A/N: Hi guys, I can't tell you how sorry I am that's it taken nearly a year to update. Unfortunately studying and working is taking up all of my time and I do nowhere near as much writing as I used to do! I've also been so stuck with this story! Considering I started to write this story 5 years ago, I really don't like how I was going to end it and I've been trying to think of a better way. However, I now think I have an idea and my exams have finished so hopefully (not promising anything!) I can update at least slightly more frequently! Thanks to all those still following this story and to those of you writing reviews to remind me this story still exists! I read each and everyone of them and I'm completely humbled that you're still with me after so long! Hope you enjoy this update, it's not the best thing I've ever written, but I just wanted to get something out there for you guys!

Bellatrix was sauntering down the steps towards where Ariella and Rodolphus were staring at her. But she didn't stop at the bottom, she headed straight to Ariella, bending down and taking the shaking girl's chin in hand. Only then did Rodolphus intervene.

"Bella," he warned, and drew his wand.

"I'm not doing anything, Roddy. Am I not allowed to even look at my daughter?" Bellatrix asked innocently. Ariella didn't buy it.

Rodolphus gave her a warning look. "I'm not saying that, Bella. but you didn't take to her last time you saw her. You frighten her, and for a good reason too."

"Oh, shut up. You were the one thinking I was going to let you have your fun with her, and anyway, she shouldn't be afraid, she's a brave little Gryffindor, aren't you?" She turned to Ariella, and tilted her chin upwards to look into her eyes, smiling at the fear she saw in them.

"Bellatrix, stop. The Dark Lord ordered you stay away from her. If you don't I'll have to stun you," Rodolphus threatened, hand on his wand.

Ariella, in the midst of it all, didn't know what to do. She knew she had to keep quiet, but she knew that Bellatrix, whilst insane, was also incredibly clever.

"I thought I told you to shut up?" the older witch exclaimed. "I'm busy. Stupefy." Behind the young girl, Rodolphus crumpled to the ground. Ariella gasped. The easiness of it scared her most of all. With Rodolphus out for the count, she had no protection now.

"Come on, let's go to your room. We can get better acquainted there." She stood up, and when Ariella didn't move, she picked her up as though the young witch was a baby before marching up the stairs, leaving her husband motionless on the floor.

Ariella couldn't move, fear and shock had her paralysed as the Death Eater carried her up the last steps and headed along the dark landing. What was she going to do with her? Heaven knew she wasn't going to get her a mug of hot chocolate and tuck her into bed. However, in her current predicament she wasn't going anywhere but where Bellatrix wanted her to be. And her Gryffindor bravery seemed to have deserted her.

After passing several doors, Bellatrix finally stopped at one covered in cobwebs and looked like it hadn't been opened in decades. Adjusting the girl on her shoulder, she twisted the handle and let the door swing open with a creak.

The centrepiece of the room was a large four poster bed, with drapes hanging from each corner. With the curtains at the windows being drawn, Ariella could just about make out that the colour of the drapes matched that of her bed in her dorm at Hogwarts – Slytherin colours.

Bellatrix almost threw the girl onto the bed, causing a plume of dust to rise in the air and making Ariella cough as she tried to clear her airways. Bellatrix then, rather than open the drapes, flicked her wand in the air, causing the elaborate candelabras on the wall to flicker to life, spreading a low light across the room.

Bellatrix turned to face Ariella, although not making any move towards her. The young girl dared not make the slightest movement, not knowing what the older witch was going to do. Then, Bellatrix's eyes slid to focus on something below Ariella's neck. Confused, the girl looked down, only to see the locket, the one that she still wasn't able to get off, hanging out from her shirt and glinting in the candlelight. Bellatrix must have forgotten about it in all the chaos and was suddenly realising that it was all true. Her daughter was sat right there in front of her on the bed.

Ariella could tell that the witch didn't know how to react, the locket seemed to have thrown her off track and now neither of them knew what to do or say. Eventually, the older witch seemed to snap out of her trance and looked the girl directly in the eyes. It was not a friendly look in her eye, nor a mothering one. In fact, as Bellatrix started moving towards her, it seemed to get meaner and more determined.

"You may be my blood, but you are most definitely not my daughter," she snarled suddenly, reaching the bed and looking down at the now cowering girl on the bed. "You were brought up a mudblood, you're tainted with their filthy blood and no matter what my husband says you will never be mine." The woman drew her wand. "I might as well get rid of you now, you're only going to be a liability. Just a shame Roddy won't let me keep you as my pet anymore." She stopped and grinned maniacally, then raised her wand.

Ariella curled herself up into a ball, flinching against the spell she knew was about to come out of Bellatrix's mouth. But it never came.

Before the older witch could even utter the incantation, the door burst open and in charged Rodolphus, closely followed by Narcissa, both with their wands drawn.

"Drop it," Rodolophus barked harshly. "Drop it now."

Ariella heard the wand in question clatter to the floor, before the click of high heels coming closer and two arms wound their way around Ariella's middle and brought her close to a chest smelling faintly of roses.

"Is she alright?" Rodolphus asked, picking up the wand from the floor.

"I think so, she doesn't appear to have been harmed," Narcissa replied, pulling the girl away from her chest to examine her.

Ariella couldn't even look the witch in the eye, staring at the bedcovers as Narcissa and Rodolphus continued to talk amongst themselves. She wanted to go home. She wanted to be with Hermione and her parents, with normal people, and where she wasn't at risk from the most insane witch in the Wizarding world. However, most of all, she wished she hadn't gone to the Department of Mysteries with her sister and Harry Potter. After all, that was the reason she'd ended up here. Because of her foolish Gryffindor courage. The courage that was currently nowhere to be seen.

"Let's get her downstairs, she could probably do with some nourishment," Narcissa continued as Ariella forced herself to stop feeling sorry for herself and focus on the situation at hand.

"I'm still here you know," Bellatrix sang in a high sing-song voice.

"I think it's best you stay away, Bellatrix,"Rodolphus warned, gripping the two wands tightly in his hand. There was no way he was letting his wife have her wand back anytime soon. Not until the issue was sorted. She was too unstable.

"Ohh, but Roddy…"

"No Bellatrix!" he snapped. "Haven't you got that report to write for the Dark Lord?"

Grumpily, Bellatrix stood up and headed to the door, acting almost like an insolent child. However, when she reached the doorway, she stopped, turning back with a sneer on her face.

"You wait, Roddy, you wait until I get my wand back, then you won't be speaking to me like this. You know that I'm far more powerful than you and you can't keep that wand forever," she taunted. Then, with a flounce in her step, she turned and walked away.

Once the heavy footfalls of the insane witch had faded away, Rodolphus cleared his throat.

"Come on, let's get you some food," he said, reaching to take her from her aunt.

Ariella willed herself to say something, to move, to do anything, but it was as if her brain wasn't functioning properly. She could do nothing as Rodolphus lifted her into his arms and carried her out the door, Narcissa following closely behind. Whilst all the time, in her head, she silently repeated 'I want to go home, I want to go home'.