Chapter one
1973
Bellatrix smiled to herself as she lounged on the silk couch in the drawing room. She rubbed her bump lovingly—lovingly, although Bella had never thought of feeling so happy about something so unrelated to the Dark Lord. Of course, she would choose the Dark Lord over her child any day, but having a child did not seem to promote the inconvenience she believed it would.
"Oh, Bella! This is so exciting!" said her giddy sixteen-year-old sister, Narcissa—Cissy for short. "Now, have you thought about velvet or silk for the drapes in the nursery? I personally think velvet, it keeps the heat in…although silk is good in the summer, keeps the room light and airy."
Bella swore her sister was getting more excited than her and it wasn't even Cissy's baby. She could only imagine what she would be like when she had her own. Still, a small decent part of her was glad her sister was happy, what with every family member disgracing them here and there. She need not mention any names.
"Oh, Cissy, you must know warming and cooling charms can be used if you're that worried," Bella said, rolling her eyes.
Cissy smiled. "Am I getting ahead of myself? It's just so perfect at the moment…"
"Yes, Rodolphus isn't as dull and dry as he usually is, and he actually knows I exist. that's probably because all the Healers have assured me it's going to be a boy."
Although Bella still barely tolerated Rodolphus at the best of times, he was happy that he now need not worry about the Lestrange line dying out. Of course, this did not occupy most of Bella's thoughts. Her last mission had been a great success, and, because of this and the ways things were going, the Dark Lord had not needed her so much. Although she was on the whole pleased, she still missed his presence and couldn't wait for the baby to be born so she could get back to what she did best.
"Well, Bella, you are getting pretty big. I'm sure that it is the excitement that keeps him happy…you know, I won't be surprised if the baby is born in the next few days," Cissy replied. Bella hoped so.
Cissy seemed to have a gift for predicting births, Bella thought while she held newborn Cepheus Rodolphus Lestrange. He was so small that Bella found it hard to believe that he would be a great fearsome Death Eater one day. He was so small, in fact, that he made Bella nervous around him, that if she used to much force, she may break him. Of course, Rodolphus gave not a second glance at the baby before strutting away to his study, leaving Bella to look after the screaming thing.
So far, Ceph (as she had taken to calling it) had not stopped screaming and she was quickly losing her patience. She was starting to regret the whole pregnancy altogether. Bella was quite sure, if Ceph had been a Muggle baby, she would have used the Cruciatus on it until it could be used no more. But she couldn't do that to her own child, could she?
Well…no one was preventing her…and the wails were getting more tiresome. No, she thought, her son was a Pureblood and would soon be a valued addition to the cause. She could not psychologically damage it. Sighing, she dumped it down in the cot and shut the door of the nursery.
And as Cepheus was left to cry, he learnt the most valued lesson of all: crying got you nowhere. If you wanted something badly, you had to go and grab it with two hands, and no matter how young you were, no one will listen to you and hug you when you cry.
1975
Two year old Ceph had just started to walk. It was the best thing for a two year old since warm milk. He could now literally take another step toward becoming independent. He need rely on Mother no more and now he could toddle along as he pleased. Ceph watched from the doorway of the great Malfoy ballroom the new dressed up man and wife. He knew the woman as his auntie Narcissa, though he couldn't quite say it yet. The man he did not know, though he looked almost as mean as Mother and Father and immediately, Ceph did not like him.
There were lots of others he did not know, though he could see Mother, drinking a lot of that red water that seemed to make her scary when she drank too much. He could also see Father across the other side of the ballroom, talking to men in cloaks.
"You!" said a baby like voice behind him. Ceph didn't like the sound of it and decided to carry on watching from his hiding place.
"You!" it said again. This time Ceph turned around and saw a sulky looking boy about his age. He was skinny and Ceph wondered whether he would fall over if he was pushed hard enough. Ceph took great delight and laughed as he pushed the boy over and watched his bottom lip tremble. This was much more fun than being nice to people.
"Go away," said Ceph. The boy had grown boring and his quiet crying was not stopping. Luckily, no one had noticed yet, as they were hiding in a doorway of a discreet side entrance
"Me pure," said the boy.
Ceph rolled his eyes. He supposed he should be nice to pure people, even though it was not much fun, and the boy seemed like someone he could actually play with, instead of boring adults.
"Friend?" asked the boy.
"My name's Ceph," said Ceph.
"Shay," said the boy. At this young age, they didn't quite understand the significance of last names.
"Me two," said Shay.
"Me two and a half. Me older," said Ceph, and of course that meant that Shay had to do whatever Ceph said, just like Ceph had to do what Mother said.
The conversation did not get any further as the ballroom had gone silent. Through the main doors entered an imposing figure, to whom all the adults bowed lower than Ceph and Shay were tall. Ceph felt he ought to bow down too, but he was still wobbly on his little legs and he had not mastered bowing yet.
"Bring in the Mudblood," commanded the imposing figure, once everyone had risen once again.
Two cloaked mean dragged in a bedraggled thing. Ceph was not sure of its gender, but what did it matter?
"Bella," called the figure, "why don't you show the Mudblood what they really deserve?"
Ceph's mother walked to what was laying on the ground.
"Crucio," she spat. What was lying on the floor screamed and screamed, until the screams became empty sounds and to Ceph, it seemed another world way from the celebrations of his auntie's wedding. Should he do something? Quite honestly, he was too scared and felt the whole thing was bigger than him. Shay behind him was covering his ears and squeezing his eyes shut.
Ceph stood transfixed; it was the epitome of power. Mother was laughing. Was it supposed to be funny? The other guests weren't laughing; some looked scared, some looked happy. Ceph felt like he was missing the joke.
"Avada kedavra," spat Ceph's mother.
And it was when silence fell that Ceph realized that the thing that had once wailed so much looked just like Mother and Father and Auntie and New Uncle. What was the difference? He supposed it was one of those things he would know when he was a grown up.
The figure left and the body was taken away by hooded men as the guests dispersed.
"Scared," whimpered Shay, finally opening his eyes.
Ceph didn't know how to describe the figure that had ordered this and had watched this happen, so he used the biggest word he could say. "Man powerful, me be powerful."