She was inside the lift and it was rising – she did not remember getting in or pressing any buttons. "The Atrium" the cool female voice said. The grilles slid open and she ran towards the exit at the far end of the hall. She was almost there when she heard the voice say "The Atrium" again, and knew that Potter must have found his way out quickly. She turned around, and aimed a Stunning Spell at him. He dived behind the Fountain of Magical Brethren, and her spell hit the golden gates at the far end of the hall. They rang like bells. The sound made her remember Regulus' funeral and just made the despair and loss rise up further inside her. She could not let this happen. She had to remain in control, at least until she was away from Potter. She decided that it was best to appear as if she was trying to beat him, without actually hurting him.
"Come out, come out, little Harry!" She taunted him in the same baby voice she had used earlier. "What did you come after me for, then? I thought you were here to avenge my dear cousin!"
"I am!" Potter shouted, and the sound echoed around the room so that her head was full of it.
"Aaaaah … did you love him, little baby Potter?" She wasn't really sure what she was saying – her mind was so numb from shock.
"Crucio!" Potter had hit her from behind and pain coursed through her, but only for a moment. She screamed and had fallen over, but the pain had left her so quickly, that she did not lose her poise. She shot a counter-spell at him, but he had ducked behind the fountain again. Her spell hit the wizard in the head, and it was blown off, and landed twenty feet away from them.
"Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy? You need to mean them Potter! You need to really want to cause pain – to enjoy it – righteous anger won't hurt me for long – I'll show you how it is done, shall I? I'll give you a lesson–" She had been aware of where he was the whole time she had been talking – he had been making his way around the fountain, clearly hoping to get her from behind again. She spun around and shouted "Crucio!" He ducked out of the way again, so her spell hit the centaur's arm, which flew off and landed near the wizards head. "Potter, you cannot win against me!" she cried at him, all sense of herself had vanished. "I was and am the Dark Lord's most loyal servant. I learned the Dark Arts from him, and I know spells of such power that you, pathetic little boy, can never hope to compete–" She was surprised at how sane her voice sounded. The boy could not guess that she was grieving her cousin. That she was so shaken up by what had happened in the Death Chamber that she wasn't sure how she would go on living. Her sense of self had been so shaken up in the last few minutes, that she wasn't sure what was actually her, and what was the fake version of herself that she presented to the world. Everything was so jumbled up inside of her that she could barely think.
"Stupefy!" The boy had cried. He had edged around the fountain so that he was behind her again, and shot the spell straight at her back. She wasn't sure how she reacted quickly enough to cast the shield charm, but she did and his spell shot right back at him. He ducked behind the fountain again. She was done playing games.
"Potter, I'm going to give you one chance!" She shouted. "Give me the prophecy – roll it out towards me now – and I may spare your life!" If she could just get out of there with the prophecy, the events of tonight would not have been completely pointless.
"Well, you're going to have to kill me, because it's gone!" The boy shouted back. Bella didn't believe him. She couldn't believe him. "And he knows!" the boy was laughing madly now "Your dear old mate Voldemort knows it's gone! He's not going to be happy with you, is he?"
"What? What do you mean?" She cried. She heard the fear she was feeling in the words she spoke. This had brought her back to herself like nothing else would have done right now. The prophecy was gone. And the Dark Lord knew! He was going to be so angry! He would take out his wroth on all of them, and Bella wasn't sure if she could take it. She had done as a girl, taken the punishments that her parents had given her for misbehaving. But she had been whole then. She had been sane. She had known who she was and how to cope with her punishments. But now? She might appear stronger, but inside she knew she was weak. And she had been weakened further by the events of the night. She felt like she was that scared eleven year old on the train, being condemned as a person simply for being a Slytherin. She knew that the Dark Lord punished failure severely – he did not care that they were loyal to him. He would be in such a rage that he wouldn't care who he hurt.
"The prophecy smashed when I was trying to get Neville up the steps. What do you think Voldemort'll say about that, then?" They boy speaking had pulled her from her thoughts.
"LIAR!" She yelled. She knew that she had started to go mad and the thought of the Dark Lord punishing her. She had to get the prophecy. "YOU'VE GOT IT, POTTER, AND YOU WILL GIVE IT TO ME! Accio prophecy! ACCIO PROPHECY!" Nothing happened and she knew that he was telling the truth. The prophecy was gone. Her last chance of seeking favour with the Dark Lord was gone. She knew that if he punished her, she was unlikely to survive mentally. She would be driven insane, as there was no sanity left inside to keep her grounded. She would end up like the Longbottom's, who she had tortured so many years ago. The boy was laughing madly again now – it was evident that his grief was causing this.
"Nothing there! Nothing to summon! It smashed and nobody heard what it said, tell your boss that!" he shouted at her from behind the fountain.
"No! You're lying!" She shouted back, when to her horror, she saw the Dark Lord appear behind the boy. "MASTER, I TRIED, I TRIED – DO NOT PUNISH ME–"
"Don't waste your breath!" The boy yelled at her – clearly he was unaware of the Dark Lord's presence. "He can't hear you from here!"
"Can't I Potter?" The Dark Lord said. "So, you smashed my prophecy? No, Bella, he is not lying … I see the truth looking at me from within his worthless mind … months and months of preparation … months of effort … and my Death Eaters have let Harry Potter thwart me again …"
"Master, I am sorry, I knew not, I was fighting the Animagus Black! Master you should know–" She was sobbing as she said this, sure that being the only Death Eater he could see would mean that he poured his wrath onto her alone, for the moment at least.
"Be quiet, Bella. I shall deal with you in a moment. Do you think I have entered the Ministry of Magic to hear your snivelling apologies?"
"But master – he is here – he is below–" she had to tell him that Dumbledore was here. Maybe that would earn her a less severe punishment. The Dark Lord said nothing to her – he didn't even look at her.
"I have nothing more to say to you, Potter, you have irked me too often, for too long. AVADA KEDAVRA!" The boy had done nothing. He had no time to react, but the headless wizard had sprung from the fountain to stand in front of the boy, protecting him from the curse. "What –?" The Dark Lord said, spinning around, "Dumbledore!" He shot another Killing Curse at Dumbledore, but he disaparated instantly. He reappeared behind the Dark Lord, and waved his wand at the fountain. Bella screamed as the statue of the witch ran at her. She shot spell after spell at the statue, but they all bounced off her chest. And then she was pinning her to the ground. Bella was unable to escape the witches grasp. She panicked at the thought of being found by members of the ministry and being sent back to Azkaban. She knew that if she went back, she wouldn't survive. She was so focused on her internal struggle that she had no idea of what was happening around her. She knew that Dumbledore was duelling with the Dark Lord, but was not paying attention to the intricacies of their fight. The numbness had begun to spread over her again, and she knew that she would not be able to deal with her grief now that the Dark Lord was here. She would simply have to repress her feelings, as she had done since she was eleven, and move on. But she wasn't sure how well it would work this time. With all of the others, she had intended to cause harm, but not with Sirius. She had simply wanted to stun him, so that none of the other Death Eaters would hurt him. She hadn't meant for their duel to end like it did. She felt a tear fall down her cheek as she thought this, but couldn't even raise her arm to wipe it away. She simply felt it there. She had stopped struggling against her golden captor too. She told herself that this was because she would need all of her strength for whatever the Dark Lord had instore for her, but deep down she knew that it was because she couldn't. She simply didn't have the strength to fight anymore tonight, and she was glad that the Dark Lord was now fighting instead of her. She would not have been able to duel Dumbledore without being fully focused and right now, she could not concentrate. Time seemed to pass quickly – there were flashes of light from the duel and she could hear voices but not distinguish the words that they said. Suddenly, the Dark Lord was next to her, and had pulled the golden witch off of her. She wasn't sure when the statue had stopped being animated, but guessed it had been mere seconds. She glanced up and saw that the hall was full of wizards, before the Dark Lord had apparated them both out of the Ministry.
Bella wasn't sure where they were for a moment, but then she realised that they were in Malfoy Manor – Lucius' home. "They saw you, my Lord. Fudge. And loads of Aurors!"
"Be quiet Bella – I need to work out the extent of the damage that tonight has caused." He left for one of the upstairs rooms.
Narcissa hurried out of the drawing room and gazed at her. Bella didn't say anything, so she wasn't sure how her sister knew that what she needed most of all right now was a hug. Narcissa pulled Bella into the drawing room, pushed her into the chair closest to the fire and went into the kitchen. She came back a few minutes later with a hot drink, which she pushed into Bella's hands. The sisters sat in silence while Bella drank the drink, which turned out to be cocoa. Narcissa always knew how to make her feel better. Once she had finished her drink, Bella realised that she was able to think more clearly than she had since she had duelled Sirius. Narcissa was staring at her. It had been a long time since her youngest sister had seen her like this. Lacking composure. Sitting just as she was, without her persona to protect her. "What happened?" she asked Bella.
"Too much" was Bella's simple reply. She could see that Narcissa understood that she wouldn't be talking about it tonight.
"What about Lucius? Is he okay?" Bella knew that this was the only question Narcissa would ask her tonight.
"I don't know." She said blankly. "Dumbledore showed up, and caught most of us. I didn't see whether Lucius was there or whether he'd gone. I'm sorry Cissy. I really am." Narcissa turned away. Bella knew that she was trying not to cry. She knew that Narcissa really cared about Lucius, as they had married for love as well as because they were a good pureblood match. Bella didn't really care about Rodolphus in the same way. Narcissa knew this too, and she didn't ask Bella whether she knew if he was safe. When she looked back on this moment, Bella realised that this had been the beginning of the end of Lord Voldemort.
The Dark Lord did not speak to anyone for the next two days. Bella had tried to speak to him only once – he had said nothing, but glared at her until she slowly backed out of the room. She had decided not to approach him until he came out of the room and approached them. It was not until the evening of the 21st of June that he came out, sat silently at the dining room table, and ate dinner with herself, Narcissa and Draco, who had only just returned from Hogwarts that day. Lucius had been captured in the Death Chamber, and had been sent to Azkaban. All of the other Death Eaters, including Rodulphus, had also been captured. Bella could see that the Dark Lord had been devastated by the loss of the opportunity to hear the prophecy. The one thing that might have been able to help him to defeat Potter. And it was gone. No one had heard it. There was now no way of knowing what the prophecy had said.