Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
$Parseltongue$
Chapter 62: Bellatrix Lestrange
It was time for the second Hogsmeade weekend of the year. Susan and Hannah made plans to visit the hairdressing salon across the street from Honeydukes.
Luna was going to be spending some time in the Room of Requirements practicing a new spell Harry taught her.
And finally, Harry was going to once again sneak out of Hogwarts.
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After breakfast was over, Harry made his way out of the castle in the same way that before.
He went directly to the Shrieking Shack.
When He approached the door Harry felt that there was someone already inside the shack.
He smiled and opened the door without a care in the world.
As soon as He entered, there was a wand pointed at Him. And a very angry Bellatrix Lestrange holding it.
"Are you the one that sent that message?" She asked, but it sounded more like a demand.
Harry nodded.
"Then you have a lot of explaining to do. How do you know th-"
"Sit down Bella, and then we can talk," Harry said calmly.
His attitude seems to anger her even more.
"Y-you!. Who do you think you are to order me around? You fucking brat!. I'm the one holding the wan-" Bellas wand went flying to the other side of the room.
Bellatrix was enraged, but the moment She looked at Harry, her body stopped moving and her blood ran cold.
Harry's eyes shone like lighthouses in the middle of the night, She could feel the magic surrounding him, it was getting harder to breathe and She felt a heavy weight on her shoulders pushing her down.
"Now Bella, I may have extra patience when it comes to You. But even that has a limit. SIT DOWN."
Bella could not remember the last time she has been that terrified of someone. It could be the first time her father has given her a beating when she was maybe five or six, or maybe the first time she met the Dark Lord when she was still a Hogwarts student.
Those moments made her feel tiny and defenseless, but they paled in comparison with what she felt just now.
Harry took a seat on a nearby couch and waited for Bella to react.
It took her a few seconds but eventually, Bellatrix came back to her senses. For a fraction of a second, she thought about making a run to grab her wand, but the idea was dismissed instantly.
She knew that the boy in the room with her is a lot more powerful that She is.
'Is He stronger than my Lord?, no, no that's impossible, what am I thinking? I'll do what He says for now.' Bella thought.
She finally sat down in front of Harry and looked at him.
Harry didn't say anything for a while and Bella was getting impatient.
"The message that you sent...who told you those words?" Bella was a bit more polite than before.
During the last war, there was a keyword that He used to write at the end of his messages. This was done as an extra security measure, to prove that it was actuatlly Him. Harry knew that using that code would get Bellas's attention.
There was a small risk of Bella not coming to the meeting alone, as requested, but in that case, He just had to deal with the extras.
"Well get to that in a moment. " Harry answered dismissively.
"You are Harry Potter, right? I have seen some pictures of you."
Harry looked Bellas directly into her eyes. which made her uncomfortable, but she did not avert her eyes away. This is something her Lord would always do in order to peer into the minds of others and make sure they are not lying to Him.
"Yes, I am called that now. Before that, I was called Lord Voldemort."
Bellas's eyes opened wide in surprise, but that was quickly replaced by pure rage.
"How dare You pretend to be the Dark Lord!. I should k-"
Bella and the couch she was sitting on were pushed backward with so much force that the couch broke into dozen of pieces when it hit the wall, while Bella was laying on the ground, bleeding and barely moving.
"Look what you made me do Bella. You know I'm not good with healing charms…" Harry stood up and approached Bella who was grunting in pain.
"Episkey" Harry muttered while pointing his wand at the broken woman.
The bleeding stopped and some of her wounds were healed, but she was still injured and in a lot of pain.
"Ugg." Bella turned on her back and looked at Harry.
"I had to crucio Wormtail once or twice before He believed me. Do I have to do the same to you?."
Bella shook her head, then said with difficulty. "P-proof."
Without casting a spell, Harry made the couch where He was sitting before moving forward until it was right behind him, then he took a seat once more. Bella was surprised but didn't say anything.
"Prof…of course." Harry crossed his legs and started thinking.
"What about this? The first time we meet was at the Black manor. Your grandfather didn't like me much, but your aunt Walburga did. You joined the ranks of my followers after your seventh year at Hogwarts. mmmm what else."
Bella was a bit surprised but not much. Those events weren't exactly a secret after all. Many people knew about that meeting.
"One year after You married Rodolphus, you came to me one night. You were trying to tell something that happened between you and your husband."
Bellas's eyes opened wide at this.
"You could not get the words out, but I knew it was important so I took a peak inside your mind. Rodolphus was angry with you because after a year of being married you still did not give him an heir. So He wanted to force you to sleep with his brother Rabastan with the hopes that would work. But you fought hard and Rabastan never managed to lay a finger on you. They were both enraged and you came to me, to ask for help."
Bella looked down.
"There was nothing Cissy could have done and I didn't have anyone else to ask. But I could not bring myself to ask my Lord for help."
"I'm sorry. I should have done something." Harry said softly.
Bella was shocked, but then seem to realize something.
"Only my Lord would know about that, but…the Dark Lord I know would NEVER apologize to one of his followers. So, who are you?." Bella narrowed her eyes.
"I said I used to be called Voldemort, but that's not who I am anymore. I am something new, something better. You may call me Harry Potter."
"Harry Potter…" Bella muttered. Then she looked at Harry inquisitively "What happened that night? The night when we all thought you died."
"I am not sure myself how it happened. But I somehow ended up having my soul mixed with the baby I went to kill."
Bella seemed to be in deep thought for a minute.
"A soul fusion…I read about something like that in the Black Library. I suppose, that would explain how a third-year Hogwarts student is so powerful if my Lord is in there…"
"So, you believe me now?." Harry asked.
Bella moved with difficulty and placed herself in a kneeling position.
"My Lord, I am sorry for doubting You. But then who..." Bella was hesitant to ask.
"Who is the other one using my old name?" Bella nodded.
"A fragment of my old self," Harry stated.
"A fragment?...but that means…" Bella gasped. "You made one of those things? a soul container? Like Herpo the Foul."
"I made several, but that's not important. He is the last one, or He will be soon enough. The important part is that the one who calls himself Lord Voldemort right now is just a piece of myself who took over the body of Lucius."
"That would explain why no one has seen Lucius…and why Cissy seems always depressed and rarely leaves her room. She should have told me."
Bella turned to look at Harry.
"My Lord, are you planning on killing the impostor and taking over? If that is the case, please let me help."
Harry chuckled. "No Bella. I have no intention of going back to my old life... As for the one calling himself Voldemort…I'm afraid He will have to die, but I don't need your help with that. What I need from you is to stay close to Him and keep me informed. Do that for me and I will give you anything You want as a reward."
Bella thought about it for a while before speaking again.
"I want Rodolphus and Rabastan dead. And a safe place to live for me and Cissy, away from Britain, my Lord."
Harry smiled. "That's easy. Do your part and You shall have it."
He helped Bella up, who was still kneeling. She grunted in pain as she was standing but did not complain.
Bellas's wand flew in the air and landed on Harry's hands.
"Now, before you leave. I am going to need some guarantee about your silence. I'm sure You understand."
"An unbreakable vow?." Bella asked, not showing any worry.
"Is the most efficient way to secure our conversations. Let me write the vow down. "
Harry conjured some paper and wrote down a vow that would prevent Bellatrix from revealing any of his secrets to anyone. It will also protect that information from a legilimency attack.
After she performed the unbreakable vow, Harry also took the opportunity to place a loyalty compulsion deep inside her mind.
Maybe He was being overly cautious, but that has never hurt anyone.