Incarcerated Remembrance

Chapter Two
Corruption & Cruciatus

What was that burning on her arm? There was nothing even remotely hot in her cold cell. It was dark, almost pitch black, and she couldn’t see what it was. Could it be what she thought? No, that would be foolish. While she had no doubt her would rise again, it couldn’t be now. That would be too good to be true.

“Bellatrix...” she heard her name come out raspy and low from the cell across from hers.

Bellatrix rolled her eyes and stayed quiet. Ignoring him might make him shut up Plus... she had more important things to do, like find out why her arm was hurting.

“Bellatrix...”

She put her hands on the ground to feel the surface beneath her. Running her hands across it to make sure she wouldn’t cut herself on anything in the dark, she slowly began to feel her way over to the far wall where the window was. Maybe if she could see her arm in the moonlight she’d be able to tell what it was from.

“Do you feel it?”

Bellatrix stopped dead on her hands and knees. Her heart started beating faster and it felt like it would break through her chest. Barely above a whisper she asked, “Feel what?”

“The mark. It grows darker each passing minute...”

Bellatrix scrambled up from the ground, not caring if she ended up hurting herself this time or not. Running across the cell with her bare feet and getting sliced open from all the jagged rocks that littered the cell ground, she ran to the window. Shoving her arm outside of the bars and into the moonlight in one swift motion, she gave a shrill cry of delight. It was a laugh that sounded almost maddening.

“My Lord! My Lord! He’s Returned! He’s come back for me!”

* * * *

“Hurry up Bellatrix, we’re going to be late!” Rodolphus said in a heated whisper across the Slytherin Common Room.

Bellatrix was sixteen and in front of the mirror near the fire place. Two years had passed since she and Rodolphus had became betrothed, and in that time she found a common ground with him. While maybe they weren’t the perfect lovers for each other, they did have very similar goals and views on things, which made them form some underlying bond of friendship.

Bellatrix’s long black hair hung down around her face in soft curls and her red lips curled up into a smile. “Relax Rudolph, I’ll be done in a second.”

Rodolphus’ eyes narrowed at his fiance, “Don’t call me that. And stop trying to look your best for him, I don’t think he cares what you look like, he cares what your skills are.”

It was Bellatrix’s turn to narrow her eyebrows, “That’s not what I’m doing.”

“Just come on! If we get caught we’ll get thrown out of school and our parents will throw us in the stocks or something.”

Bellatrix took one last look at herself before turning to Rodolphus. “Not your father, he’s the one that turned us on to this.”

“Regardless, he means for us not to get caught and you know this.”

Bellatrix picked up her emerald cloak and wrapped it around her. “Where’s Rabastan anyway? You’re all over me for possibly making us late, which we’re not and won’t be by the way, and we still got to wait for him.”

“He’s meeting us there. Now let’s go!” Rodolphus whispered, looking around the Common Room to make sure he didn’t need to curse or bribe any of the prefects.

“Relax,” Bellatrix replied, grabbing her wand. “We have plenty of time. I would never be late for this, and you know that.”

Rodolphus rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath in a mocking tone. “I know. ‘He’s so wise, he’s so powerful, he’s so strong...’” He made a face like he was going to vomit.

Bellatrix glared and pointed her wand at his throat warning, “Never mock my loyalty to Him.”

“Alright, alright,” he replied, putting his hands up in surrender. “Can we go now?”

It could be so easy if I just... Bellatrix stopped her thoughts, and withdrew the wand from his throat, but raised an eyebrow in warning. “Yes, let’s go.”

The pair slipped quietly out of the common room, and crept down the hall, quiet as mice. When they reached the grand staircase, they heard a noise and flattened themselves against the far wall. Filch was stalking the hallways, muttering to himself about unfortunate ban on the last of the torture techniques for children in detention. Bellatrix’s breathing started to quicken out of nervousness, and Rodolphus put his hand over her mouth to quiet any sounds that could be picked up by Filch’s ears. However, he started down the hall of the floor below them, and Bellatrix and Rodolphus waited just a moment longer to make sure he was far out of sight before they continued on their journey.

Once they made it out of Hogwarts, they stole across the grounds in the shadows towards the Whomping Willow. They stopped just a few feet in front of the tree, and Bellatrix whispered to Rodolphus, “You do it.”

“Me?” Rodolphus whispered back indignantly, “I did it last time!”

“You’re the man,” Bellatrix reasoned, “And therefore if anything should go wrong, you should be the one to be pounded by the tree.”

Rodolphus glared at her, but looked back at the tree for a moment before waiting for the right time to run towards it. The Whomping Willow, knowing someone was near, started to sway it’s branches, trying to knock Rodolphus away from it. But just as one branch swung down and could have decapitated him, he dove onto the ground, and slid on the grass to the knot at the base of the tree, and touched it. The tree went still, and both Rodolphus and Bellatrix breathed a sigh of relief.

Rodolphus made a hand gesture towards Bellatrix that signaled her to come on, and she quietly followed him down underneath the tree. The path to the Shrieking Shack was cold, and Bellatrix wrapped her cloak further around her. She had to squint her eyes to see the path on front of her, so as to not step on a rotting floorboard and fall, resulting in a broken leg or other vital body part. She held onto Rodolphus’ cloak in front of her, and her heart started to speed up due to her excitement.

A month prior was her first time ever sneaking down to the Shrieking Shack in the dead of night. Rodolphus’ father, who was one of the Dark Lord’s loyal followers and part of The Knights of Walpurgis, told the two of them and Rabastan, Rodolphus’ brother, that the Dark Lord was interested in training Hogwarts students for a new, younger, and elite group to be known as The Death Eaters. Of course, with all of the pureblood values that Bellatrix was raised on, she jumped at the opportunity. She had heard many stories about the Dark Lord, and was infatuated with the idea of serving him in his own inner circle.

The first time she laid eyes on her Lord, she was completely breath taken. He exuded all this power and wisdom, and Bellatrix just wanted to drown in it, and knew from that day onward that she would do anything just to be given the honor to sweat in his shadow.

When they reached the door that held the Shrieking Shack behind it, Bellatrix’s heart was pounding so heavily that she thought it might burst from her chest from the sheer anticipation. Rodolphus opened it, revealing inside the largely illuminated room. What was once a place of disaster, now was cleared away to provide room for wand techniques and spell practices. There was only a few other people in the small room besides herself a Rodolphus. Lucius Malfoy, with his pinheaded friends Crabbe and Goyle, stood to one side, whispering excitedly among themselves. They were all only second years, but had apparently shown some potential to earn themselves a place. And then there was Rabastan, who sat by himself in a corner, and nodded to the both of them when they entered the room.

Bellatrix and Rodolphus joined Rabastan on the floor, and started to whisper among themselves like the group of second years were doing near them.

“What do you think he’s going to teach us this time?” Rabastan asked, not being able to hide the excitement in his voice.

“What makes you think he would teach us something new, not all of us mastered the Imperius Curse last time,” Rodolphus answered.

“You HAVE been practicing since then, right?” Bellatrix asked, looking at her finance expectantly.

“Of course I have, Bellatrix, it’s just a little more difficult than I expected to practice an illegal curse at school with no one noticing. I almost got caught when the one I placed on that Gryffindor wore off unexpectedly, remember?”

Bellatrix rolled her eyes, “Well I for one have hoped you’ve mastered it by now, my Lord doesn’t seem like the type to forgive incompetence.”

Rodolphus narrowed his eyes at his dark girlfriend, “Don’t call me incompetent.”

“I’ll call you anything I wish to, it’ll be your doing to prove it untrue or otherwise.”

“Stop bickering you two, he’s about to arrive any moment,” Rabastan interrupted, standing up to await the Dark Lord’s return.

Bellatrix and Rodolphus followed suit, and just in time, because suddenly out of no where and in a curl of black smoke, The Dark Lord appeared before them. All six of the students in the room dropped to their knees, and bowed before him.

“Arise, future Death Eaters,” came the hissing voice of their master.

All of them rose to their feet, and Bellatrix locked eyes with her Lord, and her heart started beating harder as she surrendered free will and gave herself unto her master, preparing to do any task that was asked of her.

“I hope that all of you have mastered the Imperius Curse by now,” the Dark Lord started, looking at all of the students that stood before him with adoring looks on their faces. “I do not and will not tolerate those who do not put forth the effort with every fiber of their beings. The studies I give you are of more importance than those of your school, is that understood?”

“Yes, my Lord,” came a mutter that swept around the room.

“Very well. Today, you will all learn the Cruciatus Curse. I assume you all know what it entails.”

Everyone in the room nodded, and the Dark Lord went on. “The first thing you should know about the Cruciatus Curse, is that it will not work unless you have the desire, the very will to inflict pain onto your victim. You have to mean it.”

The room was silent, all of them listening and hanging onto his every word. “The spell is simple, you point your wand at your victim and say ‘Crucio’. If you have the desire to inflict pain upon your victim, then you will be successful, and will then witness the second most powerful experience known to wizard kind.”

The students in the room exchanged a look, and the Dark Lord went on, “What is the first, you are asking yourself. The most powerful experience is to take a life, with means of the killing curse. It is the most powerful feeling you will ever have, and that will be demonstrated during the next meeting.”

Bellatrix’s stomach fluttered with excitement. To be able to take away life at her will... it sounded like an extraordinary power.

“Bella, come here,” the Dark Lord addressed her, and she hurriedly rushed to be at his side. “You and Rodolphus are betrothed, are you not?”

Bellatrix nodded, “Yes, my Lord.”

“Rodolphus, at my side as well.” While Rodolphus came over, the Dark Lord looked at Bellatrix and ordered, “You will preform the Cruciatus Curse on your future husband. To be able to inflict pain on those close to you, will prove to me you can inflict pain on anyone.”

Rodolphus’ eyes went wide, but Bellatrix just smiled, “Of course, My Lord. Whatever you wish.”

Bellatrix pointed her wand at Rodolphus as the Dark Lord stepped away to observe. Rodolphus’ eyes begged her not to do it, but he knew that she would. His only hope was that her heart wouldn’t be in it and that it wouldn’t work to it’s full effect, but he knew his hope was futile. He knew where her true loyalties lay, and it wasn’t with him.

“Crucio!” Bellatrix screamed, all of her focus and attention on causing pain to Rodolphus, the man who was going to tie her down for the rest of her life.

Rodolphus fell to the ground, and screamed in pain as he twitched on the ground, begging Bellatrix to make the pain stop. Bellatrix did not let up however, nor start to feel guilty about what she was doing. If anything, she became more focused, and a sort of maddening look appeared in her eyes as she tortured her fiancé.

“Bellatrix please! STOP!” Rodolphus screamed.

“Bellatrix please...” Bellatrix mocked as she continued to torture him, laughing a little at the sight of him at her mercy. “Is that the best you can do, the best begging you can come up with while you lay at my feet in excruciating pain?!”

“Stop, Bella,” The Dark Lord ordered, and Bellatrix withdrew her wand from Rodolphus, leaving him to crouch in a ball on the floor, whimpering.

Bellatrix took deep breathes, the excitement and the power of it all washing over her like waves. “That was very good, the best first attempt at the curse I have ever witnessed, and maybe the best attempt at the curse in general, outside of myself, of course.”

Bellatrix smiled, proud of herself, and proud to have made her Lord so pleased of her.

The Dark Lord locked eyes with her and said, “You will be a very powerful ally in my Death Eaters, and you have gained my favor thus far.”

Bellatrix looked at her Lord and breathlessly said, “I thank you, my Lord, for your gracious compliments.”

That was the day she knew she would never turn back, and would be with this man, her Lord, her Savior, her Master... until the very end.

TBC....