The Lost Lestrange

Prologue

"Mother!" Narcissa cried, her bare feet pattering on the hardwood floor of the Black family manor as she rushed down the hall to her parents' room. It was the dead of night when she had heard her eldest sister's cries of pain in her bedroom, calling out for someone. Andromeda had rushed to her bedside and commanded Narcissa to wake their mother. "Mother, come quickly!"

"Are you aware of what time it is?" Druella hissed, tying her silk robe shut over her nightgown. "You'll wake your father. What's the meaning of this?"

"It's Bellatrix..." Narcissa said sheepishly. "It's time."

Druella's eyes widened as the realization dawned on her and she understood, finally, what Narcissa was telling her.

"Wake the midwife," she commanded Narcissa, "ask what she needs and get it for her. Where is Bellatrix?"

"She's in her bedroom," Narcissa said before running down the hall to the guest room that the midwife was staying in. Druella started off down the hall in the opposite direction to the third room on the right, opening the door. Andromeda was kneeling by the bedside, Bellatrix gripping her hand as she carefully dabbed Bellatrix's forehead with a damp cloth.

"How long?" Druella asked Andromeda as she rushed to the bedside opposite Andromeda.

"We heard her about ten minutes ago. I'm not sure how long she's been like this though."

Druella pushed the sweat soaked hair from Bellatrix's face as it contorted in pain as another contraction began.

"I-Is he awake?" Bellatrix panted, "d-does he know?"

"He isn't awake," Druella said, taking the cloth from Andromeda and taking over the duty of blotting sweat from Bella's forehead. Bellatrix's face, normally set in a hard scowl, softened in fear at her mother's words.

"Will I get to keep it?" Bella choked, fearing she already knew the answer before she asked. Druella's expression was grave. She didn't get a chance to respond when the midwife rushed through the door with Narcissa at her heels, holding towels and a basin of warm water.

"Mother, will I get to keep the baby?" Bellatrix asked again, breathing in sharply as another contraction began.

"I... I don't know, Bellatrix."

Bellatrix didn't have time to ask any more questions when the midwife took over, giving her calm instructions as the birthing process began. There were no sounds besides Bellatrix's gasps and cries of pain, the midwife's calm instructions and encouragement from Andromeda at her bedside. It was a long and painful process, the whole thing going into the small hours of the morning, before it was finally done and Bella had successfully given birth to a baby girl. Her father, Cygnus, had been awakened and so had her fiancé Rodolphus, who had been staying at the Black manor for the last few months of her pregnancy to be present for the birth of their child. The midwife wrapped the newborn in a towel and looked around, unsure of what to do next. The tension in the room was so thick it could have been cut with a knife.

"Give her to me," Bellatrix said hoarsely, reaching out to the midwife, "I want to hold my daughter."

"She is not yours to hold," Cygnus said, stepping forward and taking the child from the midwife.

"She is mine. Give her to me."

"Who is the father," Cygnus inquired, looking at the infant as if it could have given him the answer to his question.

"Rodolphus is the father. She is ours," Bellatrix said through grit teeth before turning to her mother. "Tell him to let me keep my daughter."

"Regardless of whether the father is your betrothed or not, you have besmirched the, otherwise pristine, Black family name by falling pregnant during your last year of schooling... and a majority of it. She has besmirched the Black family name. A bastard child. For that you must both be punished." Cygnus' voice was full of intimidation and power. He truly was the head of this household and he would be damned if he let his daughter tell him what to do. "My word is final."

"What are you going to do to her?" Bellatrix asked, sitting up.

"Druella," Cygnus called as he turned to leave the room.

"Mother," Bellatrix pleaded, catching her mother's arm, "Mother, please don't let him take her!"

Druella's expression was hard, cold and calculated as she removed Bella's grip from her arm and took the baby from Cygnus. The baby cooed in her arms.

"Mother, no!" Bellatrix cried, throwing her legs over the side of the bed and stood, against the protest of the midwife, moving to go after her mother and her daughter before collapsing to her knees on the ground.

"Bellatrix!" Narcissa cried in alarm as blood pooled gravely on the ground between her sister's legs. The midwife cried out urgently, mentioning something about a hemorrhage of some sort and if they didn't get Bellatrix the proper care immediately, she risks never being able to bear children again.

Druella heard the echoes of the conversation as well as Bellatrix's cries for her daughter turning to desperate sobs as she left the room, making her way down the hall with the infant in her arms. She was almost certain she knew that her husband wanted her to kill the child.

"I want that vermin out of my sight," he said, "I want it out of my home."

"What do you want me to do with her?"

"Toss it out on the streets of Diagon Alley, kill it. Let it starve for all I care!"

"Cygnus, she is our granddaughter!"

"And Bellatrix is our daughter but they have both brought shame and disgrace on our house! For that, there must be proper punishment."

"The father is her betrothed, Cygnus. It is our house with theirs, just as intended. This does not change anything. They were supposed to produce a child after the wedding anyway."

"They were meant to produce an heir."

"So were we!" Druella cried, "But my father did not insist we terminate every daughter we had!"

"My brother has had sons to inherit the Black family name."

"And how are you so sure that Rabastan will not have a son to be the Lestrange heir? And if Bella should ever have children again, how are you sure she wouldn't produce an heir, just as intended?"

"I don't want to hear another word about this, Druella. Get that child out of my house!" Cygnus shouted and his voice echoed down the hall as he stormed off to return to bed, leaving Druella fuming in the hallway as she watched him go. She pursed her lips as she heard the faint sobs of Bellatrix back in her bedroom and Narcissa speaking quietly, attempting to soothe her. The child cooed in Druella's arms once again and she looked down at her granddaughter.

"I cannot bring myself to let you die," Druella said, rocking the infant in her arms, "but you are forbidden to stay here... so what shall I do with you?"

The baby yawned and Druella sighed, heading down the stairs and outside, disapperating with the infant.