,

"Old curse. Left leg. 'S okay."

Lucius lifted her skirt and checked Bella's left leg. A long scar ran over her shin, courtesy of the "old curse" she had mentioned. Once it had healed neatly, but now the scar was thick and deep purple, the surrounding tissue swollen and red with black veins lying close to the skin. He was shocked.

"Merlin…"

It hurt, it hurt worse than the cruciatus. Bellatrix hadn't realized it was possible, but it was; whatever was wrong with her hurt worse than her favourite torture curse. It didn't hurt more –that wasn't physically possible-, it hurt worse. Important nuance. She was vaguely aware that Lucius asked her something.

"How long have you walked around with this?"

She shrugged, wincing.

"Since… w-we got here. T'is just an old curse, no… nothing really…"

She didn't know why she tried to downplay her injury while it was obvious she was in an unearthly amount of pain, and Lucius was staring at her leg as if it was visibly rotting away. Perhaps it was because playing tough gave her an illusion of control? In all honesty, she really didn't know.

"This is bad. I don't know what this is, but I can't do anything about it and it may be deadly. It definitely isn't "nothing", Bella."

"Fuck…"

"Do you know what curse hit you?" Bellatrix barely heard the question… her pain threshold was high but this was a losing game, she could almost feel herself slip away.

"Bella, stay awake. What curse was it?"

"D-don't know…"

She was beyond worrying about looking weak in front of Lucius. She was beyond almost everything, at the moment. The pain was taking its toll on her mind, making it impossible to think. She vaguely heard Lucius' voice.

"Ssssh… You're going to be all right."

Bella felt a hand softly patting her hair, a strangely soft sensation amidst the harsh pain. She closed her eyes and leaned in to the touch, her mind finally giving up the fight and slipping into unconsciousness.

(Pagebreak)

Lucius didn't know if she would be all right. He just hadn't known what else to say to the pain-stricken woman on the verge of passing out. He looked at her, wondering what he should do now. Her leg looked bad, as if it were infected or poisoned… She could very well die from it. Lucius closed his eyes and tried to think, order his thoughts. Immediately images of the woman on the couch filled his mind. Bella… She was aggressive, violent, irrational, unreasonable, and sadist, and at times he thought she had to be completely insane. But he knew better. Memories flashed through his head, memories of all the little things that told him there was more to her than sadism and mania. Bella who held him and comforted him when he had nightmares, Bella who had fed him when he had been too weak to even hold a spoon, Bella who laughed cacklingly when he said something witty. Lucius didn't have too many memories anymore, so he cherished the new ones, even the ones that featured Bellatrix hurting him in some way or another. He had since long figured it was just how she was, and that it was nothing personal.

Perhaps in another life he would have loathed Bella, for her moodswings, her careless torture, her often-uncouth language, and her undignified cackling… Yet he had been stuck with her for months, and circumstances had forced him to learn to understand her. Strangely enough, while doing so he had taken a liking to the woman. He definitely didn't want her to die…

Lucius' decision was made when he opened his eyes again. He had to find help for Bella. He didn't know anyone he could go to, and if Bella had spoken the truth they were "kill on sight" for the aurors, but nevertheless… there were some strange specifics to Apparition that would come in handy here… He took Bella in his arms, closed his eyes and concentrated deeply, willing his magic to help him.

"Please bring us somewhere safe, someplace we won't get arrested, somewhere they can help her…"

They apparated, and at the arrival Lucius almost dropped Bella because he felt so nauseous. He held the bile back, put the unconscious woman on the ground first, and then emptied his stomach on what appeared to be someone's front lawn. Scourgifying himself with Bella's wand he looked around. They were standing in front of a white house, and no other houses were around. Apparently the magic of emergency apparition had decided this was a safe place where they wouldn't get arrested and where someone would help Bella… He picked her up again and looked apprehensively at the front door. It was his first time venturing outside of known terrain, and he had no idea where they were. Clenching Bella's wand he approached the door and rung the bell. He would never be able to duel while holding Bella, but holding the wood gave him a little extra confidence. A bright "ding-dong-ding" resounded, and he could hear a female voice yell.

"Just a second, I'm coming! Teddy, don't touch that!"

Footsteps approached, and a woman opened the door. Lucius gasped when he saw her… she looked a frightening lot like Bellatrix. Brown curls instead of black ones, slightly larger eyes perhaps, but further a complete carbon copy. It appeared she was as shocked as Lucius was, if not more. Her mouth fell open and in no time she had drawn her wand.

"You! How did you get through the wards!?"

"I… It…"

Lucius didn't know what to say. Held at wandpoint and with his arms full of unconscious Bellatrix he wasn't in the most favourable position…

"Granny whos that cweepy man?"

A small child with turquoise hair had appeared behind the Bellatrix-copy's legs. Her voice was a tone shriller when she ordered it without taking her eyes off Lucius,

"Teddy go back to the kitchen and don't come out before I tell you. GO!"

The child hobbled off, and she glared at Lucius.

"Give me one reason I shouldn't avada you on the spot, Malfoy. I wouldn't even go to Azkaban for it now, so tell me."

Lucius paled under her harsh look. He choked out,

"It was an Emergency Apparition. W-we apparated into the w-wards… Please, I didn't know what to do…"

Andromeda Tonks knew enough about Emergency Apparition to know that it only worked if the apparator bore no ill will; in case of extreme emergency it was even possible to apparate to Hogwarts. She didn't lower her wand, but re-evaluated the situation. Something was amiss here; Lucius Malfoy would never willingly use the word please. Perhaps they had used polyjuice potion, or complex glamors… And the woman in his arms, the Malfoy she knew would never carry anyone like that. She looked a little better at the woman, and her breathing stocked. It was Bellatrix. Yes, there was definitely something amiss here. Malfoy and her sister had fought for the same deluded cause, but she knew they despised each other, always had. An Emergency Apparition shouldn't even be possible for those two! Andromeda didn't know what this was, but these two people definitely weren't who they appeared to be. She glared at them, tightening the grip on her wand.

"Who. Are. You."

"I'm Lucius Abraxas Malfoy, and this is Bellatrix Lestrange. Please don't ask me a security question. Cast any identity spell on me you like, but I don't know anything about myself, I can't answer questions."

His voice was haunted and tense, and what he said just didn't make sense. Andromeda started to think that perhaps someone had fed these people polyjuice potion, and then confounded them. It was the only reasonable explanation she could come up with. The man's eyes were so full of worry and confusion, even fear, that she couldn't imagine him being up to something evil. She motioned inwards.

"Come in. But one wrong movement and your done for, understood?"

Lucius nodded and followed the woman inside. In the living room, she told him to put Bella on a sofa. She watched how he carefully lowered the woman, put a pillow behind her head and wiped the hair from her face. The astonishment could be read on Andromeda's face when Bellatrix grunted as if in pain and Lucius softly whispered something comforting to her, calming her down. These two people were definitely not the stray death eaters they looked like…

(Author's Notes)

So... New chapter, and Lucius comes to the rescue xD It makes sense, even if they didn't really care for each other; he's an opportunist and after all Bella's the one who brings in the food in their household xD

I know Andromeda is supposed to be holding this massive grudge against Bellatrix, but that'll become important later. Right now she doesn't even believe they are who they say they are.

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