Learning to live
6 month span of time
Bellatrix found routine in her life with her baby. It was quite easy to be a mother! She didn’t know why other mothers fussed about how difficult it was to be one. All you had to do was make the house pets take care of it! Of course, she didn’t trust them to teach the boy anything so she did that herself. Once he got older she’d hire him tutors or something, like her mother did for her.
She eventually visited her ONLY sister, to show her the baby. Narcissa, her beautiful little sister, had a baby a little younger than her own. Bellatrix wasn’t going to tell her anything about the real identity of it either. While Narcissa was her sister, she wouldn’t trust her with something like this.
“ ‘Cissa! It’s so nice to see you, my lovely sister!” Bellatrix grinned widely while holding her baby in her arms, rocking him slightly.
“Bella” Narcissa hugs her sister with little Draco in her arms, who’s looking suspicious at Bellatrix's baby. Now don’t get Bellatrix wrong, baby Draco was a beautiful baby but he was a spawn of a Malfoy. She could never look at him without anger for being that. “Who’s baby is that Bella?”
“Mine of course!”
“Bellatrix. Who are his parents?” Her sister asked warily, staring at Cepheus,
“Me and Rodolphus!” Bellatrix dances around her sister in joy for causing chaos. Her sister's jaw drops.
“What do you mean Bella? You hid your pregnancy!?”
“Yes! It would have been bad for people to know I was pregnant, Our lord would’ve made me stay home like some housewife! No way! I hid my pregnancy and his birth until now! I feel terrible knowing Rudolphus won’t see his son grow up!” She giggles at her little inside joke.
Narcissa gaps for a second, very un lady-like for someone of her station, before fixing herself. “Well, I guess Draco and?”
“Cepheus” Bella says with a cruel smile.
Her sister's eyes gleamed in sadness at the name's meaning. “Yes, Cepheus and Draco can go play together.” The two sit the boys down in Draco’s playroom and watch them play while drinking tea. Bella spiked hers with fire whiskey.
The boys got on pretty well, of course, Draco wasn’t fond of sharing, and Cepheus being raised by the Potters, He got picked on a little. Eventually, Draco picked up a wooden toy dragon and brought it down upon Cepheus’s head.
Narcissa gasped out and shot up towards the boys once she realized what had happened. Cepheus started wailing. Narcissa picked Draco up and started reprimanding the boy. When Bellatrix didn't move, Narcissa looked questionably at her and then at the crying baby. Bellatrix sighed, rolled her eyes, and shot a silencio at him. Bella got up, grabbed the boy from the ground, and wiped his tears.
“Tsk, Tsk, Cepheus! We don’t cry! We hit back, love!” Narcissa turns and glares at her sister.
“Draco…apologies to your cousin.” She looks at the boy in her arms and gestures towards Cepheus. Draco just puffs up his cheeks until they're red. Bella just huffs. She removes the silencing spell on her baby boy.
“It’s fine ‘Cissa! He’s a Malfoy and Black. Apologies aren’t in his vocabulary.” She giggles and her sister just sighs. Bella feels like holding Cepheus, so instead of letting him down to play as her sister does with Draco, she sits back down with him on her lap. Her sister sits back down and gives a look at Bella, unnoticed by her because she’s too busy playing with Cepheus’s long black locks.
“Why are his eyes green?” Her sister asks after a moment.
“How am I supposed to know? I believe it runs in Rudolphus’s family but I’m not sure. They are just lovely though…my favorite shade of green” she says memorized, staring into his eyes.
Narcissa nods in agreement before asking “When’s his birthday?”
“May 1st” she smiles, looking down at him, remembering his first birthday with her.
Her eyes widened. “On Beltane?”
Bellatrix smiled “Yes!”
“Hmm. How lucky to be born on such an important day. There isn’t a holiday at all in the month Draco was born in…”. Bellatrix’s smile sharpens, happy to cause jealousy.
“Yes well, maybe it just means Cepheus will have more power magically.” Her sister, who looks like she swallowed a lemon, just nods.
“Well, I would love to have you stay longer but I do have prior arrangements that I need to be getting to”.
Bellatrix cackles at the dismissal. Her sister was obviously over her company and Bellatrix can’t say she cares. She finished what she came here to do, causing chaos and jealousy! Bellatrix continues cackling out of the house until she’s home.
The rest of the time, Bellatrix is spreading the word about her child. She even attends balls, galas, tea parties, and debuts. She has such fun showing off her baby boy's beauty and power. She even lets Cepheus go on a few play dates.
4 years later
Cepheus is now 7. In Bellatrix's opinion, he’s amazing. He’s performed accidental magic already, very strong accidental magic. He’s beautiful with long raven locks, bright green eyes, and alabaster skin. He looks like a watercolor painting. He can also play the violin and piano, which he loves to do to impress her!
“Mère,” little Cepheus says, looking up at her from his seat on the piano.
“Yes, beau?” She smooths his hair down.
“Do we have to go to Auntie Narcissa’s?” He asks frowning.
“Don’t frown like that!” She screams suddenly. He freezes and fixes his face. “It will give you wrinkles, beau.” He nods timidly. “Also, yes we have to. You know I need to show you off”.
“Yes, but Draco is the worst.”
“Now shush Beau!” She slaps his arm. “I agree Draco is the worst but you need to learn to get over it. Punish him if you must! I’ll deal with Cissy and Malfoy if you do. Now finish learning Rêverie on the piano.” She kisses his temple.
“Yes, mère.” Bellatrix walks away. Now alone Cepheus stops playing. He hates playing the piano and the violin. He only plays because his mother makes him. He would argue with her over it but knows that isn’t the best idea. The last time he argued with her, he had been four. It was when the lessons first began for piano. He screamed that he hated her, and she threw a curse at him immediately. He had blisters all over for a long while. Every time he protested she would make all the blisters pop painfully, prolonging their existence. So he was a good boy for his mother.
Later in the evening, he had finally finished practicing Rêverie and was now getting ready for the Yule ball at his cousin's home. To say the least, Cepheus was not happy. Draco and him did not get along. Draco was spoiled and never got in trouble. He also is a know-it-all and thinks he’s better than everybody else. He has a gang that follows him around Pansy, Daphne, Greg, Vincent, Theodore, and Blaise. Who were all also connards.
His mother walked into his room, which he would lock but wasn’t allowed to. “Come Beau. We are leaving now.”.
“Yes, mère.”
“Let me see you, Beau!” He stands and twirls for his mother. His robes are a dark emerald green that brings out his eyes and accents his hair wonderfully. He picked them out himself at Twitlets and Tattings.
“Oh, mon dieu tu as l'air fringant!” His mother exclaims.
“Merci Mère.” He smiles softly.
“You are such a beauté! Si parfait! Now come along! We must be going!” Cepheus follows his mother to the floo a leaves for Malfoy Manor. Bellatrix turns around and wipes some ash off of him. “Now! You know what to do! Run along and show those brats who you are!” She smirks happily and pushes him off.
Cepheus walks to the kids' part of the ball and starts speaking to random people. He’s having a relatively good time until his cousin spots him and starts making his way over.
“Cepheus.”
“Draco.”
“I see you bothered to show your face.”
“I see you're still too scared to talk to me alone.” He says pointedly, looking at the group behind him.
“Of course not! Your mothers crazy and so are you!”
“Fais attention Drago, tu ne veux pas contrarier ce fou” Cepheus smirks at his cousin.
“Est-ce que tu me menaces, cousin?” Draco laughs out.
“Souviens-toi de ce qui s’est passé la dernière fois?” Draco pales a little and nods. “La prochaine fois, je dirai à ma mère ce que tu as dit.” Draco rolls his eyes.
“Comme si! Nous savons tous que tu as aussi peur d’elle!” He laughs.
“Yes, but she’s still my mother Draco.” He pales again.
“Of course. Well! I have better things to do anyway!” He turns around, taking his posse with him. Cepheus can hear them asking for what they said to be translated.
“I only recognized ‘cousin’ and ‘mother’” he hears Theodore telling Draco. Cepheus decides he’s going to spike Draco’s food.
Cepheus finds and walks up to his mother. “Mater, venenum habes?”
“Who for?”
“Draco.”
“Quid nunc fecit?”
“Minati sunt nos et vociferant nos rabidos”
His mother tsked and grabbed something from her purse. “Hic’” she hands him a vial. “Also refrain from speaking Latin to me, Cepheus. You know I hate that stupid language.”
“Yes, mère.” He makes his way over to where Draco will be sitting for dinner and spikes his drink. It’s very easy and simple to do. The elves don’t replace the liquids, just refill them. He waits.
The rest of the night is chaos and he and his mother aren’t going to be invited back for a while. Especially judging from the purple color Lucius and Narcissa got. His mother had just laughed and cooed at him.
3 years later
Cepheus is ten now. He and his mother are as close as ever. Bellatrix doesn’t like being alone. It makes her crazier. So in result, Cepheus is always around. He’s a perfectly well-behaved child of course. Bella wouldn’t have it any other way.
Bella lets Grandfather take him to see his father now that he’s ten. The trip to Azkaban was shorter than the process to get it. His grandfather's wand is taken. Then they are searched, if anything suspicious is found you are stripped searched. They have you take a shower to get rid of any magical potions or ointments you have on. Then you make you drink a potion to cancel anything you drank. Then you wait an hour, still without your wand. Not to mention before you even come you have to have papers and an appointment scheduled. Which takes forever to get a hold of.
The trip is a birthday gift. He had never met his father so he was very interested. His grandfather went every time he had the opportunity and never had taken him before. Plus, his grandfather didn’t particularly like him.
Cepheus was warned that his father might be rough and not all there. It’s been almost 9 years with the dementors after all. He didn’t care, it was his father after all. Cepheus had seen pictures of his father when he was younger and he didn’t look a lot like him. He had more of the black family features than the Lestrange family. He had always found it a bit weird.
“Boy!”
Cepheus looks at his grandfather. “Yes, grandfather?”
“You will do your best to behave. Won’t you?” Corvus glares hard at Cepheus. It’s meant to be threatening.
Cepheus’s tenses before nodding his head slowly.
“Words.” Corvus sends a wandless stinging hex at him. It hurts.
“Yes, grandfather. I’ll be behaved.”
“Good. Now, let’s go.” Corvus grabs Cepheus’s arm and drags him to the hall. “Now when we get in here you are not going to say anything unless spoken to. Do not interact with the other prisoners. Do not even look at them.”
“Yes grandfather” Corvus nods before dragging in in. It’s quiet at first, until the prisoner process that the door has been opened. Then it’s chaos. Cepheus hears screaming to be saved, to be freed, maniac laughing, and crying. He squeezes his eyes shut so he won’t look and lets himself be dragged down the hall of cells.
When they come to a stop, his grandfather clears his throat quietly. “Here.” He whispers. “Open your eyes.” So he does.
There, in the cell, their in front of is a thin fragile looking man. He looks as if he’s in privation. Which, he probably is. Cepheus notices the smell. It’s terrible. The man’s skin looks infected and black. His hair is greasy and limp. Even through the thin and worn clothes the man wears you can see his bones. Cepheus is glad he’s sleeping because he quickly scrunches his face up in disgust. Mère had once killed a homeless man who looked a lot like this man did while they were visiting Knockturn Alley. He remembers it well. He was begging on the street for money. Mère said it was disgusting and that begging was below their station as wizards. Cepheus agreed. Mère also said that people like this were disgusting and should be eradicated. Cepheus agrees. So he watched silently, almost captivated, as his mother murdered the man.
“This is your father. You will stop with that face immediately. It is not befitting for someone of your station.
“Neither is he,” Cepheus said in a moment of courage. His grandfather was about to say something back, probably punish him actually, when the man dryly started to chuckle. Which turned into a hoarse cough.
“I know. Think I want to be here huh?” The man questioned from his place on the cot.
“No…”
“Cepheus. Meet your father.” Corvus says quietly.
“Father.”
“Rudolphus, how have you been.?” Cepheus looks up at his grandfather like he is stupid.
“How’d you expect? I’m fucking trapped here still ain’t I?”
“Do not speak to me like that!”
“I’m in fucking prison I’ll speak to you however I want.” He looks at Cepheus for a moment. “The Potter whelp is here huh?”
“Rudolphus. You’ll shut your fucking mouth now. You may be in prison but you are still my son. I would like to remind you of that before you start divulging information that is not meant to be shared.” Cepheus gasps in surprise. Grandfather never reduces himself to foul language. Especially not in front of him.
“Right. Sure. What’s its name?”
“Cepheus. He’s ten now.”
“Did you not know of my name before?” Cepheus asked faintly.
“What did I tell you about speaking when spoken to?!” Grandfather sneers out at the same time as Rudolphus shakes his head.
“Oh.”
“I didn’t even know that bitch was pregnant. Father came and told me after I had been arrested, didn't he? Never bothered to ask your name.” Cepheus nods mutely.
Cepheus listens in silence while his grandfather and father speak in hushed tones but he doesn’t process any of it. His brain goes on autopilot as his father asks him questions about himself. It was probably the worst gift he had gotten; knowing his father didn’t care about him.