A/N: I really want this story to be for anyone to imagine what they want for the characters (my own version of characters are pretty fluid and the only real specifications for Lena are green eyes and black hair)But.I also spent a ridiculous amount of time going through the internet to find some type of image that sort of fits the developed character of Lena I have in my mind so I decided to share- though if you want to keep your own mental image that's 100% okay.(The attached picture is my mental image of ✨Lena✨)
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Gellert- as he'd insisted she call him- had neat white hair and a short beard that he must have trimmed himself as he never looked out of place and she was starting to come to have a fond appreciation for the simple but elegant suits he wore. (They'd already had a long conversation about the way that Dumbledore's fashion sense drove them both insane sometimes, leaving their sides hurting for a while even after they'd stopped laughing.)
It was easy to forget who the man was, as it got easier to be around him, finding out that he liked to get up early so he could do yoga (which amused Riddle to no small extent), he loved word puzzles, and that he had the biggest sweet tooth a person could have.
When she couldn't sleep they'd sit in the main room and look out the large windows with the doors letting the cool breeze in even if they both were bundled in blankets with hot chocolate.
He was easy to be around- she'd even caved the other day and asked for him to cut her hair to a fair length so it was easier to manage.
The night before Gellert had wanted some specific sweets from the nearby town and had given her some money to go get them in that town today.
Not sure what was with him trying to get her out of the castle (as that was obviously what it was, what with Mossy able to go get whatever he wanted normally), she just went along with it for the sake of seeing the nearby town.
It was a long walk, but she distracted herself by humming and talking out theories of the book she'd been reading about advanced elemental magic with Riddle.
Fumbling a few times to get the translation spell she'd made Gellert teach her working, she followed the directions he'd told her and found herself in front of a nice little bakery. Speaking in English and hoping it translated, she pointed at a few different sweet pastries that the man had wanted and then smiled sort of awkwardly. "How much?"
Luckily, what she said and what came out of her mouth seemed different- like the German language was different- and the man started to put the pastries in a box. He said something and she sort of heard it twice as if from a translator in her brain. "Thirty-five shillings."
"Alright. One second." Digging out the coins Gellert had given her, she parsed through them and found the right ones, setting them on the counter and giving the man a thin smile when he held out the box. "Thanks."
When the man grunted slightly and then moved back into the store, she shook her head slightly, walking back to the main path so she could stare at the long walk ahead of her.
"I hate him. It's official."
"Why not apparate?"
Lena gave a small smile at that, her voice a murmur. "I would say you're a genius, but we both know that beginners shouldn't try to go long distances like that without practice, even if I know all the theory."
"So then practice. Think of a point just a bit down the path, then slightly further until you feel confident enough to apparate to the bridge."
Mulling this over, she sighed slightly and nodded. "If I ruin his pastries then I'll have Mossy get new ones later." Waiting until she was far enough from the town to be out of sight, she stopped and imagined one of the twists down the road not too far.
And how much she just really wanted to be there.
With a twist like she was being shoved to a new place, she looked around herself, checking she'd been able to keep all her fingers and limbs before grinning.
Then she appeared to the big twisted tree she knew was a bit further.
After that was the stream that had a bridge over it.
Then finally she was landing with only a bit of a stumble and a laugh at the stone bridge. With a glance at the pastries, snickering when she saw one of the cherry tarts had gotten twisted into a knot, she started up the path.
"You're having too much fun with that- I'm not sure if I should be concerned or not."
Lena waved her hand. "Blaise, Theo, and Draco are probably begging Severus to teach them as we speak. Let me have my fun." She went to push open the large wooden outer doors and then stilled, seeing it was already slightly open.
The same door she'd shut tight on her way out.
And as the wards were at the bridge, that meant that someone else was here.
"Mossy, can you be quiet?" Her voice was a whisper.
With a soft pop, the House Elf appeared, eyes wide even if she kept her voice soft. "Miss Farlands. Yous not supposed to be here."
Nodding and shoving that aside for later when she'd lecture Grindelwald on how not to treat his guests, she pointed at the door. "Who's here? Are they dangerous? How many of them are there?"
"Aurors. They're probably not being dangerous to yous, but there're three this time, one in the courtyard and two with the misters..." The elf's eyes were wide, pleading. "Are you- are yous going to help the misters?"
Something low and dangerous settled in her chest, handing over the box of pastries. "Yes. Now go and quietly put those in the kitchen, alright?" When the elf nodded and popped out quietly, she let her magic seep out across the stones of the courtyard like tiny snakes.
Picking up a presence by the front door sitting on one of the benches, she let her magic focus on him, pulling his voice into her hand and then restraining him to the chair tightly.
Pushing open the gate slowly, she moved to stand before where the man was trying to struggle to no avail, her nose wrinkling as she moved to lean over him with eyes that promised violence staring directly into his. "I am going to walk inside that castle and then hurt your friends for whatever they're trying to do to Gellert, but I will be back for you, not to worry."
Then she moved to pull her yew wand out of her boot, stunning the man easily and releasing her magic on him so that it could start scouting out the front of the house.
Her eyes, however, landed on where a black tattoo was peaking out of the man's sleeve.
Death Eaters.
"Lena... Perhaps it would be best to stay out of this."
They have Gellert.
Before he could reprimand her, she was padding through the house quietly, magic searching for any signs of life.
As she rounded one of the corners, she paused, hearing a voice in the main room. "-but this time you'll break, you mangy old bastard because this time there won't be a next time. We're going to break every bone in your pathetic old body and then let you bleed out if we have to."
Clenching her jaw against the snarl of anger she wanted to give, she sent her snakes out to wrap around the men, fully strangling them in her magic as she pushed open the doors to the main room calmly. "Oh... sorry, did I interrupt something?"
One of the men choked out something that was probably a threat.
"Nothing, then. Good." With a sharp grin, she moved to kick one of the men into a nearby chair, tugging on her magic to push the other violently into the next chair that moved to meet him. "Mossy, please get the man from outside, he should probably be in on this too."
There was a pop and the elf levitated the unconscious man to a third chair with ropes springing up to tie him down.
Then moving to where Gellert was standing slowly, she helped him into his favorite armchair with a concerned smile. "And here I thought you just really wanted pastries. How long have they been coming under the guise of Aurors?"
"For longer than you've been alive," taking a moment to cough deeply into a handkerchief the man then gave her a small grimace, "though they were a bit more... subdued after you addled the brain of that man they call a Lord."
"Funny." Moving to grab his tea, she handed it to him gently. "Did they hurt you?"
Gellert waved her off slightly. "Scrapes and bruises, dear girl, nothing to worry about now. Not when you obviously have plans for them."
Looking back to where the two awake Death Eaters had stilled, she nodded slightly and then summoned a blanket from a nearby chair to lay over the old man's legs. "No trying to die on me until after I get the information I want then, or I'll tell Albus about how much sugar you eat."
"You have a heart of ice, Miss Farland."
Tucking her wand into where her hair was pulled up, she moved to backhand the unconscious Death Eater sharply, smiling thinly when he woke up. "Ah. Good to see you all awake. Now, normally I would be so very kind as to just send you on your way and then make sure that none of you ever bothered Gellert again... but I'm none too happy about coming back to find that my friend was being threatened with death by three underlings of the man that's trying to kill me." Grabbing the tongue of the man she'd kicked in the chest that went to speak, she narrowed her eyes dangerously. "So. You're going to tell me exactly why you are here or I will, as you suggested, start breaking bones."
Letting go of the man's tongue and grimacing as she wiped her fingers on his clothes, she froze when he spat at her like a heathen.
"I say... kill him."
Of course you would dear, you have no creativity when it comes to the people that disrespect me.
"Fine then, kill him creatively."
Sniffing as she summoned a napkin to wipe her face, she looked at the man, unimpressed. "That was disgusting, though I would expect no less from the lackeys of a madman." Her tone turned sweeter, a faint smile coming to her lips. "Now... how about you tell me what I want to know and I won't have Mossy throw you off the bridge outside."
Jaw clenching, the man looked straight ahead. "I won't tell you nothing."
"I think that means you'll tell me everything, or are you just bad with your words?" She just smirked when he glared at her.
"You're that girl- the- uh- what's the bloody name?" The man in the middle with long ratty black hair made a face as he looked away. "That- uh-..."
Someone cleared their throat softly and she spun, her wand in hand, to see a woman in a fancy black dress with curly hair grinning at her, her hands raised in a sarcastic way to tell Lena she was unarmed. "That lot was supposed to get into the library."
Eyes narrowing and magic moving to follow the woman as she danced around the room to lean on one of the chairs, she slowly put her wand away, assured that the woman was wrapped in her web of magic. "And why is that?"
"You're Lena Farland, aren't you?"
Hand clenching in irritation so that the burliest of the men started to choke, she narrowed her eyes on Bellatrix. "And why does the Dark Lord want into the Library?"
"That Library is the greatest wealth of knowledge in all of Europe." The woman smirked. "You can stop that, you know. I'm not going to hurt you and I'll give you whatever answers you want without you having to even raise a finger, though I am impressed by your magic."
A bit thrown off by the compliment, she slowly let the magic go, crossing her arms. "And why would you do that?"
The woman smiled brightly. "You're Cissa's favorite little cousin and a best friend of my nephew, from what I hear. I wouldn't dare hurt you- not with the amount of backlash I'd be facing if I did." The woman whistled with an amused smile. "I'm not about to piss anyone off."
Lena blinked a bit, before reaching up to rub her temples. "All of that aside- Why have you been trying to get into Gellert's Library? Can't you just go in? I mean you're in the castle already."
"Lena, my dear girl, don't you remember I told you anyone that doesn't have permission will get fried alive?" Gellert's smile was amused.
"Say WHAT now?" Riddle sounded as if his eye was twitching.
"You must have said it when I was half-asleep, old man, as I'm sure that I would have asked more about that minor issue ." Rolling her eyes she studied the men still tied up then looked at the woman. "So the reason you don't want to hurt me is because... Narcissa and Draco like me?"
The woman gave a half-shrug. "I'd get in a lot of trouble. Trust me, it would not be fun."
Huh.
"The Black Family is mad, for sure."
Lena didn't exactly trust the woman, but as she was in her web of magic for the moment there was no real threat, thus she tilted her head curiously. "Can I see your Dark Mark for a moment?"
With a smile in her eyes, the woman moved forward slowly, pulling up her lacy black sleeve to show off a black mark of a skull and a snake.
"Ugly. And gaudy."
Agreed.
"Why in Merlin's name did I think blatantly marking my followers would be a good idea?"
The woman held up a hand when she went to poke the mark with her wand. "If you do that he'll be called. I didn't think you want that, but go ahead if you choose..."
"Bella!" One of the men hissed, but they both ignored it.
"Well... that was probably one reason. I forgot about that."
Aren't we both glad she stopped me then... Narcissa must be scarier than I thought.
"Sure. That's why."
Humming as she ignored Riddle, she put her wand behind her ear and then used her finger instead to study the markings of faint runic design around the edges, chuckling softly. "Brilliant. This is..." Shaking her head, Lena pulled back. "If I let you four leave peacefully and all in one piece, can I get your help in creating the anti-runes to keep Death Eaters out of this castle? I'm sure you understood that even if he's not family, Gellert is my friend and friends with my grandfather as well, so I sort of have an obligation to keep him safe."
The woman studied her for a long moment. "What've you got to trade me for it?"
Knowing that a deal was standard (she would have been suspicious if the woman didn't want something), she held out a hand to show off an orb and tilted her head. "This is the big one's voice. I can take the other's voices and give them to you too if you want."
"I want that cloak that Draco says you always wear... and can you make a crystal of just your magic?"
Lena nodded slowly, knowing both were valuable but not able to be used to track her- not if she cast a spell on the crystal after making it. "Deal." Having expected more of a price when asking the woman to betray her Lord, Lena summoned the cloak to her and handed it over reluctantly with the hope it would at least be treated well by its new owner. Then pushing the regret from her mind, she turned to pull the other two men's voices into her hand before also letting those go to the woman.
Concentrating, she let her magic pool into her hand and then slowly let it solidify into a crystal she then put an anti-tracking spell on silently.
Suddenly she was being pulled into a hug. "I'm glad to meet you, Lena. You know you can call me Auntie Bella, right?" Then releasing her and plucking the crystal out of her hand, the woman took out her wand, waving it to float the three bound men out of the door after her.
Gellert smiled at her from across the room, amused. "You have a way of picking them, don't you?"
"I picked you, didn't I?" Without letting him answer, she moved out of the castle after the woman she guessed was the 'Bellatrix Lestrange' Draco had told her a bit about.
Finding the woman at the edge of the bridge, she moved to kneel by the wardline that was carved into the stone, running her fingers across the patterns and smiling when it pulled up the visual representation of the magic so she could work with it.
Bellatrix's dark eyes watched her carefully as she summoned her notebook, starting to draw the separate runes she had seen in the Dark Mark, then using a few more pages to find the right opposites she needed in a language that Voldemort wouldn't know how to break.
Settling on Croatian- as she'd only learned the basic runes of the language from Perenelle because the woman had insisted it was standard for any 'good' runes master to know- she started to use her magic to carve small addendums to the wards that wouldn't compromise the overall amazing security, just basically putting a fine layer of sticky flypaper over what was already there to keep out anyone with the Dark Mark.
It took over an hour to find the right balance for the addendum so it wouldn't compromise the older wards.
Sweating and sort of exhausted from all the magic she was using, she sat back and looked up at the woman. "Wanna try it out?"
"It's- it's done?" Stepping forward carefully to poke where the light of the ward started, her finger couldn't go past and she grinned. "Wicked."
"Mhmm. And a lot of work." Releasing the three men from their binds, she stood and stretched. "Mossy, will you get the chairs back in the castle? I think I need to sit down after all that excitement."
"I second that."
Turning and heading back to the castle, she sank into the chair across from Gellert. "What a day..."
Box of pastries in hand, he looked at her calmly. "They'll come back."
"I know they will- there's no way that Voldy won't give chase now that he knows where I am." Lena moved to set her chin in her hand tiredly. She'd gotten another portkey from Albus a week ago, but neglected to use it as she had wanted more time just being able to talk with one of the many cool old men in her life.
Gellert smiled slightly. "Go. I'll be alright here- especially with whatever fancy runes you did to cut them off, as it'll probably prompt Albus to visit."
She sniffed slightly. "I can't leave inside wards that aren't-" Pausing, she tilted her head. "Did Albus make the wards?" When he nodded, she grinned, as Portkeys couldn't be used inside wards unless the portkey was made of the same magic that the wards were.
With an amused smile, the man shook his head and waved at her. "Go, Lena."
Reaching out to take and squeeze his hand gently, she then bounded up to her room, starting to pack everything away. Stopping once more down by where Gellert was now reading, she stole one of his pastries and then took out a fancy pen, pulling off the cap.
And with a swirl of magic, she was gone.
Tom was leaning back in his office chair listening to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata with his eyes closed against the cold ache he was trying to ignore in the hollow of his chest when someone burst into his office. Not opening his eyes, he curled his fingers into the arms of the chair. "You have half a minute to explain why you are in here or leave before I curse you."
"My Lord, I come bearing gifts from the trip to Nurmengard Castle."
Cracking open a single eye to peer at Bellatrix, his gaze landed on a black cloak and his other eye fell open as well in a glare. "A cloak. Of course you would bring me back a single cloak when I asked for either the library or Grindelwald's head on a-"
She flipped the cloak around to show the inside and he felt his voice fail him.
Standing smoothly, he carefully reached out to draw the soft fabric into his hands, feeling the soft warmth of the latent magic it gave off. "That's Lena's cloak." He looked at the woman sharply, knowing just how important this cloak was to his darling. "What have you done? "
"I joined the party late, as when I got there your girl already had the three idiots tied to chairs and was ready to snap their necks. She looked pretty upset, but I told her that Cissa would kill me if I hurt her, and she seemed to reluctantly accept that. So I traded the voices of the other three idiots, a crystal of magic, and that cloak for their lives and she let me take them peacefully, even asking for me to test the wards she put up to keep people with the Dark Mark out." Bella grinned as she spoke in that excited rapid-fire way of hers. "But we could get Cissa to-"
"She's already gone and as you saw, Grindelwald is under her protection." Tom frowned slightly down at the cloak before sighing slightly.
Lena wouldn't accept him trying to give it back until she understood he had no intention to hurt her... so what was the harm in him keeping it?
"And these?" Three small gem-like orbs and a crystal of shifting color were held out to him.
Taking them in his hand, if just to feel the brush of Lena's bright magic against his skin, he hummed softly. Then he handed back the three orbs. "Break the orbs and it'll undo the magic. We both know Rodolphus and MacNair are nothing without their voice."
The woman snickered softly, nodding. "Will do!" Then she skipped out, thankfully remembering to close the door behind her.
Tom stared at the crystal in his hand, smooth on the sides but pointed at the top and he pressed his thumb to the top. He watched, fascinated, as it cut his finger open and his blood started to trickle down the sides of the crystal that seemed to vibrate in his hand as if the magic was aching to be let out- either to consume the blood or to heal him.
Humming and letting his own magic heal the cut, he set the bloody crystal gently on his desk, having no desire to clean it off.
He was going to find his own damn house somewhere remote this summer- for his sanity's sake... and in case Lena wished to spend time wrapped in his arms when she got back from this inane trip of hers.
Settling the cloak around his shoulders and felt a small smirk curl his lips when it reached just under the curve of his knees for a long moment before rippling to fit his height. Sitting down, he then thought for a moment and pulled out a parchment to start a letter to Gringotts.
Perhaps it would be better to look for a nice small house away from everything sooner rather than later.
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A/N: This is... good. We love Bellatrix in this house(I have issues with redeeming characters I shouldn't, have you noticed?)