Harry Potter belongs to JKR

Chapter 69

Blue painted stucco ceiling spun above Bellatrix as she lay on the chaise lounge. She tilted her head slightly as Leana spoke in hushed tones with the Italian healer. A smirk found its way to her lips as the gypsy woman gestured with both hands as she whispered, a habit she must have picked up after moving to Italy. Her former lover looked over her shoulder at her, concern in her dark eyes, and took a few steps closer.

"He says physically there's nothing wrong, perhaps exhaustion," she said, "he recommends you move to St. Raphael's, in Rome."

Bella shook her head weakly.

"No hospitals, they won't be able to help," she whispered.

The healer threw up his hands, picked up his satchel, said something that didn't sound particularly polite to Leana, and departed via floo. Bella pulled on the back of the lounge chair to drag herself into a sitting position, and immediately regretted it as the world tilted on its axis and threatened to send her back onto the cushion.

"Help me… I want to see the sunset," she said.

Leana leaned over, giving a view of her ample cleavage, and let her put an arm around her neck so she could drag herself to her feet. Together, they shuffled to the edge of the pavilion. Bellatrix spared a glance for the floo as they passed, but it remained silent.

"Bella, what is wrong with you?" Leana asked.

Bellatrix giggled, but it ended in a wince as her ribs twinged.

"That might take all night to explain," she replied.

"I'm serious. You're clearly not well, and the healer said nothing was wrong," Leana said.

They sat on the last row of flat masonry, just above the slope down towards the village, and strands of weeds and tall grass growing out of gaps in the rocks tickled her calves as the breeze blew. The orange-red sun kissed the mountains in the distance. In the village below, it was already twilight, but up on the hill, a few more minutes of daylight remained. Leana nudged closer to her, close enough she could feel her nearness through her robe, and the Roma woman placed fingers lightly on her thigh. If Bellatrix closed her eyes, she could almost pretend it was Hermione.

"She didn't come," she whispered.

"Granger?" Leana asked.

Bellatrix didn't respond; honestly, who else could she be referring to? The sun vanished behind the mountains, leaving only gold limned clouds behind. Leana slid lower and rested her head on Bella's shoulder.

"I can't stay," Bellatrix said.

"You can barely walk. At least stay until you recover," Leana said.

It would be easy, to stay with Leana, to wait for Hermione until she came… or didn't, and Bellatrix grew angry enough at her to share Leana's bed again. Leana would take care of her and comfort her for however many days or weeks she had left.

I didn't think you were the type to quit so easily.

Hermione's voice, from when she was trying to train her in the patronus charm.

"Come on Bella, if there's even a small chance you can find a cure, shouldn't you take it?" she thought, "she'd understand if you gave up here, but don't you think she'd be happier if you found a way to survive? It's not going to happen by sitting on your arse."

"I won't recover, not on my own," Bellatrix said, "I need to go. To Nurmengard."

"Nurmen… because of Grindelwald," Leana said, and Bella nodded, "but… he's dead."

"I have to take the chance," Bellatrix said. She wasn't about to try to explain to Leana that there was a not insignificant possibility that Grindelwald might have come back from the grave again. Instead, she forced herself to her feet but swayed as the world spun. Leana gripped her forearm tightly to steady her.

"At least stay the night. You won't be able to take an international portkey until tomorrow morning anyway," Leana said.

Bella wanted to argue, but she simply did not have the strength, and she figured she shouldn't say no to what might be her last night in a warm bed. She nodded and let Leana walk her back to her room, where she warded the door shut to keep her host from getting any funny ideas.

The following morning, she said her goodbyes at the floo and secretly relished the sensation of Leana's warm lips on her cheeks.

"Come visit sometime, when you're recovered," Leana said with tears in her eyes, "or even if you're not. You're always welcome here."

Bellatrix put on a brave front and smirked, then waved and stepped into the fireplace. A short international portkey to Austria later, and she booked a tourist trip to Nurmengard. Her vertigo had lessened, though now she had a splitting headache not unlike a hangover, but which no amount of potion or water seemed to be able to relieve. She joined a small group of travellers, two young couples and two parents with a teenage son, along with the middle-aged tourist guide witch, and appeared via portkey on the outskirts of a small village nestled in the foothills of the Austrian Alps. Rolling green hills contrasted with a brilliant blue and white sky as clouds skidded overhead, with snow-capped windswept peaks in the distance. Bella breathed deeply of the pristine mountain air, and tried to enjoy it, but in the end, the natural beauty and crisp air only convinced herself she wanted Hermione by her side to share the experience with. The guide blathered on about the history of the war and the castle as they hiked the path higher, but all of Bellatrix's attention was focused on putting one foot in front of the other, and not stumbling.

Eventually, they arrived at a large stone bridge by a waterfall. The imposing fortress, the base of the largest threat to Wizarding Europe of the twentieth century, rose up against the backdrop of the mountains.

"Welcome to Nurmengard castle," the guide said, "it was here that Grindelwald and his followers planned and orchestrated their attempted takeover of Europe. The castle has many magical defences, all of which are currently dormant. Unfortunately, it is currently off limits to the public, but…"

Bellatrix strode across the bridge, her boots clicking on the stones.

"Excuse me, miss?" the guide said, "you can't walk there. Ma'am?"

Bella ignored her and kept walking towards the massive gates. Large black lettering above them appeared as nothing but scribbles, as if by a gigantic child, but they twisted and contorted into English letters.

For the Greater Good

The bleating of the protesting tour guide abruptly cut off as Bellatrix passed through some kind of ward. The massive doors remained sealed as she approached, and she considered using her wand to try and use magic to open them, then opted for the obvious method first. She pulled back one of the great metal rings and let it fall against the door with an echoing boom. A moment passed when nothing happened, and then the door cracked open several inches. Bellatrix looked down into the wizened face and piercing blue eyes of the mind healer Hermione had seen at Hogwarts, Clara Schultz.

"Merlin's balls," Bella muttered.

"Vell, zis is an unexpected surprise," Schultz said.

Bellatrix nodded.

"Madam Schultz," she said, "I need to speak with Grindelwald."

Schultz nodded.

"Certainly, Fraulein. Zis way," Schultz said.

"So, he lives," Bella thought.

She followed the elderly woman up several flights of stairs to a large balcony near the rear of the castle. At the far end of the wide-open space, which was really more like a terrace or a courtyard, given the size of it, a figure stood near the railing, facing away from them, towards the mountains. Winded from her climb, she nodded to Schultz and walked the length of the wide patio.

"Grindelwald?" she said as she approached.

He turned around. He seemed slightly younger than his most recent incarnation, the one she'd seen at the Wizengamot; either he had been reborn from an older Aevum artifact, or he was using transfiguration to alter his appearance.

"Miss Black, I presume," he said.

She nodded.

"I came… to ask for your help," she said.

"Mmm, you don't look so well," Grindelwald said.

"Something's broken inside me," she said, "I think something went wrong when I restored my memories."

Grindelwald sniffed.

"The fact you had to restore your memories at all means something went wrong," he said, "my supposition is the ritual was not completed properly."

"Please… can you help me?" Bellatrix asked, "I want to live."

She held her breath as Grindelwald regarded her silently.

"No," he said.

She swallowed her pride and knelt, the pain of the stone terrace sharp against her knees.

"I'll do anything, I'll serve you, in whatever way you wish, whatever it takes," she said, "…what is it that you want?"

A smile played at the corner of his mouth, then he frowned again.

"What I want is…," he said, then trailed off, "irrelevant. You will not like the answers you seek."

She blinked.

"So you can help me," Bellatrix said, "you do know how to save me, and you're… refusing to."

"That's one way to think of it," Grindelwald said.

She felt a bit silly, still kneeling on the ground, and stood up and dusted herself off.

"Tell me how, then. I'll do it myself," she said.

He shook his head.

"No. You never should have returned to life in the first place. My suggestion is to make peace with yourself and those closest to you," he said.

Anger flared in her gut, and her headache vapourised. Her wand appeared in her hand.

"Dumbledore would have helped me," she said, the barb intended to injure.

That provoked a reaction, and Grindelwald's expression darkened.

"You're not worthy to even speak his name," he said.

"Whatever. Tell me how to fix myself, or I'll beat you to a bloody pulp and then pull what I need to know from your mind," Bellatrix said, "they might even call me a hero."

Grindelwald snickered at that.

"Your family's reputation is well-earned, it seems. Do you think it wise to challenge me here, in the castle I built and fortified myself, where my power is strongest?" he asked as he drew his wand.

"Since you won't tell me, it's either that or death, so I don't have much a bloody choice, do I?" Bellatrix replied as she assumed a duelling pose.

"There is always a choice," Grindelwald said as he held his wand high over his head. She answered him with the Unforgivable that came to her most easily.

"Crucio!" she shouted.

A tile from the patio leapt up, transfigured into an elongated form that caused it to fly into the air, and intercepted the red beam, but Bellatrix Black had nothing to lose, and she leapt forward. Despite facing off against one of the most legendary duellists of the past century, she had faith in her ability, her training, and closed the distance as she peppered her opponent with hexes and jinxes to keep him off balance. He gave ground, and Bellatrix kept pace to keep up the stream of jinxes and curses, to keep him contained, keep him from counter attacking as she sought an opening in his near-perfect defence.

"You would have made an excellent sparring partner," Grindelwald said, and Bellatrix growled.

He was overconfident, that was a weakness. He gestured with his offhand as they circled and parried, and another tile rose from the ground to fly directly at her face. She smashed it with a well-placed wordless defodio, but two more rose up behind it, and she dove and rolled neatly to her feet.

"Bloody hell, it's like fighting two people at once!" she thought.

Grindelwald's wand spat multicoloured fire at her as he went on the attack, and she reacted purely on instinct, ducking, dodging, deflecting, making use of her magically enhanced reflexes to get in a few counter attacks, until out of the corner of her eye, she spotted over a dozen heavy stone tiles rising into the air. On the terrace, there was no cover whatsoever.

"Oh… oh Merlin, I've made a terrible miscalculation," she thought.

With a simple gesture from Grindelwald's off-hand, the stone tiles all flew at her at once; reflexes could not save her from an attack that came from all directions. The tiles pummelled her protego shield until it was in tatters, and then they pummelled her body despite her best attempts to twist out of the way and take blows where they would do the least amount of damage. The corner of one tile slammed into her forearm with an audible crack, and her wand fell from suddenly numb fingers. The stones kept coming, one blew out her knee and she dropped to the ground, while more pelted her from above, slamming and crushing her body against the unyielding stone below. Pain exploded everywhere except her head, until she curled up in a foetal position on the ground. Glowing lashes appeared and ripped her arms and legs wide and pinned her to her back, completely exposed, and more stones slammed into her torso and limbs until she lost track of her numerous injuries, and could do nothing but stare at the grey sky and choke on dust and blood, every wheezing breath pure agony.

"This is it. You challenged Gellert Grindelwald to a duel and now he's going to kill you," she thought, and all on its own, her mind turned to Hermione, wondered what she was doing right at that moment, wondered if she had spared a thought for her at all since she'd fled St. Mungo's on a stolen broomstick.

The visage of Gellert Grindelwald appeared above her, his face impassive as blood leaked from her pulverised body and spilled out the corner of her mouth. He held his wand towards her, and a wan, pale glow illuminated his face.

"What is that, a lumos?" she thought.

"No. This magic is only possible when someone is on the verge of death," Grindelwald said as he twisted his wand first one way, then another, "I see. Some echoes of memories must have been attached to the soul magic which formed the cradle for your… life force, such as it is, to attach to this body. Interesting."

With a wave of his wand, the wan light winked out, and Bellatrix's vision tunnelled as she struggled to draw breath.

"Unfortunately, short of another Aevum ritual, there is nothing I can do for you," Grindelwald said, "Clara will repair your body, but the cradle will continue to unravel. Once it does, this body will die."

"But… do I have a real soul, or is it some kind of… mockery?" she thought as she stared into his eyes.

He shook his head slowly.

"I don't know. I don't know which Aevum Vinda took and I don't know what went wrong with the ritual," he replied, "so… I can't tell you whether you will cross to the other side of the Veil when you die, or simply cease to be."

She wanted to ask more questions, but darkness came for her.

Bellatrix snapped her eyes open and inhaled the distinctive scent of dittany. Her body, her naked body, was covered in the stuff. Thick fur blankets formed a mattress on a stone bed near a window, and a fire crackled merrily in a hearth. There must have been a charm on the room because despite a light flurry of snow outside the open window, the stones radiated cosy warmth. She spied her belongings, including her wand, pouch, and clothes, hanging on a peg near the door. She stood up and, only somewhat stiff, brushed the dittany leaves off, and dressed quietly. A quiet knock sounded at the door, then it cracked open to reveal the aged figure of Clara Schultz.

"Awake, at last," the healer said.

Bellatrix nodded, then sighed deeply.

"You heard everything?" she asked.

"Zat I did, Fraulein," Schultz said, "I am sorry."

Bella looked down at her boots.

"I wanted a life. After everything I've been through, I finally had a chance at a happy life," she said, "it's not bloody fair."

Tears welled up, and she debated whether to fight them.

"I know, Fraulein," Schultz said in a tone more comforting than Bellatrix had ever heard in her life, "I know. I spoke vis ze meister, and reminded him of a few things. He vill leave us soon, but he vishes to speak vis you first. Come."

In a daze, Bellatrix followed the tiny mind healer down a dark hallway, to a study filled with books. An old oil lamp sat on a table, casting a dim glow over everything. A large map of Europe dominated an entire wall, while bookshelves covered the rest.

"She is here, sir," Schultz said.

Grindelwald stood up from a high-backed reading chair, and set a hardcover book on the ornate wooden end table.

"How are you feeling?" Grindelwald asked as Schultz retreated and closed the door.

"Like shit," Bellatrix replied, "I suppose I should thank you for not killing me, for whatever that's worth."

"It remains to be seen if I did you a favour. The separation of a life force from a body is never a pleasant experience," Grindelwald said, "that aside, thanks to our mutual friend, Madam Schultz, I have recalled there is one way which you might live, should you truly desire it."

Hope bloomed, and Bella held her breath.

"Unicorn blood will sustain you, almost indefinitely," Grindelwald said. Her heart sank again.

"But.. the curse," Bellatrix said.

"Like I said, you must truly want to live," Grindelwald said.

"What would Hermione think? Would she even accept you afterwards?" she thought.

It was entirely possible she could find a unicorn, slay it, drink its blood and suffer the infamous cursed existence, only for Hermione to turn her back and walk away from her. The realisation tore at her chest.

"What about… what about phoenix tears?" she asked.

"Ah, yes…" Grindelwald replied, "phoenix tears may be potent enough to repair the cradle within you, but I expect you will not be able to acquire what you need. Regular phoenix tears will not suffice; they must be freshly fallen and freely given. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your point of view, phoenixes are very discerning magical creatures. Your Dark past and the tens of thousands of murders which brought you into this world have left a mark, a mark which will make such a task impossible."

He frowned.

"It's the same reason I never acquired a phoenix familiar the way Albus did," he said, "Phoenixes are creatures of pure grace and radiance, and we, you and I, are abominations against the natural order, you see. They can sense it, and they despise us, so it is impossible."

Bellatrix nodded.

"Impossible, eh. So was curing obliviation," she thought.

The rational side of her knew it was nowhere near the same kind of situation, but so long as there was a path in front of her, she would keep moving forward.