I wasn't having much luck coming up with an excuse to tell Rodolphus. I knew I was going to explain my absence to him. The reason as to why I didn't come back to him after my escape was perfectly noble, but he wouldn't understand that. I turned a corner and kept walking, ankle deep in snow. Daylight would have been a better option for traveling, but I didn't have that option. I couldn't be seen, or I'd be sent to Azkaban in a moment. They'd have forced the truth out of me and taken my husband from his hiding place as well.

I left because of my sister, Narcissa Malfoy. I couldn't love Narcissa. No, I was wrong. I had all the right as her sister to love her, but being in love with her was a different matter altogether. The thought of being in love with my sister had taken me all my will to stomach but I still couldn't come to terms with it. All these thoughts flowed through my head as I walked down Knockturn Alley. It was dark, cold, and visibility was poor so I couldn't see further than a few feet around me. But it was enough, and the dark prevented me from being seen and identified by a civilian, unless of course, that civilian was Lucius Malfoy.

"Hello Bellatrix," he said, gliding down the steps, the effect intensified by the swishing of his long black cloak. I hugged mine closer around myself to fight the bitter cold.

"Hello Malfoy," I growled. He laughed softly, stopping right in front of me. Lucius was much taller than either me or Narcissa, and I had to look up to look him in the eyes. His eyes were a dull grey.

"I thought we were on a first-name basis, Bella?" he replied softly. I wanted him to go away. It was too much of a humiliation to stand in front of the man whose wife I had slept with, especially since his wife was my blood sister. That was the first time Narcissa and I had been together alone after i'd known about her feelings towards me, and we were drinking. The stronger our whiskey breath got, so did her desire for me, and the more she wanted me the less I could resist her.

That was how Lucius had found us. Narcissa's husband, my brother-in-law, had flung open the bedroom doors while we were in bed together. Blind with rage, he had thrown me out of the manor and told me never to come back. Narcissa had screamed at him. That was all I remembered before I felt one of my fingers being forced onto a portkey, and I was sent back to my house, back to Rodolphus. He was equally as angry, and equally as disappointed. He couldn't face me and I, him. So I fled, and went back to the one man who hadn't cared about anything I'd done as long as I served him well.

I worked on becoming the Dark Lord's favorite. I morbidly worshipped him until he disappeared, and went out of power for a reason that no one knew. The Ministry of Magic then had all the power to capture as many Death Eaters as they could, and capture they did. They found me two days after the Dark Lord's fall. Locked in a cell in the depths of Azkaban, I was tortured so that I would admit the whereabouts of my husband. I never did. The authorities soon gave up. I was captured, but I did all I could to make sure my husband was free, and he hated me less for that.

At that same time, Narcissa and Lucius had a child. Draco Malfoy. Narcissa sent me a letter, which arrived at my cell one rainy morning, detailing his birth and putting me as his guardian in case anything should ever happen to her and Lucius. I sent that letter back along with another one telling her I couldn't do the job she had entrusted me to. I escaped shortly after, still unable to bear facing Rodophus. Having nowhere to go, I fled to a distant corner of France and stayed there in hiding for ages, but now I was back, and I was weak.

"Leave me, Lucius. I don't want to see you,' I said, trying to push past him but he stood his ground, "I said leave me."

"Narcissa wants to see you," he said. I stopped.

"What?"

"Narcissa sent me. She asked me to find you and bring you to her."

I could tell that it took every bit of his strength to tell me that. I was speechless. Lucius Malfoy turned and walked away, his black cloak billowing in the wind. I knew was supposed to follow and I did. We walked in silence. Walking was the only way we could ensure that we wouldn't use any magic that could be detected. As Malfoy Manor came into sight he stopped and told me to carry on without him. I protested, saying that I wouldn't enter the manor by myself. He ignored me and walked away, leaving me to go the rest of the way.

As I pushed open the great oak doors, the cold air from outside rushed into the manor, along with several flakes of snow. I stared blankly at the place I used to visit ever so often. Things were different that time, but following that, the plot of our lives had turned into spiderwebs. It became complicated, dreadfully easy to get lost in. I hoped for for a visit that would be less complex as I looked at the hallway I used to walk down, and the stairs that I would ascend and descend. I was deep in thought and didn't notice one of the servants hurrying forward to shut the door.

"Mistress Bellatrix, it is an honor to see you again," she said, bowing, "May I take your coat?"

I nodded, letting the article of clothing slide off my shoulders.

"Where is Narcissa?" I asked.

"Mistress Narcissa is in her room, resting," the old servant lady replied. I didn't believe Narcissa was resting. She wouldn't send for me and then decide to take a nap. I knew the way to her room and walked towards it, leaving the confused servant lady in my wake. I hiked up my dress slightly and went up three flights of stairs, then turned left and opened the first door I could see. It was dark in the room. I muttered lumos so my wand lit up. Narcissa was on her bed, resting.

"You sent for me?" I asked haughtily. There was no answer. I walked towards Narcissa's bed, holding my wand up. As I neared I saw how much paler and thinner she'd become. Narcissa opened her eyes and looked at me. I almost fell back in fear.

"Bella?" she asked, her voice lifeless. Her lips were pale, almost white like the rest of her face. I cringed at how sick she looked. She gave a small laugh.

"Bella, are you afraid of me?" she asked again, lifting one of her hands up for me to hold. I had nothing to say. I put my wand back into my pocket and held her hand, bending over her to kiss her on the forehead.

"What in hell happened to you?" I asked, pulling back and sitting down beside her on the edge of her bed. She took a deep breath.

"Nothing."

"Nothing doesn't turn you into, this," I told her, my voice breaking with the effort to keep myself from crying.

"I haven't turned into anything, Bella. I'm still here," Nacissa said to me. I stared into her striking blue eyes and the same stare that I got back told me that she was still the Narcissa I'd always loved, although it was entirely obvious she was withering away. I realised how ice-cold her hand was, but decided not to press on the matter about her health. She would tell me when she saw fit to.

"Mother?" It was Draco. I turned to see the youngest of the Malfoy family at the doorway, a mixture of surprise and confusion on his face.

"Say hello to your aunt, Draco," Narcissa told him. Little Draco walked forward to the both of us, tall and upright, just like his father. I stood up, still keeping Narcissa's hand in one of mine, just as he embraced me. I patted his head slowly with my other hand. I couldn't believe he'd grown so much in 7 years.

"Aunt Bella with be staying with us for a few days, Draco," Narcissa said. I turned sharply to look at her. Her eyes had a pleading look to them and I relented. My husband could wait, but my sister couldn't.

"Will you be kind enough to show me to my room, Draco?" I asked him. He nodded and took my hand, leading me out of the room. My other hand, the one I used to hold Narcissa's, slid slowly out of her grasp. I looked back at her one more time before Draco and I turned a corner.