Disclaimer I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Requested by Jooy - Bella comforts Harry after a nightmare

fairytale. gone. wrong - It's a stormy night, Voldemort's away on a mission and Harry got a bad night and Bella's comforting him and singing to him...then somehow the Dark Lord comes back and asks this question as he sees her on the bed with Harry..."Bella don't tell me that you have started to care for the child?"

Dedicated to Jooy and fairytale. gone. wrong. I hope you like it!

Not a Mother

Bella settled in her favourite chair, her much loved book in hand and draped the blanket over her legs. The flames burned fiercely in the fireplace next to her, spreading much needed warmth in the spacious room.

The windows rattled as the wind howled outside. A brutal storm was brewing, strong winds whipped at the walls of Riddle manor, torrential rain beat down on the windows. At times, streaks of lightening lit up the night sky, flashing white into the room. Bella leaned further into her seat. She was not a woman that feared such things, but tonight, there was something in the wind that unnerved her. She pulled the blanket over herself and opened her book, distracting herself.

The silver orb on the mantle suddenly glowed, before the cries of a young child filled the room. Bella put down the book, twisting around in her seat to look at the orb. She hissed under her breath. This was the fourth time this week alone that the boy woke up, screaming because of nightmares. She waited, listening to the ragged cries of the child, waiting to see if he would calm himself down and go back to sleep, like he had the previous nights. But tonight, Harry's cries continued to echo around her room.

She waited another minute, hoping against hope that the child would stop weeping. She was not someone who could deal with crying children, not without her wand anyway. She closed her eyes and took a deep steadying breath. But Harry's cries didn't stop, they only got worse, until the point she thought she could hear him having difficulty breathing. She cursed under her breath and pulled the blanket away to get to her feet. She dropped her book onto her seat with a heavy heart. She would have to wait to read it another time.

xxx

Bella knocked on the magnificent mahogany doors before pushing them open. She stepped into the room, her dark gaze went straight to the bed. But the child was not in bed, he was sitting in front of it, leaning against it, knees drawn to his chest and head buried as sobs racked through his tiny frame.

"Harry?" Bella called.

Harry heard her, he must have, but he didn't respond. He was too far gone in his tears. He continued to sit as he was, head buried, raggedy breaths and sobs escaping him.

"Harry? What's wrong?"

Bella knelt before him. She reached out and touched his arm, but Harry pulled away, like he had been burned. A clap of thunder had Harry cry even harder and his whole being trembled. Bella glanced at the window and then back at Harry.

"Are you afraid of the storm?" she asked.

The five year old child shook his head, but still didn't raise it to look at her.

"Did you have a nightmare?" she asked, knowing full well he must have.

Harry didn't give a response this time but he trembled again, crying hard.

Bella sat back on her knees and stared at him. What should she do now? She had never seen the boy act this way. Usually, he suffered a nightmare, cried for a bit but managed to calm himself down and went right back to sleep. She figured he must have had a really bad nightmare tonight, and despite his protest, the stormy weather wasn't helping to keep him calm.

"Okay, Harry, you must get up. Sitting on a cold floor isn't good for you. You'll get sick." Bella reached out again and touched his arm, trying to prompt him to get up but Harry flinched away again.

"What will Master say when he returns?" Bella asked. The mention of Lord Voldemort made Harry quieten a little. "You know he's due to return in a day or two," Bella continued, "if he returns to find you sick, he will be very angry. After all, he commanded me to look after you while he was away on his mission. If you get sick, Master will blame me for not looking after you."

Slowly, Harry raised his head, only a fraction, so it was just his green eyes visible behind his forearms. Bella saw the child had cried so much, his black lashes were soaked with tears.

"You don't want me punished, do you?" she asked.

The word 'punished' got a reaction from Harry. He trembled in fear, gasping sobs threatened to break out but he shook his head violently in answer. Bella smiled and reached out a hand.

"Come on, then."

Harry didn't take her hand but he lifted his head, his face wet with tears. He made no move to get up. It seemed he had cried himself so much he was left with next to no energy.

Bella sighed and stood up. She leaned down to help him to his feet. She had only meant to hold him by the arms and hoist him up, but as soon as she leaned down, arms outstretched to hold onto him, Harry put both arms around her neck and clutched at her. Bella stilled but quickly straightened up, both her arms supporting Harry, while the child clung to her like she was a life source. Harry was sobbing softly now, face hid in her shoulder.

Bella was completely thrown. Never in her life, had anyone put their arms around her and held onto her like that. Never before, had any being sought comfort from her. It was an alien feeling, one that surprised and shocked her but at the same time, it warmed her in ways she could never have imagined.

Bella carried the young child to his bed and gently laid him back in his place. She tucked the covers over him and for a moment, she just stood there, lost as to what she should do now. Harry had, mercifully, stopped crying but whimpers still escaped him. His breathing was still uneven and laboured. But Bella had not the faintest clue what she should do. She turned to leave, maybe if left alone, Harry would calm down and go back to sleep.

As soon as she turned around to leave, Harry's hand shot out and he grabbed her robes.

"Please," he whispered, his voice hoarse from crying, "don't leave, please."

Bella nodded and moved towards him. She sat down next to him, leaning against the headboard. She would sit with him, until he fell asleep, that seemed like a good plan.

As soon as Bella sat down, Harry shifted, moving to rest his head in her lap, small hands clutched at her robes, to make sure she couldn't leave.

Again, Bella felt an alien emotion engulf her. A strange warmth filled her whole being, her stomach fluttered like mad. She could feel the child's tremors and she found herself reaching out to gently caress his hair. She had seen Narcissa do the same to Draco once, when he was upset. She ran her hand hesitantly over his head, stroking his unruly dark hair. It seemed to soothe him. His trembling subsided and the last of his sobs finally died away.

For long minutes, they sat like that, the only sound in the room was the crackling of the fire or the howling of the wind outside.

"What was your nightmare about?" Bella asked.

Harry tensed, his hands clenched into tiny fists, her robes still in his grip. He shook his head.

"If you talk about it, it might help." she said.

Harry kept quiet. His fists slowly unclenched, but his fingers still played with Bella's robes. After what seemed like an eternity, he spoke.

"My dad." he whispered.

Bella felt a chill run down her spine. She nodded.

"I see."

Harry nestled deeper into her lap.

"I dreamt that he...that my dad...I remembered his...his punishment...when I...when I didn't clear the table after dinner." he shivered, as the memory came to the forefront of his mind. "He broke...broke my arm that day."

Bella was quiet. She remembered that day too. It was two years ago, when Lord Voldemort had decided that broken bones was a good lesson for the three year old Harry to learn. She had stood back and watched as the child was beaten mercilessly. She had not flinched when the loud snap of his breaking bones had echoed in the room. She remembered clearly how badly Harry had cried then. She also remembered Lord Voldemort grabbing the child by the throat and hissing at him, 'nothing like broken bones to teach you a lesson!'

She snapped out of the memory, coming back to reality where Harry was brokenly retelling her what she had witnessed for herself.

"I saw that day again. I dreamt it was happening," Harry whispered, "and...and then...my dad...he came here and he saw me with...with father and he...he hurt...him and took me away! He took me away from father and hurt me again...and...and...!" he started to cry and buried his head into her lap, shaking as sobs broke through him once again.

For the first time in her life, Bella felt that one emotion she had always told herself she couldn't feel. The one feeling she herself had famously said was poison to Death Eaters. She felt it rise inside her, like a strange beast, threatening to undo all she had worked for and everything she had become. For the first time in her life, Bella felt guilty.

She looked down at the little boy, sobbing in her lap, left scarred so deeply by what she and her master had done. She noticed in the past year that his nightmares were progressively getting worse.

When they had methodically worked to break the child, pushed him until he couldn't take any more, Bella had not felt anything, other than the breathtaking exhilaration that always came at doing her master's bidding. She didn't feel anything for the child. He was just a piece of meat, to be pushed, beaten, moulded into whatever shape her master saw fit.

But now she was instructed to be with the child, to keep him comfortable, happy and at peace. Lord Voldemort had repeatedly told her how important it was to keep Harry contended. So they were treating the boy in complete contrast to how they used to treat him. They had to show Harry they cared, that they wouldn't hurt him, that he meant something to them. But what Bella had foolishly thought to be a simple, straightforward, acting task, was starting to feel too real. Now when Bella saw what her actions had done to the boy, remembered those memories, she felt remorse and that scared her more than anything.

Bella ran her fingers through Harry's hair again, trying to stop the child from crying.

"Shhh, hush, Harry, it's okay." she said quietly. "It was just a dream. No one is coming to get you. Potter can never take you away from us. Never."

She could feel his hot tears seep through and wet her robes. And as strange as it was, she found she didn't care. She, Bellatrix, the witch who would not stand to allow a speck of dirt to touch her clothes, was perfectly okay with having Harry's tears stain her robes. She was more concerned for Harry to stop crying before he made himself ill, than for her robes getting wet or stained. She wondered what was happening to her?

"Hush, Harry, it's okay." she tried.

But Harry was still sobbing. It seemed the fear of being taken away by James Potter was too much for the child to cope with.

In the midst of all this, a sudden memory came at Bellatrix. A time when she was just a girl and had foolish fears. She remembered her mother, on the rare occasion she was home and sober enough to care, sit with her and sing a lullaby. It always seemed to work on her and her sisters. It used to calm them right down.

Bella looked down at the trembling boy and took in a breath. She started humming, what little she could remember of the tune and continued to stroke his hair. It was tuneless and bizarre and completely unlike how her mother used to do it but Bella carried on, humming quietly, soothing the little boy in her lap. Sure enough, Harry's sobs died down and the tension in his small body ebbed away. He relaxed, pulling his face out of her lap at last and shifted so he was lying on his side, with his cheek pressed into her lap.

Bella's tuneless soft humming continued, gently lulling the boy to sleep. Within minutes, Harry was fast asleep, still in her lap. Bella fell quiet and a small hesitant smile came to her lips. She reached out and gently caressed his tear stained cheek.

"Bella?"

Startled, Bella looked up at the door to find Lord Voldemort standing there, a bemused expression on his face. She made to get up, so she could fall to her knees and greet her master, but he held up a hand, stopping her. He walked into the room, his red eyed gaze on the sleeping boy in her lap.

"What happened?" he asked.

"He had another nightmare. He's had a few recently, these last three nights, he's been disturbed." absently, her fingers continued to caress his cheek, "tonight was the worst he's ever been. He was deeply distressed, so I came to him."

Voldemort smirked and tilted his head to the side, his red eyes studied his only female Death Eater.

"You came to offer comfort?" he asked, "Bella, don't tell me you have started to care for the child?"

Bella didn't say anything, but she felt heat rise to her face, especially when she couldn't get her protest past her throat. Lord Voldemort chuckled and shook his head.

"Need I remind you, you're not his mother."

Bella smiled then. As gently as she could, she lifted Harry's head off her lap and placed him back on his pillow. She got up and pulled the covers over him. Harry snuggled deeper into his bed, fast asleep. She turned to face Voldemort.

"No, Master, I'm not his mother and neither do I wish to be." she looked back at the sleeping child and smiled, "I don't know what I am to him, what name can be given to our relationship," she turned to look at Voldemort, "but it's a relationship nonetheless."

Voldemort shook his head at her, still smirking.

"Be careful Bella," he warned, "do not get so attached. He is a weapon, one that will leave the world scorched and burned." his eyes roamed over Harry's sleeping form before meeting Bella's heavy lidded eyes. "It may not be wise to get emotionally invested in him."

Bella smiled, her eyes flashed with mischief.

"Of course not, my lord." she replied, "but I am a true servant to my master. I follow in his footsteps, no matter where they lead," she turned to glance suggestively at Harry before meeting her master's eyes, "even if they lead me to this little one."

Voldemort eyed her with confusion.

"Meaning?"

"Nothing at all, my lord," Bella replied, "but when you return from a three day mission and the first thing you do, is come check on the child..." she trailed off on purpose, smirking, "well, it's not that you're becoming attached to the boy in any way." she teased.

Voldemort didn't respond, but the way his eyes flashed at her and just the hint of a smile curved the corners of his lips, Bella knew she had hit the mark.

"Let him sleep, retire to your room." he instructed.

Bella bowed.

"Yes, my lord."

She walked past him and headed for the door. She cast a last glance behind her and saw Lord Voldemort at Harry's side, red eyes fixed on the sleeping child. He reached out, his fingertips barely touched the tips of Harry's hair. She smiled and stepped out, closing the door behind her.

xxx

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