Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

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Guest reviews' answers:

Guest: I'm glad you like libraries :P They do play an important role in this story, simply because it's where you used to find answers before Internet (a time I barely remember) and Harry has a lot of questions.

autumngold: I'm glad you liked it! Harry is indeed starved for information after his time with the Rebels. And Voldemort was sweet, awww :D

FanFictionLover: Ha! It was exactly like that for me as well: The progressive decline from original fictions, to het fanfiction, to slash fanfiction...and now I'm stuck, hooked, as you said. *sighs* But I do love it...If Voldie ever teaches Cedric a lesson, I don't think he'd do it in front of Harry, so...maybe we won't find out before the next LVPOV? :P I managed an In-Character HPLV fluff? Yes! Bring it on! Hopefully you'll like the little slash in this chapter too ;)

Warnings: torture, mentions of prolonged abuse, slight slash (not all on the same person, of course)

§ Parseltongue §

Chapter 26th: 15th of September: Bellabitch

The next morning I woke up alone in my bedroom and wondered if I had imagined the previous evening. The sun was streaming from the window, bathing the room in a golden light. So far, it had been a particularly sunny and warm September.

I got up and put on my sports clothing to go jog around the lands. Despite have kept up my training regimen, I had only gone outside twice so far and I hadn't had the chance to explore the grounds completely. I had seen enough to conclude, however, that the Dark Lord's Fortress stood on an island, and that the island probably belonged to him in its entirety. I knew that there were a lot of small islands along the coast of Scotland, so I guessed (even if it was far-fetched) that I might be somewhere close to Hogwarts. The propriety had belonged to one of its Founders, after all.

After jogging for a good while, I felt hungry and decided to head back.

On my way, close to the Fortress, I saw Nagini, Voldemort's familiar, lounging in the warm sun lazily. I had seen her a couple of times and had scrupulously kept a clueless face when I heard the Dark Lord and her converse. It was amazing how comfortable they felt talking about all sorts of confidential issues when I was there because they were sure that I wouldn't understand them. Well, it was their problem if they weren't clever enough to test me better before speaking freely.

So far, I hadn't discovered anything truly shocking apart from that snakes could apparently be quite lewd and have a sense of humour. In those moments, it had been particularly difficult to keep my poker face, and my Occlumency shields had been very helpful.

At my approach, Nagini lifted her head to look at me. § Stupid human,§ she hissed at me, § why don't you come here and make yourself useful? §

I watched her cautiously for a bit, pretending not to understand, but she gave a sort of twitch with her head that I knew meant a command to come closer. I approached her wearily. I wasn't afraid of her, partly because I had heard the Dark Lord tell her clearly that she wasn't to bite me, but I didn't want to accidentally reveal my gift, so I tried to keep my distance from her as best as I could. The snake herself had apparently thwarted my resolution.

§ Be a good human and come rub my scales. My shedding is coming in a few days and my skin feels itchy. Human nails are perfect to scratch. §

I lifted a hesitant hand, faking that I was uncertainly waiting for her approval to touch her. She bobbed her head once in agreement and I started rubbing her soft skin. It was surprisingly smooth. I scratched lightly the scales and she hissed in delight.

§ I'm changing my mind. You're perfect for Master. He should keep you. Ssssssss, right there, yessss...oh little human, if you continue to do that I'll slide a good word in for the Master on your behalf, what do you say? Maybe I can even convince him to have hatchlings with you if that makes him keep you around...but you'll have to scratch me like that every time you see me, got it, little human? § she hissed.

I felt myself redden despite my best efforts when I heard her talk about hatchlings. Really now, it was wayyyy too early to say anything like that, even if I supposedly was the Dark Lord's soul mate. I knew that there were Potions that allowed a woman to carry the baby of two men, but I didn't think I'd live long enough to have use of it. I only heard of it because, a few months ago, when I had gathered all my Gryffindor courage and told Sirius that I thought I was gay, he made me go through 'the talk' again, 'special edition'. It was extremely graphic and uncomfortable, but it was also useful because it really covered just about any questions I could have had about the subject. I could have done without the allusions to centaurs, though. Even if I loved him deeply, Sirius' teasing had always been a bit too scandalous for my taste.

Back to the snake. I did want Nagini to have a good opinion of me, so I continued to rub and scratch her. I just hoped she wouldn't talk about babies in front of Voldemort because I probably wouldn't be able to keep myself from reddening and that would give my secret away quite easily.

I looked down at her. She had fallen asleep again, so I left her to go take a shower and have breakfast. When I was done with my morning routine, I hurried to the library to work on some of the homework Remus had given me for our tutoring tomorrow. I was really starting to get a good grasp on Potions thanks to Snape's reluctant help and we had agreed that I would review every potion with Remus before and after my weekly session with the Potions Master to make them as efficient and useful as possible. It really helped the man's temper if I looked like I knew what I was working on. At this rhythm, I thought I would be at OWL level in Potions before Yule. I still didn't know what the Dark Lord and I would do about the Duel. It seemed a bit pointless now, but it was still useful to guarantee my safety in this relatively hostile environment and I wasn't sure I wanted to forfeit now...

.

I entered in the library distractedly and stopped short when I saw the Dark Lord sitting in his usual spot, surrounded by mountains of books. I suddenly remembered with perfect clarity the previous' evening events.

I felt myself blush as I recalled how catatonic I was in his bed. Well, that seriously wasn't how I thought our first night sleeping together would happen (if he had slept there at all before sending me back to my bedroom). However, I was grateful for the comfort he provided. I really hadn't expected that of him.

And I wasn't a noble honorary Gryffindor for nothing. I straightened my shoulders and went closer to the powerful man. When I arrived in front of the table where he was working, I cleared my throat to get his attention. I knew he had been aware of my presence from the very moment I opened the door, or maybe earlier if he could feel my magic like I could feel his.

He slowly put down his quill and lifted his head to look at me. Despite having been in close proximity with him for the last two weeks or so, I still felt a slight shock whenever he looked at me. As if his masculine beauty wasn't difficult enough to get used to, having all this magic directed toward me was an unending sweet torment.

I moistened my lips in nervousness and told him:

"Thank you for yesterday. I guess I really needed that."

The left corner of his lips lifted up in a small half-smile.

"You're welcome. I think you can understand why I don't announce it to the Wizarding population. It would cause general panic." He replied with his habitual smooth and strong voice.

I felt something soften inside of me when I looked at him. Maybe being this man's soul mate wasn't such a bad thing in the end. Maybe I should just feel very lucky to have such a close connection to this charismatic man.

I sent a grateful smile to him. It would have been so easy for him to mock me for my weak behaviour, but instead he reassured me.

I circled around the table until I was standing next to him. He leaned on the back of his chair, an elbow on one of its arms, watching me approach attentively.

When I got there, I had to gather my courage again before I bent down and went to press my lips against his. I stopped at a hair's width of them, remembering his previous reaction to unauthorised kisses. When he didn't react in protest, I touched his lips slowly rubbing them against mine. There were as silky as I remembered. I had to hold myself back when I wanted to taste them as the position I was in, nearly bent in half, wasn't very comfortable.

When I began to withdraw, however, I felt the Dark Lord's hands grasp my knees and pull them sharply toward him. I had to place them on both sides of him on the chair and my hands on his shoulders to keep from falling on him. His hands trailed up my legs slowly to rest on my hips and he grasped them, pulling me down on his lap and claiming my lips with his. It happened so fast that I wasn't sure how I ended up sitting on his lap, kissing him passionately, but the question left my head altogether when I felt his tongue slide boldly into my mouth. I hummed at the taste and pressed myself reflectively against him, my hands sliding up to caress the back of his neck and play in his hair. His magic seeped in me again, alighting my nerves and making me shiver and battle his tongue with renewed vigour. His hands guided my hips to ground them against his lap in a tantalising rhythm.

.

The moment was completely shattered by a resounding shriek. I nearly fell down on the floor in my haste to get up from the Dark Lord's lap. I felt a spell coming toward my back and I dodged quickly, drawing my wand, and whirling around to face my new opponent.

A woman was standing there, a few feet away, wand pointed at me and two others were with her, but their heads were strangely bent toward the floor, their body turned away as if they were shying away from their companion.

The woman who attacked me had long black hair flying in disarray around her head. She looked at me with a disgusted sneer on her lips and a crazy glint sparkling in her heavy-lidded eyes.

"You whore! Get away from him! How dare you besmirch my Lord's magnificence by plastering yourself over him! You are not even worthy of crawling at his feet and being crushed by his boots!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.

She shot me dark curses and after dark curses all throughout her indignant speech. I was a bit embarrassed to have been caught in such a compromising position, especially since the rest of the world thought I was supposed to be the Dark Lord's nemesis, but I wasn't about to let myself get cursed by this crazy hag.

I swiftly dodged or blocked everything she sent my way. I itched to send back a few curses of my own (Who did she think she was, just barging in and attacking me?), but I didn't want to hit the two others who stood at her side cowering in fright. They reminded me of someone, but I couldn't remember who...

I shot a look of annoyance to the Dark Lord. Why wasn't he doing anything? Wasn't she his follower...or maybe...could she be another lover? He had never confirmed he was exclusively gay, after all, so, for all I knew, perhaps he liked women as well. I dearly hoped it wasn't the case. It would not only be awkward, but it also made my stomach crawl to imagine him lying next to this harpy.

At long last, the Dark Lord spoke. I think he liked to see me dodge spells around like a fool a bit too much.

"Bella. Restrain yourself." He said in an authoritative voice.

She halted the barrage of curses immediately and pouted at him obstinately as if she was a little girl and he had just stolen her doll. She let a little shriek of frustration when he shook his head at her and she quickly turned her anger to the two with which she entered and shouted "Crucio!".

They fell on the ground, shouting and writhing in pain. It was horrible. I knew of the Unforgivables, of course. I had even learnt how to do them from Moody, but we had focused our efforts on the Killing curse because the Cruciatus wasn't productive enough in a duelling environment and nobody was stupid enough to try an Imperio on the Dark Lord. So, although I did know about it and saw it enacted on small animals and insects, my heart still wrenched when I heard these soul-deep cries of pain and the sound quickly became intolerable.

I didn't know what the two did to deserve this, but I couldn't just stand by without doing anything, the Dark Lord's will be damned.

I shot a stunning spell at her. She quickly dropped her torture and turned around to face me again, shooting curses. I dodged them as easily as earlier, this time replying to them while staying attentive enough not to send dangerous spells that could harm the two at her side.

The Dark Lord, when the fighting became too aggressive, sent us both flying into the bookshelves, which had apparently been warded against the onslaught of spells and flying bodies. I picked myself up with as much dignity as I could gather and got back to my feet quickly, satisfied that at least I had interrupted the harpy's torture session.

Speaking of the hag, she was now whining to the Dark Lord that it wasn't fair and that he shouldn't have interrupted the fight just when she was about to 'teach the insolent and presumptuous whelp a lesson'.

"It's you who has forgotten your place, Bella. You dared to contest my decisions and to attack what is mine. You deserve punishment. Crucio!"

There had already been too much of this Unforgivable for one day, in my opinion, without the Dark Lord adding to it. I didn't care much for the woman, and he didn't seem to either, but seeing him torture her like that reminded me of what the Rebels said about him: That he was an insane man who relished on the pain he caused to this followers. I could see where they were coming from. The Dark Lord looked enraptured by the woman's whimpers of pain. An eager look was lighting up his face and a predatory smile bared his teeth. He was still so handsome that he looked like a fallen angel.

Embarrassingly, I had trouble keeping my own whimpers down. The magic spread in the room was darker than usual, as seductive and oppressive as it was the first time I met him, and the intensity of it was making me dizzy. I wanted to be furious or disgusted by his extreme reaction to the situation. Sure, his follower had stepped over her boundaries, but was this cruelty really so necessary? He could have just stopped her before if he was so displeased by how she acted.

After a while, he looked bored of his torture and lifted his spell up.

The woman crawled up to his feet on the ground.

"Ah, Master, I didn't want to disobey your will, please believe me! I'm your most devoted servant, I have always been! Please, please, punish me more; make me suffer for my shameful actions! I deserve it, and more!"

The servile voice was sickening.

The Dark seemed to agree with me, since he sneered at her and returned to his seat behind the table.

"I will not waste a second more of my time on trying to teach you a lesson you should have learnt years ago, Bellatrix." The name of the woman suddenly clicked in my head. This woman was Bellatrix Lestrange, one of the most famous generals of the Dark Lord during the war? How the mighty have fallen, I thought fleetingly before remembering that Sirius had told me his cousin had always been crazy. Why Voldemort kept her around at all was a mystery to me.

She had climbed back up to her feet while I was thinking and now looked strangely composed.

"My Lord, Lucius sent me to inform you of the latest developments with the rebels." She sneered, either at the idea of being sent by the Minister, or at her mention of the Rebels.

The Dark Lord glanced in my direction, as if he was evaluating something, and nodded to her.

"My Lord, the team of wardmakers hasn't been able to determine what exactly happened at Malfoy Manor to make the wards collapse, but it seems like the security breach came from within the Manor itself. Lucius has interrogated the House Elves and has ascertained the presence of a traitor in their midst. The House Elf in question had always been particularly resistant to discipline, according to him, but he apparently was directed to help the Rebels by one of their allies who has contacts within the House Elf network. Lucy and Barty have determined that it must be a relatively new ally of the Rebels since we have never had any previous breach on this front before. They are trying to discover the identity of this traitor, but, so far, the only thing we know is that it is a woman and that she is known to the House Elves as 'Oninny'. "

Bellatrix's lips had curled in disgust at the nickname. She stood there, waiting for the Dark Lord's orders. He looked pensive and dismissed her with a wave of his hand. When she left the room, followed quickly by the other two who scurried behind her, he turned to me.

"Do you know anything about it? If House Elves were to join the rebellion, it would be an important security breach, since most Purebloods use them."

I frowned pensively.

"I didn't know about House Elves directly, but I knew they had been happy to find an unexpected ally at some point in the last months. Apparently, they hadn't done anything to recruit her; she contacted them herself and it seemed like she agreed to most of their goals without requiring the usual...persuasion methods."

The Dark Lord lifted an eyebrow at me, silently asking me to elaborate on that point.

"I don't want to say too much without negotiating. It's in my notes."

I tried to sound firm, but I had trouble stopping myself from answering those questions. The silence fell for a while. I saw Voldemort pondering this new development.

I suddenly recalled a question I had for him.

"Who are the two people with whom she came? Were they slaves?

-Slavery isn't legal in the Wizarding World, at least, not for creatures that initially had above a level two of sentience.

-Initially?" That seemed like a peculiar choice of word.

"Ah, yes, I'm afraid that, if this couple used to be two very intelligent and competent Aurors, nothing much of their previous state remains today. They are lost within themselves. The only time they regain some of their former...vivacity...is when they are being tortured again. Strange who nature does things sometimes..." He drifted off pensively.

Something he said rang a bell in my head, and I suddenly remembered something in a flash.

"The Longbottoms? Neville's parents? That was them?" I was scandalised. "You gave them as toys to the woman who broke their minds?! That's horrible!"

"Well, it's not as if they can really understand what's happening to them. They are trapped inside their mind. If anything, torture brings them back to the surface temporarily. "

That was sickening. I couldn't let that happen to them.

"Why did you give them to that insane woman? They should be in a mental institution!

-Bella asked for them after my Victory. It was the least I could do to thank one of my best generals. All the rest of them had high placed positions in the new Ministry, but Bellatrix wasn't mentally stable enough to be given any type of responsibility. She asked for them, so I agreed. Her husband makes sure that they are clothed, fed and bathed regularly. I don't see a problem with it.

-Why does she want to hurt them so badly? Why them? I don't understand...

-During a battle before my...temporary demise, Frank Longbottom, who was a prestigious Auror at the time, quickly climbing the ranks, shot a miscarriage spell on her. It wasn't well known that Bellatrix was pregnant then since it was rather early in the pregnancy. It was supposed to be her last battle before she retired of the active scene; a sort of farewell she insisted on having. It was later discovered that her Healer had leaked the information to the Aurors after he saw the Dark Mark on Bellatrix' forearm. The miscarriage was brutal and bloody and she nearly died. She was told that she could never have other children because of the heavy internal damage and scarring. She never was the same after that. She had always been prone to bouts of madness during a fight, but it slowly seeped into her daily life after this event and her short stay in Azkaban made it worse. The result is what you saw today. She's unstable. Sometimes, like when she gave the report, she's mostly sane and back to how she used to be, but a lot of little things can trigger her madness. There's really nothing we can do about it, except keep her in line and away from vulnerable citizens as much as possible."

I sat there, pondering the tragic story. I knew she was known to be ruthless and dangerous, and Sirius had called her insane a couple of times, but to know the origin of this insanity made a big part of my anger at her behaviour vanish. Was she really responsible for her actions if she had a mental problem, or was it more her guardian's fault for letting her roam around free? And even then, they probably wanted to give her something useful to do and thought she'd only meet the Dark Lord here...Responsible or not, however, I couldn't leave Neville's parents in such a horrible situation. I told as much to the Dark Lord.

"You could negotiate for their release," he answered, as if he had been expecting my reaction.

"With what?" I asked.

"With your notes on the rebels. Give them to me and I'll make sure that the Longbottoms are placed in a mental institution."

I frowned, evaluating the deal.

"I want Neville to be allowed to visit them whenever he wants without facing persecution. And I don't want Bellatrix to have access to them anymore."

The Dark Lord joined his hands together on his lap, looking at me considerately.

"I'll have to find a replacement toy for Bella. She needs someone she can take her anger on or she will become too dangerous to the people around her.

-You could give her the traitor House-Elf..." The words came out of my mouth before I could realise what I was saying. I didn't want anybody to be treated like the Longbottoms were. Why did I suggest that? I was horrified. I opened my mouth to take back what I said but the Dark Lord interrupted me.

"Ah, ah" he tut-tutted at me, "that was a good idea, Harry. You can't take it back; I've already decided to implement it. Don't be too downhearted though, you have just saved the House-Elf's life. He would have been killed for his insubordination, normally. This is a perfect alternative to what I had in mind. So, do we have a deal? The notes against the Longbottoms?" he asked me, extending his hand to shake.

I nodded reluctantly and shook it, knowing I probably wouldn't be able to have a better deal for them. The notes were not that elaborate, after all, nor did they contain everything I knew of the Rebels, only the great lines. They'd have to ask for more details, and I could always negotiate again with them then. Besides, I didn't think I'd be able to live with myself if I didn't do anything to save the Longbottoms immediately just because I was waiting for a better deal to come up.

I went to sit on my usual couch to think of what had happened and start my Potions notes.

I shot a glance in the Dark Lord's direction while I was sharpening his quill. The man had returned to his work. He wouldn't appreciate being interrupted again so soon, not with the ICW meeting coming up in just a few days.

I swore in my head at the woman for interrupting what had been a very heated kiss before resigning myself to focus on my work.

Polyjuice Potion, here we come.

Tragic story with Bella, right? Do you think Harry did a good or a bad move with his deal?

Next chapter: A long-awaited Neville's POV and a Weasley twins' POV.

Thanks in advance for reviewing! :)