Grey Eyes (A Harry Potter Fanfiction)

40. According to Plan

Cecilia

I look between Lucius and Bellatrix, my face deadpan but my mind completely bewildered.

Bellatrix… Bellatrix Lestrange?

I remember reading about her in the Daily Prophet every so often over the course of the past few years. Unlike the other revolutionaries, she’s one of the few Dark wizards that blatantly sought for notoriety for her crimes against Muggles and the Ministry. This Dark Lord, whoever he proves to be… I wouldn’t be surprised if Bellatrix is his right-hand witch.

I feel a shudder of fear run up my spine and fight to keep still.

If even Bellatrix Lestrange is here, then, bloody hell, I could be in the middle of Death Eater headquarters for all I know! I need to get out of here. Fast. Forget waiting for help, I don’t know if Sirius even knows where I am.

My eyes dart around the room, scanning the walls.

Come to think of it… I don’t even know where I am!

“Bellatrix,” Lucius continues, frowning. “What are you doing here? You know the Dark Lord entrusted me with recruiting Sirius Black.”

Bellatrix lets out a cackle of laughter before pushing herself off the doorframe and sauntering towards him. “Trust?” she repeats, derisively. “Oh, I don’t know about that. And as for that accusatory tone of yours, I can come and go through your house as I please, dearest brother-in-law.”

My ears perk up.

The Malfoy Manor? So that’s where I am! I scan the room again, now taking note of the cold, stone walls, the hard dirt floor, the vastness of the room, and the bottles of wine lining one wall. I must be in the basement… or wine cellar? Or even just the cellar. At any rate, I’m at the absolute ground floor and, from the size of this room, this must span at least most of the manor.

Still though… my shoulders slump at the thought.

What good does this information do me? If I’m in the Malfoy Manor, then that means I’m well away from the Scottish Highlands. And seeing as I’m tied up and wandless, I might as well be on the other side of the world!

“It’s been too long, cousin dear…”

The sound of Bellatrix’s voice by my ear jolts me out of my thoughts. I flinch and turn my head to see her sneer and pull out her wand.

She touches the tip of the wand to her lip before dragging it along my arm.

“Don’t look so happy to see me, Sirius,” she hisses, visibly pleased at the reaction she got out of me. “Last I heard, you were still a disgrace to your family name and a blood traitor as ever before.”

The wand tip trails up to the side of my cheek as Bellatrix leans in close once again.

“Not much has changed has it?” she whispers. “So why… would the Dark Lord possibly be interested in you?”

I jerk away from her as red sparks shoot of her wand, clenching my jaw to keep the nerves from showing on my face. But in all my fidgeting, my hands connect with the knot of the black rope that Lucius had bound me with. It’s higher up on my back than is honestly comfortable to reach, but… I can—I can actually loosen this!

“I would’ve asked the same thing,” Lucius thankfully answers for me in my silence, “if Regulus hadn’t insisted such earlier this year.”

“He loves his brother after all.” Bellatrix flicks me in the face before stepping away from behind me.

“You have to admit that Regulus has a point, Bella.”