The Cave

Chapter 6: Help

The next day Bellatrix was prepared for her quest. She had slept badly all night dreaming of all sorts of horrors. The horrors of her dreams would be no worse than the horrors of the cave. But she was still ready to go. She didn't see any of her colleagues before she left and she assumed they were all in the hospital wing with Avery. She desired no companion on this journey even though she would have been happy if someone had offered to go with her; it showed that they still cared about her.

A quick Apparition brought her straight to the cave's entrance. It was a small entrance and she had to lean forward a little in order to get inside. She sighed and, trying not to remember what had happened to her the last time she had been there, went in.

Inside the cave she could stand properly. The walls were just as grey and cold as she remembered them. No bats dwelled in the cave. It was too evil. Green plants hanged from the walls and she turned around with her wand raised when one of them happened to brush her neck. She shivered but kept going. Her wand provided a very weak light. She had tried to make it stronger but magic didn't work properly in the cave.

The path she had been following split two ways. When she had been there with Yaxley and Dolohov they had gone right. Now she went left. If only she could get the map -the crystal would then be theirs.

She heard laughter and turned around with a gasp. No one was there. She walked on and heard it again. It was neither a female nor a male laughter it was something else and she did not want to know what.

"Take it easy," she said to herself. "You'll be fine. Everything will be all right." Hearing her own voice didn't calm her as much as she had expected. She heard a crack beneath her feet and saw that she had crashed a bone. Whatever lived in the cave must feed.

She advanced a while longer and was suddenly falling even though she had stepped on what had felt like solid ground. She screamed all the way down knowing she will die. But she fell on something soft that looked like a huge plant. Not inquiring further she kept going thanking her stars for surviving.

"If I die here no one will ever find me," she thought. She came to what looked like a large hall. The place was indeed spacious and the stones under feet had a smooth surface unlike the ones she had trod on before. She almost felt as though she was walking on clinker. The stones were a bit slippery though and she observed that they were wet. She didn't know where the water could come from.

Even though she felt a bit safer in here, she still couldn't spot the map. Her magic was now working better and the wand's much stronger light indicated an opening at the end of the room. She walked on, feeling more relaxed, when suddenly she felt frozen to the ground. She couldn't walk anymore. Her legs felt dug into the stone. Fear was no longer her only feeling. She felt deeply unhappy as though she would never be happy again. Only Dementors could make a person feel this way but Dementors were nowhere to be seen.

Bellatrix felt something flowing through her and relived her worst memories until the thing left her and she fell to the ground crying. But her pride was stronger than anything. She got up and went on not letting the cave defeat her with its horrors.

She was almost at the opening when she heard something. It was like a thud within the walls. Before she could react, furious water streamed in through the opening and filled the room. She was struggling knowing that she would drown. She had always been so afraid of water. As a child, she never bathed in the lake with her sisters. Her chest felt constricted, she couldn't breathe. There was nothing she could do. She inhaled. What filled her lungs was not water but air. The water was gone and she was now lying on the stone floor soaking wet and panting.

"Get up," said a cold voice which she recognized as the Dark Lord's. Her eyes were wide with surprise.

"W-What are you doing here?" she asked with obvious astonishment.

"I've followed you here and it's good that I have since you don't seem to be doing too well," he answered fixing her with his red eyes. "Your screams led me here."

"I'm here to get the map," she said expecting praise. It did not come.

"Oh," was all he said. "But you said you would never come back here."

"I know," she replied a bit ashamed at breaking her promise. "But there was no other way."

He smiled. "All your other plans went badly?" he asked.

"Yes."

He considered her for a moment than said, "Bellatrix, did you really expect to accept your betrayal and your disobedience?" She looked away and though, just as she had thought when he gave her the mission, that he wasn't done with her.

"I am a great leader Bella," he continued. "I know my servants. I know their weaknesses and their strengths. Your disobedience came unexpectedly. But I had the perfect punishment. Something that would hurt more than the Cruciatus: This whole experience was your punishment. Everything from arguing with your colleagues to failing again and again was my punishment. And it ended brilliantly just as I expected it to: With your coming here and obeying me. You thought coming here was on your initiative but it wasn't. I guided your steps here."

Everything had fallen into place now. Bellatrix felt angry and as though she wanted to hurt him for putting her through this.

"It went like this," he was getting ready to explain everything. "You will be relieved to know that you didn't fail at anything. I was the cause of all the misfortunes. I knew when I assigned you this mission that you couldn't complete it. I knew that the only way to get the crystal was by getting the map from the cave. So when you came to me saying that you knew where the crystal was I realised that it was a fake. I had two options. Either punish you when you came back with the fake one or letting you know that it was a fake. I chose the latter. Why? Because I knew exactly how your mates will react hearing that their efforts had been in vain. Hearing that their leader put them through dangers for nothing would cause them to rebel against you, just like you rebelled against me." He stopped for a while to allow her to take everything in. He was right. When her friends rebelled against her she felt exactly like he must have felt then. He went on.

"The next step was even more fun. I had to provide you with another lead as I knew, from hearing your conversation with Alecto, that you weren't convinced you had to come here. So I did. I was the one who gave you the false map; it was me you heard that night. I put powerful charms on it to make sure you wouldn't know it was a fake. So you see Bella, I sabotaged the mission in order to teach you a lesson."

Bellatrix was still angry with him even though she could understand why he had done all this. She felt relieved now. Her frustration was over and the mission would soon be over too. Something was still bothering her.

"What about the ones who died?" she asked in an angry tone. "Are you aware of the fact that two of your Death Eaters died?"

"Travers and Amycus are safe," he said. She raised her eyebrows in surprise and he continued, "I met them at the destination and told them of the plan. Avery wasn't with them at the time so he was convinced that they had perished in the fire I set. Thinking they were dead would have surely got you here. And it did."

Bellatrix was still dumbfounded at hearing all this but also happy that her colleagues were alive and that Alecto could forgive her in time.

"So what should we do now?" she asked feeling ridiculously calm even though she was still in the cave.

"We should get the map," he answered.

"Am I forgiven?" she asked. She was taking a chance now as she knew he did not easily forgive and certainly never forget.

"I think you have been punished enough," was his answer and she had to be content with it.

They went on together to finally complete the mission that had troubled both him and her for so long.