It'd been a lifetime since Bella had last walked these halls, but seven years worth of memorizing the castle's maze like the back of her hand was nothing to scoff at. The late hour meant that there were few she needed to hide her presence from in the halls, although she did take great pleasure in sending a well-placed stunner towards that mangy old cat. She wouldn't have it snitching on her to that decrepit caretaker– not when she had business to attend to. It wouldn't do to be interrupted.
It had been quite the sob story the way the Prophet had spun it, that old rag. Albus Dumbledore, ever the philanthropist, collecting his runts and strays and giving them a home. What a laugh she'd had before burning the paper to ashes right in her palm. It was worth the glare Grandfather sent her from across the table.
She found her prey in the dungeons, where they'd all spawned from. He was an adjunct professor now… pathetic, but fitting.
The door to his chambers slammed open with a lazy flick of her wand, and Bellatrix grinned when he looked up from his desk with fear in his eyes.
"Hello, Severus." Her words dripped with honey, thick with anticipation of his reaction. "Did you miss me?" She stepped inside and let the door close and lock them in together.
His voice wavered slightly despite the stony expression on his face. "Not particularly."
She cackled. "'Not particularly!'" She mocked in a low tone, raising her fingers to denote air quotation marks, before dropping her hands and returning to normal. "At least you're honest. I know that's something our Lord quite appreciated from his loyal followers."
Severus finally snapped, jumping to his feet with his wand raised. It was just as Bella expected, and she disarmed him wordlessly. His wand clattered to the floor and rolled towards her, and she kicked it behind her for good riddance.
"How did you get in here?" He snarled. Bold behavior for someone at wand point, but she allowed it. It was much more fun this way.
"The war wards won't work as long as the old crook shelters you here, Severus." She sauntered towards him until she could press the palm of her free hand against his desk, leaning forward so she was in his personal space. Her wand dipped to trail against his left forearm where it hung stiffly at his side. "You can't escape that easily," she murmured.
His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. "He's gone."
"Is He?" Bella giggled. "I'll remember that. He'll see it eventually."
Severus flinched. It was slight, but it was there. "Why are you here?"
This time she sighed, head tilting to one side. "To warn you, against my better judgement." She lunged forward, using the tip of her wand to turn his chin to his shoulder so she could whisper in his ear. "I know what you asked of the Dark Lord."
He jolted back as if she'd hit him, horror splashed across his face. "What?"
Her smile stretched slowly but surely, and suddenly he was faced with a Cheshire cat who'd caught the canary.
"Kill Potter and the boy," she recited, her voice dropped in imitation of his once more, "but give me Lily!"
Severus sat shakily into his seat, defeated. His head tipped forward and let his hair curtain his face in an attempt to shield him from the consequences of his actions. Bella watched with glee. Her silence did more damage than taunts would now. But alas, she didn't have all night.
"Unfortunately for you, that 'boy' is now considered family. If anything happens to him…" She paused, letting the threat linger in the air.
He hardly moved. "Noted."
Bella frowned. This wouldn't do. "Actually, no." She rounded the desk and looped her foot under one of his wooden chair legs, jerking it so he spun to face her. His head tipped up to meet her gaze on his own accord this time as she gripped both armrests and bracketed him in. "I'll make this crystal clear. If anything happens to him before or within these halls, I will come for you. You will not know sleep, you will not know peace, and you will not know death." Her eyes widened with emphasis. "I will keep you alive for years just to tear you apart and put you back together over and over again until you forget everything but the name 'Lily Potter.'" She smiled sweetly. "Nod if you understand."
Severus nodded haltingly, but it was enough to show her point was made. Bella patted him on the head patronizingly and pulled away, ready to leave.
But some people just didn't know when to leave things alone.
"Why?" He called after her. "She was just a mudblood." He spat the last word with disgust.
Bella paused, hand raised to spell the door open. "True," she agreed, "and yet even the Dark Lord conceded that she wielded admirable power. But you…" Here she turned fully to face him, unable to hide her glee. "You would've sacrificed my nephew to gain her body. And that is far darker than anything I've ever done."
Severus Snape's mournful keen was music to her ears. She left the dungeons with a skip in her step that lasted until she felt the castle's wards brush over her on the outskirts of the grounds. She apparated away with a sharp crack.
Andromeda looked suspiciously at her when she returns to the manor, and it's reminiscent enough of the lord of the manor that Bella sticks her tongue out in reply. Meda had been seeing Grandfather the most, since she had missed out on years of education after her parental disownment. Arcturus Black knew his granddaughter was intelligent, but that only went so far if it wasn't applied properly. The Sacred Twenty-Eight had rules and traditions, and it was important to know what House Black were truly beholden to, and what everyone else would believe themselves beholden to.
"Out for a stroll?" Her sister raised a brow questioningly. It was an action Bella had seen many times before when she looked in the mirror.
Bella draped herself across the rich red velvet cushions of the loveseat. "It's lovely this time of night. You ought to give it a try."
Meda hummed noncommittally and returned to her tome. Bella recognized the worn leather cover as one from a series on runes, but the details slipped her mind. She focused on the roaring hearth instead. The flames danced, weaving amongst themselves to form a tapestry of light. She was more than content to lose a few minutes to their majesty.
"Did you at least leave Snape alive, or will i be providing an alibi come morning?"
Bellatrix pouted. "You're no fun, Meda."
Her sister sighed. "Just answer the question, Bella."
She replied with an even longer drawn-out sigh. "He's still breathing," she begrudgingly admitted, shifting to face Meda where she sat in grandfather's favorite arm chair. "How did you know?"
"I saw your face when Sirius told us of the apology he'd sent," Meda said calmly. Her eyes flickered up to meet Bella's, reflecting back the same inferno that remained caged by the hearth. "I wouldn't've blamed you if you had killed him." She calmly turned to the next page in her book. "It's what I would've done."
She enjoyed how her sisters continued to pleasantly surprise her after all these years. "That's why you're my favorite sister."
Meda snorted lightly. "Cissa's our favorite."
Bella smiled and reclined back once more. "Guilty as charged."
A/N: so... time's fake and I didn't realize it's been 11 months? :'(