Nothing is mine.

Did you miss her? I missed her xD


Back in Black

Cold water lapped at her legs as small waves bounced off the marble fountain's edges. Fragments of golden statues gleamed beneath the surface and a cloud of silver mist faded away from the tall shadow before her.

Uh oh, Bell. She giggled as the slim dark wand snapped up. Everyone loses in the end, Bella. Even us.

'Avada kedavra,' the shadow whispered, soft and cold as the frost from the walls of her cell.

A flood of emerald light washed the world away; it sent her spinning into the dark, whooshing through the black on threads of purple magic like riding Cissy's little swing.

Wake up, Bella.

Cold air rushed past her lips and the dark melted away.

Bella blinked into the stabbing lances of light. 'Owww. Bright.' She squinted at her hands and down at her bare chest and legs. 'Where did our clothes go, Bell?'

'There're clothes in the… coffin,' a familiar voice said.

'Don't look!' Bella poked a foot around on the smooth wood until she brushed silk and scrambled into the underwear and dark dress, tugging the thin black straps over her shoulders. 'Now you can look!' She twirled around.

Aunt Wally's face stared down from the cracked frame of a battered portrait. 'Welcome home, Bellatrix. How are you feeling? Any… better?'

'Just Bella!' Bella pouted, glowering at the polished black marble. 'And I hate this place. It's a bad place.' A little shiver tore through her. 'We're not staying here with you, Aunt Wally.'

Where should we go, Bella? She cocked her head and leapt from the coffin. To find someone to play with of course, Bell!

The small, wrinkled figure of a house elf sprawled in the dust at the foot of the portrait, clutching a familiar black wand in one fist.

'Hey!' Bella snatched it from its stiff dead fingers. 'That's mine! Get your own wand, dead thing!'

A bitter smile curved Aunt Wally's lips. 'Kreacher retrieved it from the Ministry after my useless son went off to fight at Azkaban, but the strain was too much for his old body. He and I have looked after our home all these years since your accident and made sure nobody discovered your real body beneath the floor here.'

Our vessel is gone, Bell. Bella screwed her face up and huffed. No more trump card, Bella. Next time we lose, we lose for good.

'Where is everyone?' Bella demanded. 'Where is that mangy mutt, Sirius? Where is baby Cissy? I want to find someone to play with again!'

It's boring being all by ourself, Bell. She balled her fists. Like being stuck in that silly little cell, Bella.

'Nobody has come here in a couple of years,' Aunt Wally said. 'Not my wayward son, not your sister or her husband and son, nor Dorea's grandchild. I fear that half-blood pretender was victorious and you are the last of our ancient house.'

The Dark Lord always wins, silly Aunt Wally. Bella poked the painting with her wand. Not always, Bella. Everyone loses in the end, remember.

'Check the family tapestry, Bellatrix.' Aunt Wally pointed at the doorway to her left. 'That will tell us if any of our blood lives on. The blood magics on our vaults with the wretched goblins may not recognise you as the inheritor of our house, so it is imperative you find any others of our blood who might live. The goblins cannot do it. The magicks are our own and will reveal nothing to them but that somewhere there is an inheritor.'

'Bella, not Bellatrix.' Bella scowled and skipped past the dead elf into the dining hall.

Dust-veiled parchment and newspapers sprawled across the table and three seats stood out from under its surface.

What's this Bell? She huffed the dust off the newspapers. Massacre at Azkaban?Dumbledore dead! Boy-Who-Lived Expelled After Murder of Girlfriend and Draco Malfoy. Bella skipped along the edge, swishing her wand at the dust and watching it vanish in a flicker of purple sparks. This is all after we lost, Bella.

'Look, Bell!' She snatched up a list of crossed out names. 'There's us, right near the top!'

Because we died, Bella. That's a list of everyone who lost.

'Oh.' Bella skimmed the names. 'That's nearly everyone. See, Bell? Only stupid Lucius is left! Even Strange Boy and his brother are crossed out.'

Did little cousin Harry beat them all? She squinted at the cramped letters, scrunching up her face. We could have beaten all of them, Bella, and he beat us.

'If he lost all his best players, the Dark Lord would've found it much harder to win, Bell,' Bella murmured, balling up the piece of parchment and tossing it over her shoulder. 'But if Dumbledore was already dead, it couldn't have been him who beat the Dark Lord. And who else could?.'

'Bellatrix!' Aunt Wally shrieked. 'What are you doing, girl? The tapestry is right there!'

'Don't be annoying, Aunt Wally!' Bella huffed, twirling around and pointing her wand at the familiar names. 'No. No. Look, there's us, Bell!' A horrible cold crept in. 'And there's Andi. Our branches are all withered and our name's are all sad and grey.'

Because we lost, Bella.

'Everyone loses...' She followed the withered branches to Cissy and Draco's faded names, and the tangle of cold thorns clamped tight in her chest. 'They all lost?!' Her magic roiled, bubbling beneath her skin. 'Who am I meant to play with?!'

Look, Bella. We're not alone. Bella followed the gnarled branches down from Dorea Black past Aunt Wally and Cissy and Draco to a bold, silver name upon a full dark leaf. We still have our little cousin Harry left, Bell!

'The one that beat us,' Bella whispered, trailing her fingers along the little silver line below his name. 'And look, Bell! We have another itty bitty baby cousin! Katrina! Katrina...' She wrinkled her nose. 'Just Katie.'

If he's still alive, maybe he beat the Dark Lord, Bell. A little shudder of excitement swept through her. What a game it must have been, Bella!

'Bellatrix!' Aunt Wally shrieked. 'Come back here, girl!'

Bella rolled her eyes and bounced back through to the hall. 'What, Aunt Wally?'

'What did the tapestry show?'

'They all lost.' She waved her wand at the wall. 'All except little cousin Harry and his itty bitty baby Katie. He's still playing. He beat the Dark Lord. He's the best player now. I'm going to find him and then we can play together!'

And that way we'll never be bored again, Bell. Bella bobbed her head. Or lonely, Bella.

'Bellatrix,' Aunt Wally murmured. 'What do you mean by lost?'

Bella huffed and stomped her bare foot. 'They lost the game. All their branches are grey and faded out. They died! And they didn't come back. Not like we did!'

A horrible sad gleam shone in Aunt Wally's eyes. 'You didn't come back either, Bellatrix. Not really. You're just a ghost of our beautiful little niece.'

'I'm not a ghost!' Fury boiled in Bella's blood and a ripple of violet magic tore through the wall, hurling rubble across the dining hall and over the stairs.

Dust poured down and the house creaked and groaned and swayed.

'The House of Black collapses,' Aunt Wally muttered. 'You and my wayward son were so strong and bright. We had such high hopes. The two of you and my Regulus were going to be the renaissance of our crumbling fortunes. And instead you have destroyed us.'

'We didn't!' Bella cried, hot tears stinging her eyes. 'We didn't want to! We just wanted to play! But Andi died. And now Cissy's lost. And silly Sirius and everyone is dead! And we just want someone to play with again!'

Someone like little cousin Harry, Bella.

Aunt Wally stared down at her, her dark eyes full of bitter fire. 'We are all ghosts now, girl. Our world is dead.'

'No!' A suffocating knot of frustration swelled in Bella's chest; a tangled, twisted ball of thorns burrowing beneath her breast. 'Not the stupid boring dull cattle and their grey world of clay! The Dark Lord was going to get rid of them! He had a plan!'

But if he lost, he can't carry out his plan, Bella.

'What difference does it make to you, Bellatrix?' Aunt Wally snapped. 'You're as mad as you were when you woke in the homunculus. You will not marry and continue our family, and you can't stop the tide our ancestors struggled against anymore than I or they could. We hoped when the homunculus I birthed failed or died, you would return to us here whole and well, fulfil your marriage with Lestrange and our family at least would go on, but you have not and Dorea's grandson clearly cares no more for our family than you do if he has not returned in the last few years. Our world is dead. There is no Mithras coming. The mudbloods will let it rot away until the muggles have finally bred us out of existence.' She took a sharp breath. 'At least I shall not be here to see it now you have returned and the magicks on this canvas unravel.'

And then there'll be no more games at all, Bella. Fire seared through her veins. It'll be boring forever!

A wave of crackling purple magic seared the portrait from the wall and set the old elf alight. Violet flames washed across the polished marble, eating through the dust-veiled wooden furniture and into the walls; the tapestries curled up and crumbled away.

'I hate this stupid place!' Bella clutched her wand tight as the house trembled. 'Let's go, Bell. Let's fly away!'

Let's go find someone to play with, Bella.

'Time to fly, Bell!' She shrank, little dark feathers sprouting through her skin as the walls towered up above her.

Bell stared back, fluffing her dark feathers up and stretching her wings in the warmth of the flames, her violet eyes shining like stars. Time to fly, Bella.

They fluttered aloft, spiralling up the stairs on the hot air rising from the purple fire, and landed before the small window at the end of the first floor corridor. Smoke coiled along the ceiling, creeping through the gaps in the panes and out into the sky.

It's shut, Bell. Bella swooped down onto the sill and tapped her beak on the glass. See. It's shut.

Then let's open it, Bella. Bell pushed at the frame with her beak, gouging small splinters of wood out. Then we can fly away and play again!

Bella dug her beak into the window edge and shoved, curling her talons into the sill. The window screeched open a finger's length and Bell hopped up onto the edge of the frame, wriggling through the gap; a small dark feather floated down through the curls of smoke to the street. Bella spread her wings and leapt up, squeezing through and flapping up into the sky.

Where first, Bell?

They drifted across the rooftops over hunched pigeons.

We should go say bye bye to Cissy, Bella. Bell corkscrewed around her, angling west into the wind. This way, Bella. Cissy's sad house is this way. We can say bye bye there.

Bella chased after her, blinking into the cool rush of air as she worked her wings faster. And then we go find little cousin Harry, Bell. She caught Bell, brushing wings, racing her from roof to roof as they soared north. To play with him again!

We're already playing, Bella. He's hiding. And we've got to seek. Bell spread her wings, rising high on the warm air emanating off the sprawling dull grey muggle city below. And we won't be bored or lonely or sad again!


AN: Discord is the place to go. Self promo, self promo, self promo.