Remember that I OWN NOTHING except for the plot and Gemini ok???? The rest belongs to JK Rowling. (future me here, rewriting is a pain but I do this for you guys cause I love y'all so enjoy!)
Strands of her messy curly hair stuck out in unnatural angles as the woman walked towards her cell. Some of it stuck to her face with sweat and half-dried blood, an obvious sign of her struggle against the guards who dragged her into the prison. Her bare feet were stained with brick powder and her hands were tied behind her back as she was forced to walk, a wand held to the side of her head, which she tried to bite a couple of times. Despite her obviously bad situation, Bellatrix Lestrange had a smile on her face, more akin to the smile of the mad hatter than a genuine, sane smile, but a smile nonetheless. Her face looked sickly pale and her teeth looked more yellow than a slice of cheese, but the woman still hummed a happy tune as she walked towards her new, hellish home. Did she feel guilty for serving her Dark Lord? Of course not! So why should she mourn? Why should she cry for a man who she believes to be alive? Because Bellatrix knew the Dark Lord wouldn't die by an infant's hand, he was much more powerful than the world perceived him to be! This is why she would wait, as his servant, until he grew strong enough to return. The occasional demented giggle left her mouth as she walked, and such a creepy and familiar and dreadful laugh was bound to catch someone's attention.
From the bars of his cell, Sirius Black saw the approaching Bellatrix Lestrange, looking more unhinged and (dare he say, uglier) than he'd ever seen his cousin. Azkaban seemed to have drained most of his strength, but he had enough to walk towards the bars and let out a series of quiet curses, watching as Bellatrix spotted him. She let out a manic laugh as she was tossed into her cell, immediately bursting in a fit of laughter on the floor. It took a few minutes for her to regain her composure, but once she did, she leaned against the wall separating her cell from Sirius', clearing her throat before speaking. "It's been a while, has it not, Orion? Fancy to see a blood traitor here! Though you do deserve it, probably for being so stupid and... yeah, stupid."
Even after years of not speaking a word to each other, Bellatrix still managed to push Sirius's buttons. "I thought you were the one putting people in cells and shamelessly torturing them? How does it feel to finally get put into place? Not only are you the insane sister but you're also in jail now! Couldn't even do your job as Voldemort's dog properly, otherwise, you wouldn't be here, Druella."
The Black cousins, as much as they despised each other, could agree on hating to be called by their middle name. One for wanting to be apart from his family, the other for believing herself to be superior to her ancestors, who they were both named after.
At the mention of Voldemort, Bellatrix punched the wall, sending dust flying through Sirius's cell. For a woman in Azkaban who had been starved and tortured, she had a great deal of physical strength. "Don't you dare speak his name, filthy blood traitor! At least I was not disowned by the family! I brought them pride, you brought them disappointment by running off with Potter and his friends. Isn't Pettigrew the reason you're here? Because he betrayed you? Pathetic." She laughed once more, sending them looks from the nearby prisoners. They looked more dead than alive as if laughs were foreign to them. Sirius almost felt bad for them, almost.
His fist clenched when Bellatrix brought up Pettigrew and James, but he decided to keep his composure. His cousin knew how to rile people up, which would inevitably get both of them in very big trouble. "Listen, Bellatrix, there is no more Black family. I'm all that's left of it, and I plan on ending this cursed bloodline. Now, you can either accept this and reconcile with me since I am the only person who will be willing to talk to you about this new life we live, or you can go insane and never speak to family, or anyone, for that matter. You'll die alone if you keep up your manipulative behavior. Maybe learn from Narcissa and Andromeda while you're here because they are one thousand times better than you and you know it."
She seemed to go quiet for a few moments. Sirius was worried that Bellatrix would just lash out and get herself killed prematurely, but that wasn't the case.
"So is this a family reunion then? Blood traitor and Death Eater, as cell neighbors in the most awful prison in the world. Mother would be screaming at the guards to clean the place and make it look like Buckingham Palace if she saw we were here. Mainly me, because she hates you." Sirius sighed, the backhanded comments never stopped with Bellatrix. At least she was cooperating, though. "Yeah, she'd probably make me clean the place too. And yell at you to fix your hair for no apparent reason" He chuckled, shaking his head. Sirius had a bad childhood, but it had its moments. Very few, but they still existed. And now, in Azkaban, he could leave the past behind and so could Bellatrix. But neither of them would, because a defining trait of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black was undying stubbornness and determination to complete one's goals and ambitions.
As she sat in her cell, humming a tune resembling a mad lullaby, Bellatrix's mind drifted to her sister, Narcissa. She thought of what her future would look like as she doodled the dark mark on the scarlet brick dust. Andromeda was gone, Lucius would be in jail soon, and the rest of their family was dead. Sissy would be left to raise those twins of hers all alone, having to face the reputation of both the Malfoy and Black families by herself. Those poor children would have a terrible childhood, being judged for the cursed actions of their kin. But at least they wouldn't be with Lucius, Bellatrix had always disliked that cowardly son of a- ahem, ever since their Hogwarts days, she didn't approve of him. He seemed faker than Albus Dumbledore and his 'all houses are equally important to me' policy. Soon, he'd be rotting in a cell too, waiting for the Dark Lord to return. How amusing!
Sirius's mind, on the other hand, drifted to Harry Potter as he walked across his cell, staining his pants red with dust and ignoring his aching feet. The poor boy would be an orphan, probably raised by Lily's anti-wizard sister and her idiot husband. Harry shouldn't be raised by them, he should be raised by James and Lily! The thought of his best friends being dead when they had an entire life to live was nearly enough to drive him to tears. Pettigrew turned evil, James was murdered, and Lupin would most likely be discriminated against and hunted for being a werewolf for the rest of his life. And Sirius was in Azkaban, the inescapable prison, for a crime he did not commit. Not even Minerva McGonagall herself could have predicted this to happen to the once lively and charismatic Marauders. Split, dead, gone. What would James do in a situation like this? What would Moony do? They wouldn't sit by, they wouldn't mope- they'd fix things. And that was exactly what Sirius would do. He would do anything in his power to get out of that prison and save Harry Potter from whatever atrocities are thrown at him. He'd do what James would have done. And he'd see Moony again, and together, they'd kill Peter Pettigrew.
Time seemed to pass differently in Azkaban. Not literally, of course, but the stormy weather and lack of windows made it close to impossible for inmates to know how much time had passed since their imprisonment. This was the case for Sirius and Bellatrix, who had lost track of time and now lived in misery, day after day after day after day. Some guards mentioned a new inmate coming in, which they both assumed to be Lucius, as his trial was announced and mentioned by multiple employees and visitors of other inmates. Sirius and Bellatrix didn't get visitors, only dirty looks and kicks and punches. One of them deserved it.
The air felt particularly damp that day, and Sirius remembered it like it was yesterday. Thunder boomed outside the prison and some water leaked into the cells, enhancing the smell of rotting flesh and dust from some dying prisoners. Bellatrix had been particularly loud, singing sea chanties as an attempt to drown the dementors' effects on her head. Sirius coped by drawing on the walls of the cell with a sharp rock, oftentimes drawing portraits of James and Lupin and Lily. He had to remind himself to remember what he was working towards. To avenge his dead friends and reunite with Remus, a very important person to him (cough wolfstar in the future cough?).
A cry snapped both cousins out of their nightmares. A child's cry, which they both thought to be an illusion at first. Shakily standing up from the ground, Sirius walked towards the bars of his cell, glancing at a group of guards walking towards them with a small bundle in their hands. He quickly noticed that the crying seemed to come from that bundle. His eyes widened in surprise, who would bring a baby to a prison? Especially a prison like Azkaban, where happiness gets immediately sucked out from anyone inside its premises. He didn't realize when he had last spoken, as when he tried, no noise came out of his mouth. Sirius hadn't noticed how dehydrated he was, nor the messy and tangled state of his hair, nor his face sinking onto itself, making him look old and frail despite being rather young. He curiously glanced at the guards as they opened the door to his cell, one of them taking a muggle pencil and transforming it into a small, wooden crib, which he placed at the corner of the room. When the guards placed down the bundle on the crib, Sirius slowly walked towards it and was faced with stormy grey eyes and barely visible platinum hair. This was no Lucius Malfoy, this was... his daughter.
A small doorway was opened on the wall separating him and Bellatrix's cells, which he didn't notice as his cousin made his way to the infant's crib and pushed him aside. Her eyes widened and she began shaking, walking towards the guards. "WHERE IS LUCIUS MALFOY?! WHY IS THAT THING HERE!?" The guards seemed scared and solemn as they responded. Clearly, they were not fans of this idea either. "Lucius Malfoy has made a trade with the Ministry in exchange for his liberty. Gemini Narcissa Malfoy shall take his place in Azkaban and bear his... physical punishments from the age of five. She is currently a year old and you two have been tasked with raising her as you are her only living relatives in this prison." With that statement, they left.
Sirius had never seen Bellatrix look so... human. So vulnerable, as she made her way to the baby and carefully lifted her up, walking towards a candle to see her better. This was also the first time Sirius saw his cousin look at someone with genuine pity. "Your father is the scum of this earth and a disgrace to all Purebloods. If you turn out like him, I will kill you. But I'll try my best so that doesn't happen. You are now Gemini Narcissa Black, and you shall be raised as such. The Noble and Ancient House of Black welcomes you as its heir, don't we, Sirius?"
Sirius was speechless for a few moments, his cousin had accepted him as part of the family once more. Bellatrix was putting her insanity and obsession for Voldemort aside for reasons he couldn't comprehend, but he appreciated it nonetheless. There would be fights, and conflict, but the cousins had a mutual agreement. They'd keep Gemini alive.
"Yes, Bellatrix."
The infant was lulled to sleep by Bellatrix, who sung her little tunes of ways they could kill Lucius Malfoy and make him regret his entire existence. Sirius thought this was a rather odd but effective lullaby.
At Malfoy Manor...
Lucius didn't feel guilty. He'd raise Draco to be his heir, and he'd make him forget that Gemini Malfoy ever existed. As for Narcissa? She'd come around, she always did when it came to him.
Lucius Malfoy was no coward in his eyes, he was a survivor of the most cunning kind. And that brat would probably die within the first three days at Azkaban, so he'd be free. Finally free, from The Dark Lord and the law. All of the obstacles in his path were gone... Or so he thought.
Well, this was the second chapter and well I hope you enjoyed it and please leave comments so I know what to improve on! See you next week Benches!!!!