Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter series.

Author's Note: This is Bella's POV from chapter 17 of Dancing Through Thunderstorms, because we all know Bellatrix couldn't possibly be that maternal...

Bella's Lullaby

Narcissa had never been a bright woman; Bellatrix accepted this with the kindness only a sister could possess. But when Narcissa asked Bella to babysit Draco, she realized that she had given her little sister's intelligence far too much credit. Not only did Bella find the fact that Lucius was the father enough basis to hate Draco, but she loathed children on principle. After all, she could hardly be a Death Eater and raise a family at the same time. What was she supposed to do? Line his cradle with the skulls of mudbloods? Use him as a centerpiece at the meetings? Lactate on a broomstick?

Well, she could always have him branded, she thought as Narcissa continued to drone on about something unimportant.

"…even listening to me. For all you know about child caring, Draco will be dead by the time we get home."

It was a beautiful, beautiful thought.

"I am listening, Cissy," Bella said earnestly. How could she not, when Narcissa was talking about the death of her child?

But then Lucius whisked Narcissa and way and Bellatrix wished she had listened to more of the instructions. She had no idea what she was doing. Tentatively, she peered into the crib as Draco peered back at her, grinning from ear-to-ear. For a moment, Bellatrix thought that Narcissa might just be trying to test her and had placed a boggart in the crib instead of her actual son.

"Riddiculus!" Bella cried, imagining Lucius in a dress. But nothing happened. Then Bella realized that she hadseen Lucius in a dress before and maybe that was the problem. Reorganizing her thoughts, she cast the spell again, this time imagining the look on her sister's face if she walked in on Lucius wearing a dress. Draco merely laughed as though the spell tickled him. Bellatrix moaned in despair; boggarts couldn't laugh at themselves.

"Damn it, little brat…" she grumbled. But as she saw tiny veins through the pale skin, Bella growled in frustration, "But he's got my blood…" She shook her head fiercely. She was Bellatrix Lestrange. Death Eater extraordinaire. Wanted in all of Europe and most of Egypt. Five time winner of Witch Weekly's People You'd Hate to Meet in a Dark Alley contest. The Dark Lord's most faithful. Who was she to be afraid of a little, barely out of the womb, mutant? Never.

"Look, Draco," she decided as the child giggled gleefully. "If this is going to work, we're going to set down a few rules. First, I am only doing this because Narcissa is my sister; do not, for a moment, let yourself think that I love you or have any cozy feelings for children in general. Second, if my mark burns you have two options and only two. You can either stay here and Cissy will be upset with me because I promised to watch over you constantly. Or you can come along, but you must show the proper respect for our Master and we will have to make it clear the Lucius loves you more than the Cause. Third, you will not so much as think anything negative of me when I leave you with your parents. We both know how snoopy your mother is; she might have managed legilimency by now… Merlin help me," Bella muttered, thinking of all the times her internal monologue had gotten out of hand while Cissy rambled. "Is that clear?"

Draco merely gurgled and smirked up at his aunt. "Stupid kid takes after his daddy," she sighed. Though, she was quite proud that Draco, not even a year old, had mastered the art of smirking.

Not ten minutes later, however, Draco was no longer smirking but crying.

"No Draco! My wand is not a toy! You can not slobber all over it, or this sort of thing will happen!" Bella screamed over his wails as Draco's head continued to smoke unnaturally. "I thought you could learn how to duel since we obviously can't trust your parents teach you, but Salazar help me you were supposed to point the wand at the house elf, not put it in your mouth!"

Draco continued to cry profusely and Bellatrix looked around the room in a panic. His hair was now almost completely singed and Narcissa would not be happy. She was so fond of blond hair. Draco seemed to be breaking out in a weird rash and his eyes were a little bit cloudy. Bella thought he looked rather like Rodolphus in the morning.

There was still the problem of what Narcissa would think, however.

"Hold still, Draco," Bella ordered as she drew her now slobbery wand and pointed it at him. "Aquamenti!" she said, thinking of how helpful the spell had been in her youth experiences of putting out other children who had somehow caught on fire.

A jet of water shot out of her wand, sending Draco backwards with the force of the spell.

"Oops, sorry, Draco," Bella laughed as she picked up the child for reexamination. "Oh… that wasn't supposed to happen."

The water seemed to have a caused a weird reaction with the previous rash and Draco's skin was now turning vaguely green and scaly.

"At least you look like a serpent now. It should be your proudest achievement to date."

But a nagging feeling told Bellatrix that Narcissa, while she would always be a Slytherin, would not want her son slithering. There had to be a charm or potion to return Draco to his normal state.

Bella rifled through Narcissa's books quickly. Narcissa must have charm books regarding the covering of flesh blemishes; Merlin knew her skin wasn't naturally that smooth. However, she was having less success than she'd thought. Pocketing a copy of 50 Ways to Charm Your Wizard (Bella knew that all the Dark Lord needed was a little more encouragement), she sighed. For some reason she didn't think St. Mungo's would be all together receptive to her presence.

Bellatrix was not disappointed.

As Bella clutched Draco roughly, pressing him tightly to her bosom to smother his wails, the receptionist cowered in fear.

"Look! I don't have time to torture you, just point me in the right direction," Bella sighed in exasperation. Being a Death Eater sometimes had its downsides. There weren't many, but it sure made child-care difficult.

The receptionist, a nauseous looking woman with graying hair, pushed her glasses up her long nose with a shaky hand. "Of c-course, Mrs. Lestrange. W-what exactly is wr-rong with your son?"

"It is not my son!" Bellatrix snapped angrily. This was doing horrible things to her reputation. Not only was she not torturing a helpless half-blood, she was giving people the false impression that she was a doting mother.

"Oh. Well, that's a relief, isn't it?" the receptionist sighed and then quickly corrected herself, "Uh, what exactly is wrong… did you say?"
With a huff of impatience, Bellatrix sat Draco on the front desk with a thud as he continued to wail.

"Shut up! You're worse than your mother!" Bella growled through gritted teeth.

Wincing, the other woman stared at Draco with wide eyes. "How did this happen?!"

Bella shrugged. "It's not my fault if his father didn't teach him one end of a wand from the other. At least this way he'll never forget."

"Uh, yes… clearly your parenting skills are very intact. So, maybe you should just take him home and see what you can figure out on your own," the receptionist said hurriedly, eager to get rid of Bellatrix.

In the next moment Bellatrix's wand was pressed between the woman's eyes. "You can either deal with Draco or deal with me! I'm only going to say it one more time. My sister could be home at any minute. If her son is not 'perfect' she's not going to blame the house elves, she's going to blame me. And if I have to put up with her whiny little mouth before going home to put up with my whiny little husband, you can say goodbye to your immediate family all the way through your fourth cousins!"

"I don't think I even have fourth cousins…" she mumbled timidly.

Bellatrix snorted, "Then clearly your family is not as advanced as mine."

"Or as prone to incest…"

Luckily, Bella did not hear this comment, but pressed on, "Where can I get him fixed?"

The receptionist looked back in disbelief as she noted, "Um… I thought you purebloods were all about continuing the family lines. Why on earth would you want him fixed?"

Bellatrix again growled in frustration, "You know what I meant! I just want to return him to his original form. Like, no scaly smoking skin would be preferable. Oh, and Narcissa will notice if he's missing the blond hair… so if you could bring that back, I'd appreciate it."

"Well… I suppose you'll want Spell Damage," the receptionist finally sighed. "Fourth floor."

But the fourth floor didn't seem to want Bellatrix. Between an onslaught of attacks and screams of terror, it was amazing that Draco wasn't killed. However, it was only a matter of time before Bellatrix had found the doctor Narcissa had visited when Bella had taught her to duel. Though she herself had never had cause to visit this section of St. Mungo's, Bella found that her name was well established as a contributor to the influx of patients. Even though she was holding a bloody (well, technically scaly) infant, Bellatrix had never been prouder.

She was additionally happy, or at least relieved, when the doctor presented Draco back to her. Figuring that not killing the staff was payment enough; Bellatrix snatched her nephew and returned home. As it so happened, just in the knick of time.

She had barely returned Draco to his playpen when she heard the front door open to, presumably, Narcissa.

"Look happy, Draco," Bella hissed as she fell onto the couch and tried to look vaguely bored. She twirled her wand above her head, scowling at the fact that Draco seemed to have made it malfunction. It was now periodically shooting docile sparks of every color into the air. While this seemed to entertain Draco, it was hardly threatening so Bella highly disapproved.

She did, however, enjoy the look on her incredulous sister's face when Narcissa entered the room. Bellatrix did her best not to laugh in Narcissa's face as she fell for the clever ruse of her son's wellbeing. However, she was a bit uneasy when Narcissa picked up her son and held him close to her face. And then of course, Narcissa got defensive as Bellatrix nonchalantly insulted her own nephew. (It was a good thing Narcissa knew nothing about what had transpired; she was so sensitive.) After Bella had told a completely fabricated version of what had actually happened, Narcissa gave her a funny look and Bella was anxious to have Narcissa leave before she discovered that her son had temporarily resembled a serpent.

"Narcissa, put your child back; he managed this long without you, I think he can survive another two hours or so," she said quickly, figuring that would be enough time to return things to 'normal'. "Besides, since he isn't talking, for all you know he could be just dying to spend time with his aunt."

Well, if that wasn't the truth Bellatrix didn't know what was.

When Narcissa finally left, Bella let out a sigh of relief. "There now, Draco. Weren't you a good little boy? If you're smart you'll never tell Mother about your adventures with Auntie Bella, ok?"

Draco didn't respond so Bella plopped back down on the sofa again. Still trying to fix her wand, she sent sparks flying into the air. Draco laughed as he again tried to catch them and Bella smiled. Well, almost. Then Draco caught on fire and she grinned from ear-to-ear.

The people at St. Mungo's were not surprised at all to see them again. But they were even gladder when they left as Bellatrix had finally been able to fix her wand.

By the time Bellatrix and Draco returned home, she was faced with the daunting obstacle of rocking a baby to sleep. She had placed Draco in his crib and was now circling it slowly. Finally, she decided to sing him a nursery rhyme.

It was a song she had heard several muggle mothers sing to their children as they tried to comfort their crying young. Right before Bella killed their families. The words did little for her, so she changed them. However, she kept the tune because she secretly found it very catchy.

"Hush little Draco don't you cry. Bella's gonna to sing you a lullaby…" but already, he was wailing. Bellatrix couldn't imagine why; she thought she had a lovely voice. "Hush little Draco, don't say a word. Bella's gonna buy you a peacock bird," Bella decided, thinking of those hideous creatures in the entrance gardens. With a malicious smile she cooed down at Draco, "And if that peacock mysteriously drops dead, Bella's gonna buy you a shrunken head. Don't wrinkle your nose at me like that, mister; they're much more practical anyway! And if that shrunk head starts to grow, Bella's gonna rock you to and fro." Since Draco was apparently incapable of shutting up, Bellatrix illustrated her point by lifting her nephew into her arms and swinging him about wildly. "And if the rocking gets too rough, Bella's gonna say that you aren't very tough," she laughed cruelly. But Draco began to flail his legs into her chest, and Bella didn't really appreciate that, so she continued with a snarl, "And if you start to kick and fight, Bella's gonna break your little legs tonight!" Her wrist tightened around Draco's ankles as she dangled him upside down. Apparently Draco liked this even less than being rocked 'to and fro'. "And if you're a wimp (just like your father) and you start to scream," Bella was getting tired of holding Draco so she plopped him back in his crib and smiled down in a would-be-maternal smile. Luckily, Bella could never achieve such an expression so it was really just a fanged, poisonous grin. "Bella's gonna to tell you it was just a bad dream." She finished with a sigh, quite disgraced that she had mollified her nephew rather than instilled scarring terror. After all, she wanted Draco to remember her properly if something ever happened to her.

Draco beamed wide-eyed up at his aunt, his lip trembling again now that she had stopped. Bella almost smiled. Not for Draco, of course, but she had plenty of things she could say to the little brat who resembled his father all too much. "And if you're smart you'll fall asleep, then soon… Bella's gonna tie you to a rickety old broom," she whispered gently. Draco giggled as though Bellatrix was just joking so she continued, "And if that doesn't solve her problems like she hopes, Bella's gonna simply pull tighter on the ropes. And if you're fastened safe and sound, Bella's gonna send the broomstick off of the ground." Bellatrix paused, because the image of Draco soaring off into the sky, never to be seen again, was very appealing after a night of babysitting. "And if that broom falls from the sky…" Bella trailed off as she heard voices downstairs. "Oh shit," she muttered. Bella didn't bother covering Draco's ears; after all, she had said much worse things earlier. If Narcissa saw the nursery like this she would probably throw a hissy, or more appropriately, a Cissy fit. So Bella finished quickly, "Cissy will be mad that Bella made her only son die."

With a quick wave of her wand, Bellatrix began fixing the room as quickly as she could. Opening the closet, she sent those items that could not be fixed magically into room. (Why an infant needed a walk-in closet was beyond Bella, but she had never understood Narcissa.) She turned to Draco anxiously as she heard footsteps on the stairs. He needed to be asleep to secure the illusion of safety and wellbeing. However, her lullaby and rocking methods had been utterly failed attempts to put him asleep so Bellatrix was pretty much out of ideas. For a second she considered literally putting him asleep but then realized that she'd have to deal with Narcissa's complaints the next day. So, instead, she resorted to her least favorite Unforgivable. "Imperio," she muttered, pointing her wand at Draco. "Now go to sleep you little peacock spawn!"

There were footsteps right outside the door. Bella stowed away her wand and leaned over the crib to make sure Draco looked properly asleep. The handle was turning. You look very sketchy just peering down at your unconscious nephew, she warned herself, at least look like you've been telling him a bedtime story or something 'maternal' like that.But Bella couldn't think of any bedtime stories. Or at least not any that weren't repulsively fluffy and frilly. For half a second she considered telling the myth of Andromeda and Perseus… but with a modified ending. The door was being opened so Bella said the first thing that came to her mind, "Then Pollux and Irma Black had Walburga and your grandfather, Cygnus. Well, technically they had Alphie as well, but…We aren't counting blood traitors, are we, Draco?" She yawned, just for effect.

The looks on Lucius and Narcissa's faces were priceless. As they gushed in disbelief about how well Bellatrix had taken care of Draco, she snickered inside. Would the Malfoy family never learn that appearances meant nothing?