Chapter -9.
"What are you doing? Are you trying to ruin my dress?" Bellatrix exclaimed. Seeing Kreacher in tears, desperately trying to wipe his snot on her dress while clinging to her legs, she felt a wave of disgust and took a step back, muttering under her breath, 'Aunt Walburga really gave this ridiculous fool too much freedom.'
Noticing the look of revulsion on Bellatrix's face, Theodore interjected, "Aren't you being a bit harsh on the poor thing? He's just excited to see you."
"Excited to see me? Don't make jokes if you don't know the history of this little creature," Bellatrix replied, her expression softening slightly as she glanced at him.
Theodore saw an opening to tease her but chose to hold back, recalling a previous promise. Instead, he simply nodded in understanding and stayed quiet.
Relieved that Theodore remained silent, Bellatrix was still anxious that he might revert to teasing her. Redirecting her focus to the house-elf, she asked Kreacher, "You saw me earlier, right? Did you tell anyone about my arrival?"
The way she split her question into parts revealed her anxiety about confronting her eccentric family, especially in a younger form.
Kreacher, having stopped sulking and wiped his nose with his tattered clothing, looked up at Bellatrix with his bulbous eyes and said, "I told Big Mistress about Mistress Bellatrix's return." He paused, gauging her reaction before continuing, "Big Mistress was very happy to hear the news and is still shouting down the small corridor."
Bellatrix was taken aback that her return had been revealed to her family by this stupid house-elf, unsure of how to react.
However, since Kreacher had already informed Aunt Walburga, she wondered if dealing with her family might be easier than she had anticipated.
With this thought in mind, she stormed out of the room; leaving Kreacher and Theodore in the room.
"Welcome, young sir, to the esteemed house of the Black family; are you an acquaintance of Mistress Bellatrix?" Kreacher, seeing Bellatrix storming out of the room, turned his attention to Theodore. After scrutinizing him and nodding his large head in approval of something, the house elf inquired.
"You could say that," Theodore replied. but next moment feeling the elf's intense gaze was too much, he quickly left the room, as he had no desire to discuss anything with a house elf bound by a secrecy oath.
The house, as he had seen in the movie, appeared somewhat dusty. However, before he could further assess his surroundings, a loud cry echoed through the corridor.
Rushing toward the sound, Theodore recalled that most of the Black family's member had passed away before Sirius was released from Azkaban. Assuming it might be related, he hurried to where the portrait of the irate Miss Walburga should be.
As expected, Bellatrix, whom he had always perceived as cruel, was in tears while the portrait of an elderly woman attempted to console her.
"Is that the same woman I saw in the movies?" Theodore wondered about the portrait's behavior, feeling it akin to a lion suddenly choosing to become a vegetarian—a notion that seemed quite unnatural.
Disregarding that thought, he approached the sobbing Bellatrix, who looked inconsolable, and gently asked, "Are you okay? What happened?" while patting her back in a comforting manner.
Before he could see Bellatrix lift her head, the furious Aunt Walburga in the portrait turned to him and asked, "Young man, who are you?" Her voice suddenly escalating in pitch.
Taken aback by the unexpected question, Theodore scrambled for an answer, wanting to protect his ears. But just then, Bellatrix raised her head, revealing her tear-streaked face, and replied softly, "Aunt Walburga, he's a friend who helped me escape from Azkaban. If it weren't for him, I might still be suffering in that dreadful prison."
"I see, then he must be one of those who support our cause? It's wonderful to have trustworthy friends. Thanks to you, my dear Bella, our esteemed family still stands proudly, unlike some who have been swayed by the corrupt bunch and ended up in Azkaban to rot his whole life, which he truly deserve for someone who betrayed his family."
Hearing her aunt speak in that way, Bellatrix didn't have to think too hard about who she was referring to; she knew it had to be her cousin Sirius, whom she had come to despise even more after he chose his friends at Hogwarts.
Recalling only the younger version of Sirius, she felt unexpectedly pained by her aunt's words. She wanted to say something but, remembering her aunt's temperament, refrained from mentioning Sirius. Instead, she asked, "What about Regulus, Aunt Walburga? Where is that clever cousin?"
Trying to shift the subject, she inquired about her aunt's younger son, knowing that her aunt and everyone in the family including her maintained a good relationship with him.
Given that her aunt had become a portrait and the painful realization that other family members, including her parents, were dead, Bellatrix's heart felt fragile and overwhelmed.
'Have I always been this weak?' she thought to herself, feeling an urge to lean on Theodore's comforting shoulders.
"My dear son Regulus? I don't know, dear. I've longed to see him for so many years, but he hasn't come back. One thing I'm sure of is that he must be serving the Dark Lord loyally. Yes, my son must be doing that, which is why he hasn't returned to his mother," Walburga said, her furious tone about Sirius softening as she spoke of Regulus, her voice imbued with affection. This shift made tears well up in Bellatrix's eyes once more.
"So it's the Dark Lord again," she murmured, her thoughts unknown to anyone else.
Seeing Bellatrix in this state, Theodore, who previously viewed her as somewhat cruel, began to feel pity. This time, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder to offer comfort, saying, "It's alright, everything will be fine. If you want to cry, I'm here for you."
Feeling the warmth surrounding her, Bellatrix, struggling with countless emotions and unanswered questions, cried once again, only difference being this time, she had Theodore's shoulder to lean on.
Meanwhile, noticing the questioning gaze of Miss Walburga upon him, Theodore waved his wand, murmuring an incantation to place a cloth over the portrait. He then turned to the house elf Kreacher who also had arrived in the small corridor and quietly asked, "Can you prepare a bed for her? She looks very tired."
Note : Hi everyone; I've given a lot of time on bellatrix in this story so far; so please let me know what you think of her character, whether it sounds too far-fetched or something like that.
As always, please give me some power stones, it will motivate me to write more.