"come in", snape robotically said, not pleased with the interruption.
peter pettigrew—who lily did not know was previously ron's rat—had slightly creaked open the door, revealing two very different ladies behind him.
lily, who's interest was immediately perked up, since no lady ever visited her father, had hopped down from her stool to go and greet them.
"welcome!! I'm lily phoebe snape, and you two are?", the little girl smiled.
"well are you a pretty little thing", the lady with crazy black curly hair grinned, bending down so that she was eye-level with lily.
the woman had thin lips, dark, heavy-lidded eyes, and a strong jaw. her eyes practically screamed crazy, yet lily chose to believe that the woman wouldn't attempt anything, especially with her papa here.
"bellatrix, bellatrix lestrange", the woman smiled, though it was more of a smirk.
"narcissa malfoy", the other woman answered.
narcissa was pale like draco, though she had clear blue eyes, it held such calmness yet there came a point that it looked like it was brewing up a storm.
"you're draco's mother!!", lily gasped, making the tall woman raise a brow.
"so you're the girl my son speaks so fondly of", narcissa commented.
the woman had originally thought that draco was fancying a girl his age, but now that she knows that's not the case, narcissa felt relieved.
"he speaks of me?? well that's great! because I've been writing to him all summer! though it seems that he's been a bit too busy to reply", lily slightly pouted.
"draco's...been preoccupied", narcissa answered, glancing up at snape.
"phoebe, why don't you take bella to your room and show her your ladybug collection?", snape asked, to which lily nodded and immediately took bellatrix's hand.
bellatrix would be lying if she said she wasn't a bit shocked, as nearly anyone who was brave enough to hold bellatrix's hand was either dead or simply refused to.
"why does he call you phoebe?", bellatrix asked as she warily looked around the girl's small room that had nothing more than a bed, a shelf of books that seemed way too advanced for the little girl, and a closet of clothes.
lily stumbled towards her shelf as she took out her special sketch book that was filled with ladybugs.
when snape had told the little girl to show bellatrix her collection, it wasn't necessarily a collection, as lily wouldn't dare hurt any ladybugs and keep them hostage for her own pleasure.
thus, why she sketched them and gave them names.
"I don't know. papa doesn't really like to explain himself sometimes, so I don't pry", lily answered as she plopped onto the edge of her bed, patting the space beside her.
bellatrix cautiously sat beside the girl, as her brain wasn't exactly wired the proper way.
lily flipped open her sketchbook and pointed to the very first page.
"this is the very first ladybug that I ever caught and drew. I named him after papa, severus", lily smiled, thinking back to when snape had brought her to the park for the very first time ever since her third birthday.
"I see...say, has your father...ever done anything suspicious?", bellatrix asked, trying to sound as normal as possible.
"suspicious?", lily asked, not sure what the woman meant by that.
bellatrix to be honest was quite a bit envious of snape, as he had the dark lord's full trust. not saying that she didn't have the same treatment, but snape was highly regarded and bellatrix wanted to be voldemort's only one.
"like...overly close..with harry potter? or perhaps even helping the boy?", bellatrix asked, carefully wording her questions.
bellatrix had actually heard of lily from the dark lord. how the girl played into his plans were beyond her, and she was his right hand woman.
perhaps snape was aware.
"mm...no, not really. I mean, if you count consistently taking house points and giving harry detention as helping...I don't really see them talk much", lily responded, making bellatrix conflicted.
obviously she had wanted snape to be loyal to the dark lord, but part of her had wished that she had caught something about the man, so that she could report it to the dark lord and have the man gone for good.
"anyways, here's stephanie and her sister courtney", lily showcased, pointing at the two ladybug pairs.
bellatrix quietly listened as she wasn't exactly sure how to interact with a child. though part of her was bored out of her mind, another part of her felt some familiarity with the child.
lily's doe brown eyes glistened with such brilliance and excitement as she told bellatrix about how she had met each ladybug and decided upon their names.
if bellatrix took a moment to actually observe, lily's brown eyes seemed very familiar, yet the woman just could not pinpoint it.
"what do you think?", lily asked, making the woman snap out of her trance.
"h-huh? what?"
"I asked if it was okay for me to name the next ladybug after you. like bella? or trixie?"
"sure", bellatrix breathlessly replied, as she felt the pit of her stomach rumble with excitement.
she had figured out who the little girl had reminded her of.
it was him.
╔═══════════════╗
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
╚═══════════════╝
•
•
•
a/n: hello my darlings! things are about to get spicyyy!! remember to comment, vote, and share of you like the story. it would mean SO much.
