Nothing is mine.

Ah, another Bella chapter. The character I just randomly brought back from the dead for literally no reason whatsoever and whose return definitely didn't prompt any questions about other characters who had suspect magic potentially also not being dead. Oh ye of little faith... xD

Also, I assume nobody gets any emails from FFN anymore, I certainly don't, so if you are following and would like some kind of update reminder for this or any of my other stories, then either Ao3 or Discord is probably the best place to go. I'd love to say "FFN will definitely fix this" but we all know it would a horrendous lie, worse even than the occasional minor character death warnings I leave at the end of chapters.

Paint it Black

Soft cool drizzle clung to Bella's feathers as she spiralled around Bell and alighted on the stark grey, new wall surrounding the old burial mounds and scatter of graves. In the puddle beneath Bella's talons, her purple eyes shone like stars either side of her short, dark beak.

They hopped along the wall toward the cluster of new houses sitting on the shallow hill.

We can walk now, Bella.

Bella bounced back into her body and jumped off the wall; the cold damp cotton of her dark dress stuck to her skin.

They knocked down Lucius's stupid house, Bell.

'It's all gone!' She giggled and twirled, dancing along the edge of the wall to the gate and tugging it open. 'All of the hedges and all of the house!'

Not all of it. The graves are still here. Maybe Cissy is buried here.

'Itty bitty baby Cissy,' Bella sang, skipping through the gate and scanning the headstones. 'Come out, come out wherever you are!'

There she is, Bella.

Bella drifted across through the graves to the small, square piece of marble among the elegant veiled statues. 'Hi ickle Cissy.' A horrible chill crept in beneath her ribs, two little fists of ice, stark and cold as the black name on the white stone. 'I'm sorry you lost, Cissy. I lost and I was sleeping. We didn't ever get to play together again.'

No more weird sisters now, Bella.

'I'm a… I'm a… I'm a… weird sister,' Bella murmured under her breath, wrestling with an awful, sick tangle of icy thorns in her chest. 'Why did you all have to lose!?'

A faint ripple of magic tore through the graveyard, spraying the pale marble with drizzle and knocking vases of dead flowers into the grass.

'It was probably stupid Lucius's fault. He just made you sad. You should have stayed with me, Cissy. Then we could have played together the whole time.' She huffed and kicked the small headstone to the right of Cissy's, giggling at the flash of pain through her foot.

That's Cissy's son's grave, Bella.

'Oops.' Bella patted the cold damp marble. 'Sorry ickle Draco.' She swung her foot into the grave on Cissy's left. 'That's better.'

Let's go play, Bella. When one game ends, we just have to go find another, remember?

'Another game.' She flopped her head back and stared up through the drizzle at the grey clouds. 'But we don't know where to go, Bell.'

Ask someone. It's hide and seek. Little cousin Harry isn't going to tell us where he is.

'We have to find him!' Bella bounced on her toes. 'But where would he go? We don't know anything, Bell.'

Ask, Bella.

She cocked her head at the graves. 'Ask who, Bell? Everyone here is dead and boring.'

There'll be people in the village where Cissy's house used to be.

'Okay!' Bella grinned and skipped back out the gate, bouncing along the edge of the path to where the first houses sat.

Cissy's gardens used to be here.

'They chopped down all her silly pretty plants.' Bella giggled. 'I wonder where the peacocks went. Stupid fancy birdies.'

Nagini probably ate them all, Bella.

A small stone well sat beside a burbling fountain and pond at the centre of the village between five small houses. Copper gleamed on its side.

'Potter's Vale,' Bella read. 'Commissioned by Amelia Bones for those orphaned by the civil war.'

A pair of short witches appeared with a loud crack on the far side of the pond and straightened their dark, formal robes.

'Hi!' Bella danced around the edge, waving her hand.

The two dark-haired witches stared at her with identical pale green eyes. Identical long copper hair pins gleamed in their braided hair.

Sisters, Bell! A cold little pang bit through her tummy. Twins, Bella.

'Bellatrix Lestrange is dead,' the right-hand girl said. 'Who are you?'

'We lost, but we didn't die.' Bella scrunched her face up. 'Who are you?'

'Flora Carrow,' the right-hand girl said, smoothing the silver edging of her silk robes out.

'Hestia Carrow.' Her twin fiddled with the copper wings of her hair pin's head, chewing the inside of her cheek. 'She's twenty years too young to be Bellatrix Lestrange, Flora.'

'Oh! Carrows!' Bella bounced on her feet. 'I knew your parents. They hated my singing and didn't like playing hide and seek with dementors!'

They exchanged a short look, their foreheads wrinkling into deep frowns.

'Alecto and Amycus were our aunt and uncle,' Flora said. 'Our parents died… after the war.'

'Amelia Bones fed them to the dementors.' Hestia's pale green eyes flashed. 'If you are really Bellatrix, prove it. Show us the Dark Mark.'

'Just Bella.' Bella huffed and stuck out her left arm.

Pale skin spread from her wrist to her elbow, beads of drizzle clinging to the fine hairs.

It's gone, Bella.

'He really lost,' Bella breathed, poking at her forearm with a finger. 'Little cousin Harry really beat him.'

'Potter killed himself to kill Voldemort,' Flora said. 'Everyone's dead now. And so is Dumbledore. And Amelia Bones. And Amos Diggory.'

Hestia nodded. 'Everyone from before is dead.'

Ickle Harry's not dead. He had a trump card up his sleeve. She giggled. He's hiding, Bella. Bella curled her fingers around her wand. And we've got to seek, Bell!

'What are you going to do now?' Flora asked. 'If you are Bellatrix?'

Hestia's pale green eyes sharpened. 'Will you fight for Grindelwald?'

'Grindelwald lost aaaaages ago,' Bella sang. 'He's stuck in a cage like we were.'

'Not anymore,' Flora said, exchanging a sharp glance with her twin. 'He's free now. We're at war again.'

'He's winning,' Hestia said. 'Like he was before Dumbledore defeated him in the second war.'

'He's all old now,' Bella said. 'He won't be any fun.'

He'll still be able to play well, Bella. Bella cocked her head and hummed. I guess, Bell. Maybe he'll do what the Dark Lord wanted to do! He had a plan! We saw it!

The Carrow twins exchanged a glance.

'I would not stay in Britain long, not if you truly are Bellatrix Lestrange,' Flora said. 'Neville Longbottom is an auror captain now…'

'Things have changed,' Hestia murmured. 'They'd feed you to the dementors just for being a pureblood, let alone for being an actual Death Eater.'

Bella huffed. 'Stupid floating skeletons don't scare me. I'm going to find out where my family is!'

'Family…?' Flora's pale green eyes narrowed. 'There are no Blacks left. Your sister and nephew are buried here, in the old family cemetery, that's all that remains of the Malfoy estate.'

'There was talk about an inheritance dispute when Amelia Bones couldn't confiscate their vaults or their seat on the Wizengamot,' Hestia said, her frown deepening. 'Flora, there have to be two claimants for that. Astoria said the Weasleys are related by blood, but she had no idea who the other person could be. You are Bellatrix.'

'Bella. Belllllla. Just Bella. No trix.' Bella scowled. 'I hate stupid Bellatrix.'

Flora dipped her hand inside her robes and drew out a thin, worn silver piece. 'Our family is very well connected in certain places, as you must know, Lady Black. If you want to get through the Ministry's wards into Europe, go to the Spiny Serpent on Knockturn Alley and show this to the proprietor; he will arrange for you to reach Copenhagen and from there…'

'Who knows where you might go, Lady Black,' Hestia said. 'But it wouldn't be our business, so we won't ask.'

Bella snatched the silver coin and peered at the blurred niffler on the side. 'I'm going to play hide and seek!' She stuffed the coin into her pocket. 'Thank you for the shiny coin!'

The Carrow twins dipped their heads. 'Good fortune, Lady Black.' They drifted down the street and into the second house on the left.

The goblins might know something, Bella.

'They might, Bell.' She scrunched her face up. 'But they're goblins.'

They like to keep secrets. They always know things.

Bella let out a long sigh. 'But they're so annoying and boring.' She flapped her arms. 'And we're going back to London when we were just there!'

Hide and seek, Bella. Hide and seek.

'Here I come, little cousin Harry.' Bella giggled. 'I'm going to find you! And we're going to play together again!'

And then we'll never be sad or lonely or bored again, Bella.

'Never ever,' Bella whispered. 'No more weird sisters, just us and ickle Harry.'

He's not so ickle anymore, Bella. He killed the Dark Lord.

She laughed and twirled, pulling her wand from her pocket. 'He's the best player now!'

We should hide our face, Bella.

Bella scowled. 'But I hate glamour charms, they tickle.'

But we don't want to waste time with annoying hitwizards or aurors, we want to play hide and seek.

'Fine.' Bella puffed her cheeks out and peered into the fountain.

Beneath her tangle of dark curls, her purple eyes shone like stars.

'What colours shall we be, Bell?' she asked.

Any colours, Bella. Just not our colours.

Bella giggled. 'Let's be pink! And orange! And blue!' She swished her wand and shook out her blue and orange-striped hair, beaming at her neon pink eyes. 'Now we're all bright and pretty!'

Now we can go to Gringotts, Bella.

'Let's go!' Bella apparated with a loud pop, bouncing through the throng of wizards and witches bustling down Diagon Alley. 'Out the way.' She waved her wand at them, skipping up the marble steps and into the atrium. 'I need to talk to a goblin!'

The bank tellers and other witches and wizards stared.

'Staring is rude.' Bella balled her fists. 'Where's a proper goblin I can talk to who will know useful things?'

A sharp-suited goblin strode out from an arched corridor. 'What is the disturbance?'

The goblin tellers pointed at Bella.

Bella giggled. 'Are you a proper goblin who knows useful things?'

'I am Bodak,' it growled. 'Come with me, Miss…?'

'Just Bella,' she sang as it led her back through the corridor and into a sideroom.

'What brings you to Gringotts?' Bodak demanded. 'We do not appreciate frivolous disturbances.'

Bella huffed. 'I am looking for my family.'

'What is your family name?'

'Black.'

Bodak's sharp eyes swept over her. 'I find that very hard to believe.'

We didn't take off the Glamour Charms, Bella.

Bella swished her wand and beamed. 'That's because I was in disguise.'

'Bellatrix Lestrange, looking no more than twenty.' A strange gleam rose in Bodak's small dark eyes. 'You were declared officially dead. The Lestrange vaults are gone, claimed and spent by your Ministry as is possible once goblin law no longer protects you.'

'Strange Boy is dead,' she said. 'And his brother. I want to find my family.'

'I will return shortly,' Bodak said. 'There is an issue we at Gringotts need to resolve that pertains to you and your family.' It bustled out.

'Urgh.' Bella pouted. 'Goblins are so boring.'

Maybe the issue is to do with cousin Harry, Bella.

She stared at her crooked wand, running the tip of her finger over the two intertwined pieces of wood.

Eleven and a half inches of dark hickory and ebony, Bella.

'Unicorn hair bound in dragon heartstring, Bell,' Bella whispered, clutching it tight.

Little purple sparks burst from its tip, showering the floor.

Badok swept back in and placed a slim briefcase on the table, snapping open the silver clasps. 'Since the death of Sirius Black at the Battle of Hogwarts, the blood magicks that determine the inheritance of the family in the absence of a will have been unable to decide whose claim is strongest.'

Bella rolled her eyes. 'So?'

'In the past, this has happened when both remaining heirs of the family had already been disinherited or were twins,' Badok said. 'In both instances, it was settled by a death. One of the twins died suddenly of a mystery illness—' Badok's lips curled back into a grin, baring sharp teeth '—and the other was decided by a duel to the death between the two presumed claimants.'

But it's just us and cousin Harry, Bell? Bella screwed her face up. And the Weasleys, Bella. The Carrows twins mentioned them having a claim.

Badok lifted a small stack of papers from the briefcase and flicked through them. 'We had presumed that one candidate was the distantly related Weasley family, but without any way to settle the claim, their eldest son decided he had no interest in it. Another claimant, believed dead, reappeared a year later, and we thought that the reasoning for the magic's failure was because it could not decide between two potentially disowned family branches. This suggested that the situation would continue until one party died. However, a few days ago, the situation unexpectedly resolved itself and the vault's magicks settled.'

'I woke up!' Bella beamed. 'That was when I woke up. I was sleeping because I lost, and then I woke up!'

Badok grinned, showing off a set of sharp teeth. 'If you are who you claim to be, that would explain it. It might also explain why the situation occurred to begin with, the magicks were not confused about inheritance, they were confused about whether you were alive or dead.'

'I don't know,' she said. 'I don't care. I'm looking for cousin Harry.'

'Cousin Harry…' Badok's small dark eyes narrowed. 'Harry Potter.'

'Yes.' Bella poked her wand at the stack of papers, scorching them in a sputter of violet sparks. 'I don't care about all the stuff in those vaults. I want to play.' She sighed. 'I have to find someone to play with, or I'll get all bored.'

And sad, Bella. And lonely.

Badok lined the papers up with one finger and tucked them back into its briefcase, snapping it shut. 'Very well. Despite that, it is my official duty to inform you that, should you be who you claim to be, which seems likely given your unique appearance and the wand you hold, you have inherited and are responsible for the Black Family's vaults here.'

'Where's cousin Harry?'

'Goblins of Gringotts do not involve themselves in the affairs of wizards and witches,' Bodak growled. 'We concern ourselves only with our own interests and our independent dealings with individuals through the Gringotts institution. The British Ministry of Magic declared Harry Potter dead shortly after the Battle of Hogwarts; any assets he held beyond the bank's management were almost certainly seized by the Ministry. Gringotts declared him legally dead a year later, transferring his possessions as requested, and although his death was not witnessed or confirmed beyond doubt, that legal declaration is all that matters to goblin law. As far as we are concerned, he is permanently dead.'

He's hiding well, Bella.

Bella huffed, fire flashing through her veins. 'How am I meant to play with him if I can't find him!?'

A faint ripple of magic burst from her, hurling the briefcase against the wall and knocking Badok to the floor. Pieces of paper floated down to the marble.

Let's find another game for now, Bella.

'But I want to play with him, Bell!' She glowered, her wand spurting purple sparks across the front of her dress. 'Where can he have gone!?'

He's too good at hide and seek, Bella. We have to wait for him to come out.

Bella huffed and stomped her foot.

Badok snatched up its papers and stuffed them back into its briefcase. 'An attack on Gringotts personnel is a violation of the terms of the contract between your family and this institution, Mrs Lestrange.'

'I didn't attack you, goblin.' She flapped her hand at it. 'Shoo. Go away. You weren't very useful.'

Badok snarled something under its breath and wrenched its tie straight, stalking out.

'Bye bye, stupid goblin.' Bella stared into the window; her violet eyes stared back, bright as stars. 'What now, Bell? Where do we go? What do we do? Who do we play with?'

What about the auror captain Longbottom, Bella?

'He'll be boring, Bell,' Bella muttered. 'Just an ickle baby auror. I want to play. I want to see all the amazing bright colours and awesome spells and feel alive.'

What about Grindelwald?

'He's old, but so was Dumbledore and he could still play…' She cocked her head. 'And he's trying to stop the muggles ruining everything and turning our world into their dull clay cities.'

Let's go there then, Bella. Cousin Harry will turn up. We don't want to be bored while we're waiting.

'No,' she breathed. 'We hate being bored, but where are we going?'

To Nurmengard, of course, Bella.

Bella laughed. 'Of course. I forgot. Time to fly, Bell?'

No need to fly. We have the Carrows' coin.

'We go to Copenhagen and then Nurmengard.' She bobbed her head. 'Do we know where Copenhagen is, Bell?'

Denmark.

'And then we fly to Nurmengard together, Bell? Then we can play?'

Then we fly to Nurmengard, Bella. Then we can feel alive.

AN: If you like, go to my profile, alllll the links are there, you might even stumble across the happy stories. Eventually xD