2
“Bella are you alright?”Narcissa asked her badly beaten sister. Bellatrix groaned. As both she and Hermione predicted she had been blamed for the mission’s failure. Even though Lucius had been in charge and had been arrested. The Dark Lord claimed it was her responsibility to make sure the orb was gotten and because she didn’t that she would be the one to take the punishment for everyone. Any other time this would happen Bellatrix would have happily taken whatever the Dark Lord gave her thinking he was singling her out because he expected more from her than the others. After speaking to Hermione she now knew he kept her around just to have someone he could abuse as if he went after the others he would lose their support. She wasn’t really his right hand she was just an object he used to keep everyone in line. If you don’t do as you’re told you are going to be treated like Bellatrix. Kept in rags and covered in scars from the various beatings.
“I’ve never been better actually.”Bellatrix told her.
Narcissa looked at the many cuts and bruises littering her sister’s skin.”How can you say that?”
“Because Cissa I had wonderful conversation with a mudblood and she has given not only me but you a way to be free of this life.”Bellatrix struggled to sit up.
Narcissa moved some pillows to help Bellatrix get comfortable.”What are you talking about?”
“At the ministry I met Potter’s mudblood.”Bellatrix said.
“Hermione Granger.”Narcissa had heard all about Hermione from Lucius and Draco. The girl was quite exceptional in Narcissa’s opinion but she would never say that out loud.
“It’s actually Hermione Black now and she is our Head of Household.”Bellatrix was extremely pleased by those turn of events.
“What?”Narcissa really didn’t know what was going on.
“When we were in the ministry Hermione was able to get past my mental walls and talked to me.”Bellatrix was kicking herself for not asking how the girl did it.
“She got past your walls?”Narcissa could barely get past Bellatrix’s walls.
“That’s not the important part. It’s what she told me that was important. Apparently she and Andy have a Black Family blood bond.”Bellatrix wasn’t surprised by the look of shock that came to Narcissa’s face. She had felt the same way when she found out.
“Did Andy adopt her?”Narcissa didn’t know what Andromeda was thinking doing such a ritual. It was unbreakable and only happened if someone was being adopted or marrying a half blood or a muggle born.
“From the way Hermione talked I really doubt that Andy was adopting her.”Bellatrix was almost positive that Andromeda and Hermione were an item.
“She’s a little young for Andy isn’t she?”Narcissa didn’t think it was appropriate for her sister to be dating a Hogwarts student or based on the ritual marrying one.
“She looked and acted a lot older than the other teenagers with her.”Bellatrix thought Hermione acted more mature than the Death Eaters that were there.
“Isn’t Andy already married though?”Narcissa had thought Andromeda was madly in love with Ted.
Bellatrix growled just thinking about Ted.”Her marriage is how she got involved with Hermione.”
“What do you mean?”Narcissa asked.
“Hermione told me that she met Andy at an Order meeting and became suspicious of Andy’s actions. She said that something just wasn’t right about them. She followed Andy throughout the day and saw Ted using the Imperius curse on her.”Bellatrix told her.
“That bastard. I always thought it was weird for Andromeda to turn her back on us.”Narcissa had never believed that Andromeda would willingly leave her and Bellatrix behind.”I hope she left him.”
“Hermione killed him. Then explained what happened to Andy. Hermione said they have been working together to bring down the Order and that they wanted our help.”Bellatrix reached for Hermione’s bag.
“What do they need our help with?”Narcissa watched as Bellatrix pulled a bunch of potions and papers out of the bag.”What is all that stuff?”
“All this stuff is potions to fix my body and teeth, the spells needed to break our bonds with our husbands and the counter curse for the Black family curse. Plus a letter from Andy telling us what I hope will be what the hell is going on.”Bellatrix shuffled through the papers and pulled out an envelope with her and Narcissa’s name on it.
“I have so many questions about everything you just said.”Narcissa didn’t know where to start with all the questions she had.
“I don’t have any answers to your questions. Hermione only told me what she was giving me not how she got it.”Bellatrix said.
“Read Andy’s letter out loud. Maybe it will shed some light on all this.”Narcissa like Bellatrix hoped Andromeda told them what was going on.
“Alright.”Bellatrix opened the letter and began reading out loud.
My dearest sisters,
You don’t know how happy it makes me to finally be able to reach out to you after all these years. Even when I was under the curse I still missed you both. My love for you was something not even Dumbledore could take from me. Luckily my brave, smart, cunning love Hermione figured out what happened right away and saved me. Now she is giving me a chance to have you in my life again. I hope you weren’t to hard on her Bella. She really is a lovely woman once you get to know her. Enough about Hermione though. I wrote this letter for a purpose.
First off the potions. When I saw your picture in the paper Bella I was appalled by your appearance. How dare the Dark Lord treat the Head of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black like that!! Yes I know you don’t have the title yet but you will and when you step into your role you need to look the part. The potions included are to help you get healthy and one to fix your teeth. Take the blue one before you go to bed each night. The red one take immediately. That’s for your teeth. The green one you take each morning with your breakfast. The tube contains a creme for your hair. It will get rid of the tangles and give it back its shine. Hermione and I created them specifically for you. We are working on a permanent scar removal cream but it isn’t ready yet. It’s close though so we will eventually rid you of all those scars and that nasty tattoo on the back of your neck. Also there is a card for a seamstress in this envelope that I want you to reach out to. Hermione worked out a deal with her so she won’t say anything about meeting with you. Don’t worry about how to pay for it because Hermione is extremely wealthy. She has more wealth in the muggle world than any pureblood family could dream of. Converting it is very easy for her as the goblins love her.
“I guess we confirmed that she is in a relationship with Hermione.”Narcissa said.
“From the short interaction I had with her I thought she was worthy enough to be with my sister.”Bellatrix picked up the bottle of red liquid.”Do you think this will hurt?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never heard of anything like it before.”Narcissa didn’t think anyone put in the effort to fix teeth.
“I guess bottoms up.”Bellatrix took the lid off the bottle and chugged it down. Instantly she felt her gums tingling and her teeth moving. She put her hand up to her mouth and spit out most of her teeth.
“What the hell?”Narcissa grabbed her wand and tried to think of a spell to stop Bellatrix’s teeth from falling out but stopped herself when she noticed in the place of the rotten teeth new teeth were growing.
Bellatrix caught the final tooth in her hand and waved her arm to summon a mirror. Catching it in her hand she smiled and noticed that her teeth were perfect.”These are better than mine were before they rotted out.”
“Those are definitely better.”Narcissa was happy with the improved smile.”You look less like a beggar now.”
“I’m going to wait until I finish my potions before I reach out to the seamstress.”Bellatrix wanted to be looking her best before she got fitted for clothes.
“I’m surprised to hear that Hermione is so wealthy. It’s never been mentioned in front of me. How about you?”Narcissa would have thought if Hermione were as rich as Andromeda said that it would have been well known.
Bellatrix shook her head unable to take her eyes off her teeth.”That is odd. I mean if one of the Order members was so wealthy you would think they would be bank rolling them but in all the reports I’ve seen Hermione doesn’t contribute at all. As matter of fact their lack of funds is something that has been hurting their cause.”
“Did you think she is hiding her wealth?”Narcissa asked.
“I don’t think she has been happy with Dumbledore for a while if she was so quick to team up with Andy and reach out to us. That being the case she probably didn’t want them to know for fear they would try and take it from her.”Bellatrix would have hidden her wealth if she was Hermione.
“Get back to the letter.”Narcissa wanted to know what else Andromeda had to say.
“I”m curious about what else she has to say.”Bellatrix put down the mirror, the teeth then picked up the letter and began reading again.
Next are the three spells I included. Those three spells were obtained by Hermione. After she learned about the curse and the bonds you each have with your husbands she became determined to figure out a way to cure Bella and severe the bonds. Through a lot bribes, breaking and entering and some other means that you are better off not knowing about she succeeded in her quest. The Malfoy bond will require blood from a Malfoy but it doesn’t have to be Lucius. It can be Draco. Him being a weak pansy it may be easier to get blood from him. A side effect that I’m sure you agree with me in saying is more than justified is once the bonds are broken your husbands will become physical ill around the pair of you. We are unsure how long that will last but both of us hope it’s forever or at least until we kill them.
The curse is actually very easy to counter. Something that the Dark Lord found when he started the search. Hermione got her hands on some of his personal notes and research and found that he used the cure as a way to bargain with Cygnus to have the three of us marry men of his choosing. His original plan was for Cissa to marry Nott but father had already promised her to Malfoy. He had many plans for you Bella. One of them being you carrying his child.
“What the fuck!!”Bellatrix screeched.
“He wanted you to have his child?!”Narcissa couldn’t believe that.
“Andy wouldn’t lie to us. That means that yes he was planning on me having his child.”Bellatrix felt ill at the thought of carrying the Dark Lord’s spawn.
“Do you think he still plans that?”Narcissa asked.
“I don’t know. He has been talking about heirs and the next generation. I just thought he was talking about the next group of purebloods that was graduating from Hogwarts.”Bellatrix now wasn’t sure what he meant.
“How do we stop that from happening?”Narcissa would do all she could to prevent her sister from being used that way.
“Maybe Andy has a solution.”Bellatrix went back to the letter and began reading out loud.
I know you are both probably freaking out hearing that but you don’t need to worry. The personal effects and writings my love collected of the Dark Lord’s uncovered something that prevents him from impregnating anyone. You see we have found out that he split his soul amongst a group of horcruxes. In case you don’t know what those are horcruxes are items created in a dark ritual that includes human sacrifice that splits your soul into a group of items and makes you unable to be killed unless those items are destroyed first.
“Merlin.”Narcissa couldn’t begin to fathom the implications of the Dark Lord splitting his soul.
“That’s how he survived the killing curse.”Bellatrix had wondered how he could survive death.
“Does that make him unkillable?”Narcissa asked.
“I don’t know.”Bellatrix went back to reading the letter.
Hermione and I have been doing all we can to find out what these items are so that we can destroy them. We need the pair of you to be extra vigilant when you are around him. Look to see if he is unnaturally attached to anything or that he is keen on hiding something. I’m sure you are wondering what exactly we are planning to do and I will happily tell you. Hermione and I are planning to take out Dumbledore and his Order along with the Dark Lord and his followers.
“What the fuck?!”Bellatrix screeched again.
“What is Andy thinking?”Narcissa had never heard anything so outrageous.
“That’s a suicide mission.”Bellatrix herself wouldn’t do something that crazy.
“What else does she say?”Narcissa asked.
“Hopefully she says that she was just kidding.”Bellatrix said as she went back to the letter.
Before you write me off as insane know that Hermione has been gaining many allies. She has the goblins, Veela, vampires and giants backing her. Plus a lot of notable witches and wizards. She even has contacts with muggle royalty and politicians. Together we have been leading a rebellion right under everyone’s noses.
“So that’s why the vampires, giants and goblins refused to join the Dark Lord.”Bellatrix had thought that they just didn’t want to deal with humans. That being the Dark Lord’s opinion as well.
“I wonder how she got the Veela to side with her.”Narcissa knew that Veela kept to themselves and didn’t get involved in other people’s conflicts.
“I don’t know but with that backing she definitely has the numbers to be an actual threat.”Bellatrix thought with those allies that Andromeda and Hermione actually had a chance of taking out both the light and the dark side.
“I wonder why they are doing this.”Narcissa couldn’t figure that part out.
“Maybe it’s in the letter.”Bellatrix went back to the letter fully expecting to be hit with more shocking information.
I guess you are wondering why we would even bother. I mean we both are in the Order so why don’t we just defeat the Dark Lord and live in a peaceful world. Well the answer is simple. Both Hermione and myself had been wronged by both sides and we want our revenge. If the Dark Lord won I would be spared and Hermione would given to some disgusting man as a reward for his service. If Dumbledore won the world would be run by a man who used mind control on a woman for over two decades. That and he is a chauvinist who doesn’t really care about muggleborns. If he did then there be a lot more of them in prominent roles in our society. As of now Hermione is the only muggleborn who has been a member of the Order and the only reason she was allowed was because of her so called friendship with Harry Potter. After a few conversations Hermione and I decided that we didn’t want to live in either of those worlds. We figure the two of us with both of you could make this country a much better place to live for everyone. With the Black family in charge the future would be a lot brighter.
I know you both were forced into your roles in life by our father and the Dark Lord but I would like to ask you if you would please join our fight. We can do it without you but selfishly I want my sisters by my side when this all goes down. Hermione and I can offer you a lot of resources and help to get away from the Dark Lord right now or if you wanted to stay and spy that would be alright as well. Bella I know you are worried about your Dark Mark but Hermione found a way to undo it.
“Who is this girl?”Narcissa asked.
“She is a bigger threat than even the Dark Lord knows.”Bellatrix didn’t know how Hermione could have fallen under the radar if she accomplished everything Andromeda claimed.
“What do you think about leaving?”Narcissa was interested she just didn’t know if it was the right idea.
“Andy and Hermione need to have someone on the inside. Who better than the pair of us? I would have left in an instant if I was still bound to Rod but knowing the bond can be broken makes it safer for me to stay here.”Bellatrix wanted to help her sister and the best way she could do that was to be a spy.
“Not having to deal with Lucius will make it a lot easier to stay here for me as well. Plus I can collect gossip from the wives.”Narcissa never got to be involved in anything important so she would happily jump at the chance to help her sister.
“Then it’s settled we stay.”Bellatrix said as she went back to the letter.
Regardless of what path you choose know that I will give you my unwavering support. You are my sisters and I love you more than anything in this world except maybe Hermione. Once you get to know her you I’m sure you will understand why. That being said there are instructions on the back this letter on how to get in contact with me. I truly hope that you do because as I have already said I have missed the both of you terribly.
All My Love,
Andy
“I am glad that we have a way to talk to her.”Narcissa would definitely be sending Andromeda a letter soon.
“I want to talk to Hermione. Especially because she is our new Head of Household.”Bellatrix wanted to find out more about the girl who stole Andromeda’s heart and accomplished so much.
“You mentioned that she was our Head of Household before. How could that be?”Narcissa asked.
“At the ministry members of the Order showed up while I had Hermione restrained in my arms. When she noticed Sirius she instructed me to led him to an empty hallway. I did as I was told and when I had him away from the fight she showed up and hit him with the killing curse.”Bellatrix told her.
“I’m happy that bastard is dead.”Narcissa had always hated her cousin. He was a cruel man who used his position as heir to terrorize Narcissa and her sisters growing up.
“I am to.”Bellatrix hated Sirius just as much as Narcissa.
“Him dying doesn’t explain how Hermione became Head of Household. It’s well known that Harry Potter is his heir.”Narcissa said.
“The moron didn’t do the Black family blood bond ritual with him and somehow Hermione knew. So when she killed him the ring went to her and she promised that when it was safe she would transfer the title to me so I could claim my birthright.”Bellatrix wished that she had known the plan so that she could have taunted her cousin with the fact that she would get the title.
“Do you believe she will actually turn it over to you?”Narcissa didn’t know anyone who would give up control of a pureblood estate.
“I do. She seemed really angry when she talked about me not being the Head. I don’t know what’s driving her but she is really dedicated to the you, me and Andy. She made a comment about how Lucius should be kneeling at your feet and treating you like the queen you are and that he wasn’t worthy of being married to a Black.”Not knowing Hermione’s motivation was one of the reasons Bellatrix wanted to write the young witch.
“I have so many questions for Andy.”Narcissa was going to fill two pages of her letter with just questions for her sister.
“I wish we could meet her in person and talk to her.”Bellatrix wanted to give her sister a hug and just be in her presence after being denied the opportunity for so many years.
“Even if we can’t we can still help her and to do that we should use all the tools she has already given us. I think we should start by lifting the curse. Are you feeling good enough to do it?”Narcissa wanted Bellatrix to be free of the curse and its effects as soon as possible.
“Even if I was on my death bed I would feel well enough to break the curse.”Bellatrix told her.
“I wonder what is going to happen to you once it’s gone. It’s been stealing your magic and your mind since you were a child.”Narcissa had seen the difference in Bellatrix’s magic when she got out of Azkaban compared to when she went in.
“If I’m lucky it will revert everything back to what it should be.”Bellatrix said.
“Only one way to find out and that means we need to make a trip to Black Family manor.”Narcissa was somewhat excited to go back to the home she grew up in. It had been the place of her happiest memories with her sisters.
“I would like to see my old room as I doubt Sirius changed anything about the place.”Bellatrix wanted to collect a couple pictures of herself and her sisters that she was forced to leave behind when she got married. She was actually forced to leave all her belongings behind as her father claimed that those were the belongings of a child and she wouldn’t need them anymore. The only reason he hadn’t thrown everything away was because he never got around to before he died. Bellatrix figured he didn’t think to do it.
“With Hermione as the Head of Household we are free to come and go from any of the Black family estates anytime we want.”Narcissa was going to use that privilege often as she loved to visit many of the family homes when she was younger.
“I look forward to the many future visits.”Bellatrix would have to get Andromeda to visit at the same time so they could play quidditch together like they used to before Andromeda left. Hoisting herself out of bed Bellatrix took a couple experimental steps before making her way to the bathroom.”I’m going to take a shower because Hermione and Andy are right. I am the Head of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black. I should look the part.”
Narcissa grabbed the tube of creme and rushed after her.”Don’t forget the creme for your hair.”
“Thanks.”Bellatrix took the tube from Narcissa and made her way into the bathroom reading the instructions on the container. Her teeth were the first step in being the proper Head of Household. Now she was going to work on her hygiene and take the potions to get her body back to full strength. Once that was done she would reach out to the seamstress and get herself a closet full of new outfits. Bellatrix wondered if she should ask Hermione for access to the Black family vault so that she could get some family jewelry to wear. She was sure Hermione would give her access as like the muggleborn said it was her birthright. Thinking about the fact that she was actually going to get her chance to become Head of Household after not only her father but her aunt and uncle and her cousins went out of their way to constantly remind her that she was a huge disappointment because she was a girl made her extremely excited. She hoped that she would get a chance to flaunt her new independence to her husband and make it well known that she didn’t need his money and wouldn’t have to rely on him anymore. Turning on the shower Bellatrix removed her clothes her mind coming up with a list of all the people she was going to visit once she had the ring on her finger.