Summary:

Non-magical Nun-AU based loosely off of the film Sister Act. Bellatrix is married to Rodolphus Lestrange and witnesses some things she shouldn't concerning a Mr. Tom Riddle. As she goes to say goodbye after deciding to go on the run, Andromeda convinces her to let her help to hide her in the local convent with the help of the Mother Superior (McGonagall). Bellatrix really isn't cut out for the sisterhood, but meets a new sister in training, Sister Hermione, and decides to have a little fun while she's there.

This idea comes from the Bellamione cult discord group, as did the previous one shot I did. This story probably won't be updated quite as regularly as Destined, it's to help break up the writers block.

Enjoy!

The rain beat down outside the café window in thick sheets making it difficult to see in or out of the little corner shop on the edge of town. Bellatrix Lestrange sat in the back corner of the shop near the window, her fingers wrapped tightly around the coffee mug, the heat radiating through the cup and into her cold nimble fingers.

She tried to decipher the muddied shapes of people as they hurriedly walked past the shop, seeking out a familiar face and body, but the rain was too obscuring. Of all the masses of people she saw walking past, she only looked for one.

It was a side of town she rarely visited. Far from the upscale manor houses she was accustomed to or the high end shops and bistros she was accustomed to visiting with Narcissa. She stuck out among the others in the café, even from her hiding place in the back. Her elegant black dress that hugged her body in all the right places, her designer handback and boots that stuck out from the other side of the small table for two, and ran all the way up to her knee. There wouldn't be many that would stick out more than she would in the lower income side of the town.

The bell ringing above the door to announce to the barista the new arrival. However, the new arrival also reminded Bellatrix just how normal she seemed compared to some others.

Dressed in a simple black frock with white cowl and black hair cover, the woman's appearance demanded attention and consideration. Plain flat shoes still somehow seemed to echo as the woman walked across the seating area towards the back of the shop. Perhaps it was because everyone seemed to go silent as the woman walked in. Bellatrix began to wonder if even this small shop so far from her home would be too public of an appearance for the two to meet together, but it was already too late.

Their faces were almost mirror images. Had she not worn her headdress the similarities would have been even stronger. The sweet smile that pulled at her lips though was something that rarely, if ever graced the raven haired woman's face who was more used to an uptight scowl or condescending smirk. She took the seat opposite her, never stopping at the counter to order a drink of her own. Bellatrix wasn't even sure if she carried money with her for such novelties as crappy café coffees.

"Good afternoon sister, or should I say Sister." Bellatrix raised an eyebrow as Andromeda took her seat. She never could understand the allure of joining the church in the way that her younger sister had.

Of course they were raised properly to attend services as children, their parents had even enrolled them in a private catholic school, but it was nothing more than a social issue. A way of saving face and make themselves look better in the scrutinising view of the other well off people that they tended to socialize with. Nothing that really ever had an impact on on Bellatrix's moral or values, or honestly any other member of the Black family if she were honest.

However, Andromeda had gravitated towards it quickly. She took in all of the lessons and scripture they had been forced to memorize and actually took it to heart. So much so that by her twentieth birthday she had announced to the family that she was leaving the esteemed Cambridge education that their parents had paid for each of their daughters, to take up a life of poverty and chastity instead.

Bellatrix of course always thought she was a fool. Who in their position would really give up the heiress lifestyle to live in a damp and dusty church. Forfeiting prestige and power for subservience and quiet contemplation. Their parents did not take well to it either. All of the money and effort they had put into each of their three daughters, just to see one of them squander it for a life in a church. It was no place for a Black. They had made sure to make their opinions known as well, were she to leave the family, there would be no return for her.

Yet still she left. Nearly twenty years since, and Andromeda had yet to ever return to their family home. Even when their father fell ill, and Narcissa had asked if he would like to see her, he refused to let her enter their home. Of course Bellatrix had found it idiotic, but unlike her father and mother, she found it much more difficult to cut ties with her younger sister. She was still her sister after all.

She wrote to her sister periodically and occasionally would try to call the number Andy had left for them before she ran off to the Abby. It would annoy her when the stuck up Reverend Mother told her that her sister was unavailable to talk because she was taking a vow of silence for some period of time, or was busy with other duties within the church. It wasn't the woman's place to tell her if she could or could not speak with her little sister when needed.

These moments were the rarest of all however. Times where Bellatrix would actually meet with her sister either at the church or out in public. She still had not gotten used to seeing the girl she had practically raised wearing that ridiculous get up. Regardless, Bellatrix was relieved to see her little sister. Someone she knew she could trust regardless of the situation.

Andromeda smiled sweetly as she sat upright in the stiff uncomfortable wooden chair. "It sounds less demeaning when I'm actually your own blood you realize. Just because I have chosen the sisterhood, doesn't mean I'm not your sister. It's good to see you Bella."

Her gentle words seemed to soften the tension pent up in Bellatrix's body that she wasn't aware that she was holding in. A small smile tugged at her lips as her grip loosened on the half empty mug in her hands. "Yes well, it's good to see that they haven't completely brainwashed you yet."

Andy smiled, reaching over the table to place a somehow warm hand on Bellatrix's forearm. How she wasn't completely frozen from the rain was beyond her. "Yes, it's good to see you too Andy. I love you Andy. I've missed you Andy. I'm sorry for sounding so urgent on the phone Andy. Any of these sound right to you Bella?"

The dark haired woman nodded as she let go of the mug with one hand to lay her cold fingers over those of her sister's. "Yes yes, all that. Good to see you. Love you, blah blah."

Deep brown eyes focused in more on her older sister's body language. She noticed the way her shoulders slumped, could feel the way her leg bounced hidden beneath the table, and most worrying, the wrinkle set in her brow that only ever was present when something was on her mind. "Bellatrix? What's the matter? Why did you need to see me so suddenly?"

Bellatrix's eyes fell downcast to the table, removing her hand from Andy's to play with a bit of paper that the busboy had forgotten to clean from a previous patron. "Can't your big sister just want to check in on you? Make sure you're alright and not just locked away in some tower of that church somewhere? I do worry about you you know. It may be God's house, but that doesn't mean that things can't happen there you know."

Dark brown brow's knit together as she watched her sister, unable to meet her eyes. Andy rubbed her thumb across her elder sister's forearm, trying to draw out something more from her. "I may not get to see you as often as I like to anymore dear sister, but I still know when you're lying to me. You know, I pray for you daily, but that doesn't mean the lord has given me divine sight to see what's wrong with you."

A scoff sounded from the other woman as she slumped back in her seat more, ignoring the formal upbringing they both had received. "You mean God hasn't given you magical powers yet? You really need to start praying a little harder then Andy. Maybe change up the gods a bit." The unamused look on Andromeda's face showed that she had heard it all from her sister before, but still didn't appreciate the judgement from her older sister. "Right, well there might be something. I'm just a little shaken up is all."

"Might?" Any sort of resentment Andromeda may have held from her sister's first comment was quickly melted. "Bella, what's wrong? You can talk to me. Is is Cissy? Mother? Is it Rod?"

Bellatrix couldn't control the wince reaction she had to her husband's name. The way her heartbeat seemed to speed up gave her an instant flight reaction that she had to fight off. She couldn't run out on Andy. She needed Andy.

"I'll take that as a yes then. What is it Bella? What's wrong?"

Bellatrix had announced her engagement to Rodolphus Lestrange just a few months before Andromeda left the family. She was gone before the wedding ever took place, but she knew Bellatrix's husband well. Being raised in similar circles, Andy knew Rodolphus and his younger brother Rabastian well. Rodolphus had always been Bellatrix's escort to debutant and society events throughout their adolescence. Rabastian had asked to escort Andromeda to a few occasions but she was quick to shut him down. Both were known to be rude, vulgar men who cared for little else than themselves. They lived off of the inheritance they had received from their grandfather, and rode his coattails well.

Regardless, they had still made a good name of themselves with the sisters' parents, and their mother Druella had no problems pushing Bellatrix towards the egotistical arms of Rodolphus, a move that would look good for both families. While Bellatrix and Rodolphus had always gotten on well, and Andromeda assumed that at one point Bellatrix possibly did hold feelings for her husband, she knew those feelings were long gone. Quickly extinguished when Bellatrix had caught one of the housekeepers wearing her lingerie for her husband in their marital bed. While the love was long gone from the marriage, Bellatrix knew it would be worse on herself to file for divorce. The scandal it would produce, the rumours that would fly, and the Black Industries that would go to Rodolphus in any settlement.

The leaving of the family business from their father's estate to Bellatrix's husband rather to herself had been a subject of a different meeting between Bella and Andy nearly a decade ago. Bellatrix had felt cheated that her father still somehow valued her husband's status as a man over her own education and gumption within the board to brokerage deals and settlements better than either her husband or brother-in-law Lucius who also earned himself a seat just for marrying their youngest sister. Bellatrix always had to work twice as hard for half the recognition from her father, and even in his death he still couldn't see what Bellatrix had to offer to the family or their company.

Black Industries had begun to tank within just a few short years of her husband's control. Regardless of Bella's efforts to save it, her husband's change in business model and contributors had completely reworked the framework of the company.

Bellatrix took a slow deep breath before looking back up to her younger sister's watchful eyes. "I may have witnessed some things I wasn't meant to."

The middle Black sister let out a sigh as she sat back in her seat again. "Was it another woman in his bed again? Bella, I've told you, you deserve better than –"

"No, no Andy. Not that." She quickly cut her sister off before hesitating. Her well manicured nails began to pick at a chip in the table, digging deeper into the pressboard that made up the cheap table top. "The company is nearing bankruptcy Andy. It won't make the next fiscal year."

Andromeda looked at her older sister with an air of confusion, "And you chose me to speak to about it? You do realize I didn't finish my business degree right? One-year shy of graduating. Maybe not the best consult for these type issues."

Her elder sister shook her head again, "No it's not that Andy. Rod, he's done something beyond stupid." She leaned across the table more, dropping her voice to just above a whisper, "Have you heard of a man, Tom Riddle before?"

Andromeda looked back and Bellatrix still confused before nodding. "Yes? The one who was arrested a few years back in connection to a cartel?"

Bellatrix shook her head, pulling her red stained bottom lip in between her teeth. "Not in connection with, Andy, Riddle is the cartel. He runs the whole organization. That rat of a lawyer Petegrew got him off on the charges, but it is all him. His cartel controls everything south of Northampton. Marijuana, cocaine, opioids, methamphetamines, ketamine, you name it, it all goes back to Riddle."

Andy's eye had grown significantly as she listened to Bellatrix talk. "Bella? Why are you telling me this? If you have a confession, it needs to go to a priest not—"

"Oh please Andy, I haven't gone to a confessional since I we were still in school, and even then I never took it seriously. I'm not trying to confess anything. Just… I was going through some of the accounts for the company, and numbers weren't adding up. I looked through some of the records and found some shady accounts that looked like shell companies. Offshore accounts that money was going in and out of. I got curious and maybe slipped a few bugs in Rod's office to see if I could learn something else, something he wasn't telling me."

"You what?!" A few heads turned at Andy's outburst and Bellatrix had to quickly hush her back down to their whispered tone. "You bugged your husband's office? You really trust him so little? Actually don't answer that one for me. What did you find?"

"What the fuck do you think I found Andy? You think I brought Riddle up just for trivia points?"

Andromeda's face stilled to a hardened expression, doing an interpretation of their mother that actually impressed Bella. "You know; you really shouldn't curse to a nun."

"Bella's dark eyes rolled back into her head. "Yes, the real matter at hand is how I swear, do forgive me Sister. Honestly. No, I may have picked up more than I really intended to when I wired his office. Rod is pairing with Riddle to launder money through the company, and using our imports to bring ton's of his shipments into the country. Now I enjoy a nice coke fuelled night out just like anyone, but I draw the line somewhere. And I certainly draw the line well before getting my god damned company involved in it."

Andy's deadpanned expression didn't seem to move as she took in Bella's colourful words. "Lovely Bella, really lovely. If you have an issue, why don't you go to the police about it?"

Bellatrix sat back in her seat, sighing heavily. "I considered it. But in the last recording I took, I may have gotten myself in a little too deep. They found one of the microphones."

"They found it? Oh Bella, Honestly I thought you were a little better than that."

"Oh I'm sorry, It's a little different from when we would leave a baby monitor on in Cissy's room to find out with Malfoy was sneaking in her room at night, or when I found all of Rod's sloppy messages to that Polish girl that I had taken in by immigration. These are actual criminals if you haven't noticed. Andy he has men everywhere. If I go to the police now, I doubt I'd live long enough to see tomorrow morning." Andy could see the genuine fear threatening tears in her big sister's eyes. The worry line in her forehead creasing even deeper than before.

"Oh Bella, have you talked to Cissy about this?" She wasn't really quite sure what their youngest sister would be able to accomplish, she may have followed her elder sisters into school, and even finished where Andy did not. But once she married her childhood sweetheart Lucius Malfoy, she took well to the trophy wife lifestyle. Narcissa left her spot on the company board to her husband, focusing more on the social events that she was so skilled at even as a child.

The raven haired woman shook her head again. "No, I couldn't risk it getting back to Lucius, I'm not sure how deep in this he might be. If he's involved and Cissy were to say anything to him about it, I'd seriously be in trouble then."

Andy's worried expression seemed to match her older sisters as she reached back across the table to take her hands into her own, giving them a small reassuring squeeze. "It will be okay Bella, I have faith. God will find a way for everything to work out. You just need to have a little faith in his plan."

Bellatrix's face scrunched up slightly in disgust. "You're using now to push your religious crap on me? Honestly Andy, timing? I'm trying to say goodbye you realize. I've got to disappear for a little while. I've been thinking maybe if I go up north. I've got some friends near Edenborough, I'll have to drop off for some time till I can find someone to trust, give my information to, hopefully if they take Rod out too, I can get control over father's company again and fix all this mess he's created."

"Edenborough? Surely you don't mean Carrow or Mcnair."

"What else am I meant to do Andy? There's not many places I can go where I won't be recognised or where Riddle's men won't be, and I refuse to go to Wales."

Andromeda shook her head again, giving her sister's hands a squeeze in acknowledgement before her eyes widened slightly. "I do know one place they wouldn't be." When Bella looked up at her confused she only smiled, brushing her thumbs against the backs of Bellatrix's hands in a comforting manner. "I'm sure if you were to talk to Mother Superior, if you were to explain your situation, and I were to speak to your credit, she and the Father Dumbledore would allow you refuge in our walls. You'd be safe there until we were able to find someone to trust."

Bellatrix stared back at her younger sister in astonishment. For once she was actually at a loss of words for what to say to the woman she had always gone to for advice and consult. "You want me," She said raising a finger to point towards herself, "to go with you," she said pointing back to the woman in the drab black frock. "to hide away from the mafia, in a church. I'm sorry, but have you lost your god damned mind little sister?"

The younger of the two cleared her throat as she sat up a little straighter in her seat. "Yes, well you'd have to be a little more watchful of your language, but it would work. You'd be safe, have a shelter, food, people you can trust, and it would only be until we could get the information you've collected turned over to the proper authorities, ones that can be trusted."

Bellatrix scoffed softly. "Next you'll be telling me that God gave you the idea."

Andromeda shrugged a little bit, giving her sister a concerned look. "And if he did? I wouldn't want to ignore that. If it's his will, he'll make sure it's possible. Make sure you're safe. Please Bella, just give it a chance. I want to make sure you're safe. Maybe this is why he had us meet today sister. You can't ignore an opportunity or a message from God."

Bellatrix stared back at her younger sister with a slightly confused look before shaking off any offhanded comment she had prepared. "I highly doubt your Reverend Mother is really in the habit of taking in strays that may be the target of criminal organizations. After she says no, will you let me go to Edenborough in peace?"

Andy smiled and nodded. "She won't say no, but if I need to agree in order to get you to come along with me and make sure you're safe, then fine."

Bellatrix sighed softly, reaching to grab the now lukewarm coffee off the table to down quickly, her face scrunching up at the taste. "Fuck it. Let's go then."

"Honestly though, if this is going to work, you're going to have to watch your language Bella."

She rolled her eyes as she stood, collecting her coat from the back of the chair, the rain had yet to let up and she would need it. "Whatever you say Andy, lead the way."