Prologue

Bellatrix Lestrange

"My Lord"

Lucius Malfoy stood in the doorway.

"Come in, come in, Lucius." Voldemort's voice was as cold as ever, and Lucius could hear certain irritation for his arrival. The Dark Lord was still angry at him for his actions.

"I assume Narcissa saw the light." the Dark Lord said as Lucius bowed in front of him.

"No, my Lord." Lucius said, bowing even lower. "But I will help her to. When Draco is old enough he will join and help you in our noble cause, my Lord."

"I sincerely hope so. We wouldn't want anything bad to happen to your son." he said in a threatening voice. "Now, why are you here then?"

"The boy has been born." Lucius said "You were right, as always, my Lord. It is indeed a boy and a girl. Black-haired twins."

"Good, good." the Dark Lord smiled in an odd way. It was not happy. Just cold and calculating. But even though it wasn't a real smile, Lucius felt an urge to shiver.

Wainting for an order from the Dark Lord, Lucius sat down at his usual chair, in the right side of Voldemort. Finally, after a couple of minutes, the Dark Lord looked at him directly.

"Await for my orders. You shall be the one to complete the task of the Potter boy, but not tonight."

Another minute of silence.

"Bring Bellatrix to me"

"Yes, my Lord."

"Cissy." Bellatrix's voice ecoed around the chamber "Cissy, you can't do this."

"I have no other choice, Bella." Narcissa Malfoy felt tears falling from her eyes. "The Dark Lord will want him when he grow up. I am not going to let my only son become a Death Eater. I already let you take my place. I've already ruined your life."

Bellatrix hugged her sister tightly. All those years of pretending to love the Dark Lord. All those years of torturing innocents and and almost killing the love of her life to prove she hated all Muggle-borns and marrying that terrible Rodolphus Lestrange. It all came back to her mind. But she did not regret a single minute. It meant her sister, the one person she could and did still love in the world, would be safe, and that was all that mattered to her.

"It's okay, Cissy." she stroke her sister's hair in a protective, loving way that Bellatrix only used for her sister. "I would do it all over again. You, my dear, are the only one that keeps me sane. That allows me not to get lost in all the madness of the Dark Lord. I will not let anything bad happen to you, or to little Draco for that matter. And if that means hidding you away, than I shall do it."

Narcissa sobbed hard against her sister's shoulder. She was so sellfish. Letting Bellatrix take all the fault, all the responsibility again.

"I am so sorry, Bella." she whispered "I will never forgive myself for this, but I hope you can one day."

"Shhh." Bella took a step behind to look directly into her sister's eyes "Listen to me, Narcissa. I do not blame you. I do not ressent you for anything. My time would have come to join the Dark Lord by force if I hadn't done it willingly. It is not you fault, do you understand me?"

More tears came out of Narcissa's sad eyes.

"But—"

"No." Bellatrix shook Narcissa by the shoulder slightly, getting her attention "It. Is. Not. Your. Fault."

Narcissa nodded, almost imperceptibly.

"Just... Just tell Draco the truth when he gets older, okay?" now Bella had tears in her eyes too. "Tell him... Tell him that I'm sorry. Tell him that I love him, and that I wish I knew him. And please, Cissy, please tell him who I really am? That I loved Leo and tell him that it's okay to love a muggle or a muggle-born?"

"Yes."

"I really do love you, Cissy. And little Draco. But know, please, always know that I am only sorry for not seeing him grow up to be the brave I know he will be." Bella hugged her sister again. Both of them crying so hard that they were blinded by tears, knowing that that was possibly the last time they would ever see each other. "I will miss you so much, sis."

"Oh, Bella." sob "I will miss you too."

And then, Bellatris remembered something. It was dangerous, very dangerous. But she just couldn't let go of her sister so easily. Well, she was a Slytherin after all. And a Black. They were supposed to be sellfish, weren't they? But then again, every Black and Slytherin was supposed to be prejudiced and heartless too.

"Cissy!" she whispered. Her voice was so filled with hope that Narcissa looked up, brushing away her tears.

"What is it, Bella?"

"How could I forget! Oh, Cissy I will be right back."

Bellatrix ran from the room and kept running until she reached her own room. She opened the door quickly, going to the small vault she has in her room. It was protected with so many spells, including ones that she had invented herself, that she couldn't think of anyone — save the Dark Lord —, that would want to spent as much time as it would need to open such a small vault.

Inside it were very few things. But they were also the only objects that really mattered to Bellatrix Lestrange — oh, how she dispised that name. Lestrange. She would give anything to go back to being only Bellatrix Black —, like the only memories she had of Leo. There was a few photographs, tree or four of her and Leo, some of Narcissa and Beallatrix as children, teenagers or adults, but in happier times, some of her and her friends, one of her with Draco a week after he was born and one of the Black family, before Sirius ran away. She had been so sad that day. Devastated. The only member of her family that understood her completely and had no problem with muggles as well, save for Narcissa, had left her. She felt so alone that day. And had not come out of her room for weeks, only allowing Cissy to see her inside of it.

There was also a engagement ring. The engagement ring. The one Leo had given her. She remembered that day, when he proposed. The only day she had ever felt that happy was when her sister was born. But Leo was a muggle-born. It could have never worked out. And now, as far as everyone knew, he was dead. It hurt so much for her to know the truth. She knew he was still alive. She could feel it in her bones. And she wanted with all her heart, in a way that burned her flesh and made her blood crave with desire, to see him again. To run to Italy, where she had sent him after she erased herself from his memory and claimed to have killed him, and tell him that she loved him. But she couldn't. Her sister was more important than her own happiness and Narcissa needed her to stay in London with the Dark Lord.

There were letters Leo had written to her, all of them wrapped together and under a spell to make them really small, seeing as there were about thounsands of them. The was the red and golden quill he had given her for her birthday in second year, which she held dear, as she remembered how fearful he was when he had given it to her. And he had a reason for it. He was a Muggle-born Gryffindor and she was a Pure-blood Slytherin and he was asking her out and giving her a quill with Gryffindor colors for her birthday — which, she had to admit, was pretty foolish —, who wouldn't be fearful?

At least, there was what she was looking for. A parchment, that she had split in two. It was something she had created herself with the most brilliant spell she had ever created. It had taken her a few years to do it, but she was proud of herself.

She had done it when she first thought she was going to lose Narcissa. She thought that, if her sister was to hide away, at least she would have to have a way to talk to her without getting the attention that a owl would give. So she started experimenting with parchments, trying first to bound them to her and make them write what she was thinking without the need of a quill or ink.

But that was the easiest part of it. Because how could she sent her thoughts to another parchment that would be miles away from her?

And then it had hit her. After a year of trying to send the information from one parchment to the other she finally found the answer. She would never have succeed in that way. The answer was actually so simple that she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before. She could sent a thought to a parchment miles away from her. The only thing she needed was for a part of it in front of her. Because they shared the same essence.

And so, she cast her most brilliant charm to make them work, bidding them so only Narcissa or someone related to her could read it, and only if it was her true will that they read.

Then, a year from now, she had tranfigures them into two silver pendants in the form of parchments closed by emerald green ribbons. Then, she made silver chains and with that, they were beatiful necklaces that burned slightly when they were helding a message. Nothing that would hurt or be impossible to ignore if they weren't alone when they received a message, and in a way that only the rightful owner of the necklace would feel, that way no one would know about it if it was stolen or if someone was touching them if they touched its owner's body. The owner would only need to think 'You can reveal your secret message for me, Narcissa Malfoy or Bellatrix Lestrange (or anyone they passed the necklace on)' for it to open itself into its former size and show the message, getting bigger if the letter was bigger then the piece of parhment.

Now, as Bellatrix recorded all of that as she ran to Narcissa's room, placing her necklace around her neck, the future started to look a little less frightening. Yes, she would have to continue by the Dark Lord's side, and yes, she would probably die if a day came when she had to kill someone she really loved, like Draco, who shhe believed would bbe on the other side of the war, and she would refuse to cause them any harm, but, until then, she had her sister to talk to and keep her attached to her real self when things got too dark, too insane, too unbearable.

"Bella?" Narcissa called in a small voisa as Bellatrix slided back to room.

"Cissy, I've got something for you."

Without another word, Bellatrix placed an identical parchment necklace to the one around her neck in her sister's neck.

"This will keep us together." she said, placing a hand in her sister's chest, where the silver parchment hang and the other hand on the top of her own. "Whenever you feel it burn, just touch it and say 'You can reveal your secret message for me, Narcissa Malfoy'"

"What is this?"

But before Bellatrix could answer, Lucius Malfoy entered the room.

Quickly standing up and getting a few steps away from Narcissa, Bellatrix looked at Lucius' conflicted expression.

"The Dark Lord wishes to see you, Bellatrix." Lucius voice was as cold as ice, and then, Bellatrix knew something was very, very wrong. She had spent half of her life with her sister and, consequently, with her husbant, and had learned to read his expressions and the meaning of his tone even when he used his famous blank expressions and cold voice. And what she was seeing now was something she hadn't seen in a long time.

It was guilt.

Crack.

"My Lord, I was told you wished to see me." Bellatrix said in an a controlled voice, using her adoring expression in her face. If the situations weren't so dark and, well, terrible, Bella would have been very proud of herself for beeing that good of an actress. She had become one of the most trusted Death Eaters of Lord Voldemort, close enough for him to let her apparate inside his room like she had done just now.

"Yes, my dear Bella, I did."

"And what gives me the honor of being in your presence, my Lord?" she said, bowing and kissing the hand he extended to her, which were another sign of how close they were.

"I have a task for you." he got hold of her chin, forcing her to look at him. Bellatrix suppressed the urge of shivering with disgust as he held her so close and made her look into his red, catlike eyes. A moan left her lips and for a moment she thought he would be able to see pass her maxk of adoration, but seeing the evil, mocking look on his face, she could feel that he thought it was a groan of pleasure.

"What is it, my Lord?"

The Dark Lord released her chin and turned his back on her, taking a few steps towards the fireplace in the opposite side of the room.

"I have been informed by Lucius, that the Potter twins have been born." he started. Finally turning to her again, as he reached the fireplace, he gestured for her to sit down in one of the two armchairs in front of it, while sitting down himself "As you are aware, a prophecy has been made, that the Potter boy would be the one with the power to defeat me."

"Do you wish me to kill him, my Lord?" Bellatrix asked, even though she was almost certain she wouldn't do it. He was a Potter, and as the son of Sirius' best friend, that family was sacred to her.

Voldemort smiled at her with an expression almost amused, almost proud. But, of course he wouldn't let such emotions to truly affect him.

"I have taught you well, my dear." he said as she sat down "But that is not what I want you to do." he called Nagini in a hissed voice before continuing "You see, most people would think that killing the boy is the smartest plan or at least they would think that that would be my judgement." he waited for Nagini to wrap herself around his shoulders "However, I have come to the realisation that when I become the ruler of the Wizarding World, I will need an Heir, someone to make sure you are all doing your jobs exactly as I asked for. And who else would be better than the one almost as powerful as me? Why risk the chance of him surviving from my attack, and well, I don't think that would be possible, I am the most powerful wizard of all times, but if it happens as the prophecy says, and give him a reason to be in the other side of the war when I can have him kissing the ground where I step on?"

"That is indeed a brilliant plan, as always, my Lord. But I still don't know what whould you have me do."

"I want you to be the mother of this child as I hold him for my apprentice."

Voldemort saw as the shock of the task passed through his most trusted follower's beautiful features for a moment, before she controlled herself.

"Of course." she said "When will the boy arrive?"

"I plan on sending Lucius to get him tomorrow and kill the parents if needed."

"What about the other infant? His twin?"

"I have no interest in the Potter girl. However, if you wish to be the mother of the twins, I will ask Lucius to bring her along."

That shocked Bellatrix even further, even though she was ready to hide it this time. Was Lord Voldemort actually asking what she wanted?

"No, my Lord. Do only what is of your wish." Bellatrix really didn't want to separate the two children, remembering how she enjoyed having a sister to play and love her incondicionaly even though they tomented each other through her childhood, but on the other hand it would hurt enough for Lily Potter, that sweet Muggle-born and James Potter, Sirius' best friend to lose one child. She couldn't take away the two of them. She had never been a mother, but she had always wanted to and she could imagine the pain of having her children ripped away from her. It would be unbearable. It that was only her imagining. The real pain should much, much worse.

"Yes. You may go now, my der Bella."

Bellatrix bowed and kissed his hand again, and appareted back to Malfoy Manor.

When she got back, the sounds of Lucius screaming in fury and objects being broken told her that Narcissa and Draco were gone. So she apparated to her home, promising herself that she would be the best mother she could and would tell little Harry Potter the truth about himself, no matter if he would hate her for it.

She was Bellatrix Letrange — no, scratch that —, she was Bellatrix Black, and she would let her adopted child know exactly who he was and who she was, and let him love her for the right reason.