Ch59. Hello Bella
It was twentieth December and Narcissa was on a boat, heading to Azkaban for the visit scheduled a month ago.
Tomorrow, Hadrian will come home for the holidays and Narcissa wanted to surprise him!
"We are here." A gruff man told her as the boat stopped near the shore as if it was not obvious.
Rolling her eyes in a perfect show of a proud, pureblood Lady, she sneered at him and reached her hand in askance of help. The man reluctantly obliged, helping her exit the boat as she was smirking at his sour expression.
"Who knew the aurors are taught manners nowadays." Narcissa told him bluntly in amusement as his face tightened.
What! She was petty! The man annoyed the hell out of her with his witty remarks as he tried to flirt half of the journey! The next half was him scowling and fuming as she politely rebuked his advances as he asked what man she prefers, by bluntly telling him she enjoys what her HUSBAND was giving her every evening.
The debate died down that instant, much to her utter bemusement.
Narcissa was led through the Azkaban. The deeper she went, the more her body started shivering.
It was to the point that even the guards got wary of her. It was a well-known fact that people with bad and brutal memories are affected more. And those are mostly either abused victims or bloody murderers.
The problem was, Narcissa's proud straightened bearing did not look abused at all. The guards were wizards and wizards loved to jump to hasty conclusions. And she was the wife of a Death Eater, wasn't she? Imperiused or not...
As she approached the cell containing her sister, Narcissa was sinking her nails into her palm so deeply, blood started dripping on the floor. Her worst memories flashed through her eyes. Her own torture and suffering. The torture and suffering she was responsible for. The number of people she killed.
Narcissa clasped her Occlumency shields tightly on the magic trying to invade her.
'Well, no wonder every Death Eater is almost a vegetable after a few weeks of the presence of Dementors.' She thought bitterly when she reached Bella's cell, hearing the mad cackling of her sister reverberating through the air.
'Ah, how I admire you, sister dearest. So insane even mental torture such as this has no effect on you, bringing you joy instead.' Narcissa's lips twitched.
"We are here, Mrs. Malfoy." The guard said, feeling twitchy as her cold glare landed on him.
"I see." She intently peered at him until he gave up.
"I will wait for you at the end of the corridor then." The guard nodded, realizing she wanted privacy.
"Geez, wizards really believe in the invincibility of Azkaban, don't they?" Narcissa quietly whispered as she watched him leave and entered the cell, her wand drawn.
Not a second after the doors opened, Bellatrix leaped at her, a savage grin on her face.
Narcissa completely unbothered sent her sister's starved body flying back with a chantless banishing charm as she rolled her eyes.
"Bella, Bella. You never learned the common courtesy, did you?" Narcissa quipped. "It is not polite to rip your guests apart, you know?"
"Eeeeh, if it isn't Cissy!" Bellatrix giggled as her crumbled body laid unmoving, leaning on the wall it impacted not a second ago, blood trickling down her forehead. "What do I owe such an honor that Lucius let you visit!"
Bellatrix exclaimed with childish giddiness in her voice contrasting with her gaunt lifeless appearance and haunted soulless eyes.
"I see. My hopes didn't come true, after all." Narcissa concluded as Bellatrix tilted her head at her, wondering what did her sister mean. "Tell me, Bella, how do you feel about the Dark Lord?"
Bellatrix's gaze sharpened.
"Why do you ask?"
Narcissa shrugged and leaned forward as if she was going to tell her a very important secret.
"If he returned, would you serve him again?"
Bellatrix's eyes widened, a happy grin splitting her face.
"Of course! He is my Master! The sole reason for my life is to serve him! He is invincible!" Bellatrix started her tirade when she suddenly stopped her rant and looked at Narcissa with unadulterated joy. "Don't tell me... Is he already back!?" Bella's body shook with glee at that thought as she started happily cackling.
"I see." Narcissa looked at her sister with a sad gaze as she realized the years with Legilimens such as the Dark Lord did leave their mark on Bella. Narcissa was glad the wizards, while capable of tracking wand-magic in Azkaban, were unable to discern the usage of runes. She tapped the rune on her hand with steely determination in her eyes.
Bellatrix didn't even manage to react as her body hit the ground.
Narcissa reached towards her expanded purse and approached Bellatrix's body.
"I am incredibly sorry for what I will put you through, sister. But I can't have you endanger our husband." Narcissa whispered to her as she put a paper with a rune she invented on Bella's chest, transporting Bella into the sub-dimension in the paper.
Narcissa could only praise Hadrian for finding such useful knowledge...
She then pulled out another paper with the exact same rune and put it on the ground, activating it.
Suddenly a female body appeared in the cell. It was Mariana Avery, an unmarked Death Eater. Narcissa delivered a sharp kick into her abdomen to wake her up.
Mariana quickly woke up with a painful groan and found herself tightly bound, her last memory being a trip to Knockturn Alley. Mariana's eyes widened as she met Narcissa's cold gaze.
Her eyes clearly displayed her question as they frightfully shook at the cruel woman in front of her. Out of every unmarked servant of the Dark Lord, Narcissa was always considered the cruelest one. She, in the shadows while her sister Bella in the light.
Mariana couldn't curse herself more for laughing at Narcissa and adding to her suffering before she became precious to the Dark Lord. But… who could expect the bitch would gain His favor! Mariana always expected retribution for her actions but after the years she started hoping...
Narcissa smirked.
"I must admit... waiting decades for this opportunity was quite suffocating. Alas, it is finally here." Narcissa chuckled at the disheartened look Mariana showed. "Don't you worry. You won't suffer... much."
Narcissa activated the rune on Mariana's back that changed her appearance, voice, smell, and even magical signature to Bellatrix's after Narcissa registered Bella's magical signature when she stored her unconscious body.
The same rune that was basically undetectable unless a guard looks at her lower back. Even then he would have to realize it is not a tattoo and probe it with magic to discover it was magical. But Narcissa doubted the guards visited Bellatrix's cell of all places to relieve their urges.
The rune would slowly kill Mariana by lowering the temperature of her body during the following days. With dementor exposure, the temperature of the cell, the insufficient and disgusting food, and water… Only the magic kept the prisoners alive. Even the cold temperature of the cells was measured to weaken them and make the prisoners suffer but was high enough to make sure the magic kept them alive. Therefore, the basic temperature lowering rune will be enough to kill Mariana before Christmas through a heart attack from the stress.
Narcissa left the door as she vanished the bindings on Mariana.
Not a second after the door closed behind her, she could hear frightened banging noise as the person behind repeatedly screamed her name.
Approaching the guard at the end of the corridor, she sweetly smiled.
"My dear sister became even crazier and more delusional than the last time I saw her." She told him, feigning sadness.
"Yes. She is completely mad... ah, sorry." The guard rubbed the back of his head awkwardly as he realized he was talking badly about the sister of hers straight to her face.
"No, no." Narcissa shook her head. "You wouldn't believe her newest delusion... She actually believes she is Mariana Avery! ..." Narcissa started a relaxed banter with the guard as he was leading her out of Azkaban,
The poor guy just went ahead with it, not realizing she was getting his mental state and opinion of the 'new Bella' exactly where she wanted.
It would not take even an hour after her departure, for the entire Azkaban to know that Bellatrix again mentally flipped after her sister visited.