Unplanned Liars • Draco Malfoy

8. Bellatrix Lestrange

I haven't seen Bellatrix since her escape from Azkaban, and I've seen her before that, but we were just kids then. Despite that, I will recognise her voice everywhere. Draco looked dumbstruck.

"She'll go away in seconds," he muttered to me, but this was when we heard his mother.

"Draco! Come here with Aurora!"

I looked at the door, scared. But then hey - she wouldn't do anything to me if I'm with Draco and Narcissa, right?

"This will be quick, really," he said and we went downstairs to the living room, if this is how you can call it. I greeted Bellatrix quietly.

"No way!" she shouted. "Cissy, you aren't saying this is..."

"This is Aurora Mullen, yes, don't you recognise her?"

"How am I supposed to recognise her?" Bellatrix fumed. "Last time I saw her she was a little child, but now..." she considered me for a while, then she approached Draco and patted him on the back.

"You've got good taste, Draco," she whispered to him, "just like your father."

"Uh, um, we're not together," he mumbled and I looked down to cover my flushing cheeks.

"We're not together, mhm," Bellatrix shook her head, mocking Draco. "You should give them some privacy, Cissy."

The embarrassment was real. I didn't dare look at Draco, I knew he felt the same. Suddenly, I felt Bellatrix's wand under my chin. She forced me to look up at her.

"Now, Aurora, I want a word with you," she hissed.

Draco looked alarmed and Narcissa opened her mouth to protest, but Bellatrix flung her arm around my shoulders and rolled her eyes at them.

"You'll have your girl back safe and sound, Draco," she said, but it didn't sound like comforting at all. "It's a girls' talk," she added in a whisper, turning to Narcissa.

Without any more words, Bellatrix led me through the hall to another room, which was, you can say, a dining room. It has changed the least compared to the other parts of the house, because the unusually long table with multiple chairs was still there. Bellatrix made me take a seat and she started to walk around the table.

"I will ask you a few questions," she hissed, "and I advise you to answer truthfully."

"Yes," I panted. Bellatrix was intimidating and I envied her. Just her aura was frightening, making you know she was the one in power - something every Slytherin wants to achieve. I decided to show confidence instead of fear, because I knew Bellatrix would like it.

"You're a pure-blood, as far as I'm concerned."

"Yes."

"And a Slytherin, I suppose?"

"Of course."

Bellatrix was still walking around the room, circling me like a wolf.

"You are aware of Draco's task, then?"

"Yes, I am aware of the task the Dark Lord has given him," I replied and I knew I played a good card.

"The Dark Lord?" Bellatrix whispered and stopped walking. She looked intrigued. "You give the Dark Lord full respect he deserves by using this name," she said, more to herself than to me, then sat opposite me, looking straight into my eyes, suspicious.

"And what do you do with his task? she raised her eyebrows and watched me carefully. I knew what she was doing at once and this was the moment to gain her trust. I didn't dare blink so she would have free access to my mind, and replied, "I help him. I help him as a back-up and in repairing the Vanishing Cabinet."