Love The Heartless

Chapter Three

September 7th, 1969
8:03 pm

"Bella? Where are you? You missed dinner and you haven't come back to the common room yet."

No answer.
Aurora was getting nervous. Bellatrix promised that she would make it a great hall for dinner. She never missed dinner. She never ignored the quick post.

"She's fine, Rory." Andromeda mumbled from her spot next to Aurora on the couch.
"I know."
"I can basically hear you thinking from here. And I don't have that weird thing that you and Bella can do; like you can read each other's minds."
"She's late, Andi. She's never late."

Andromeda stopped writing on her parchment and shut her defense against the dark arts textbook.

"Look. You would know if she was in trouble. She would figure out a way to let you know it. Even if she could not, she would find a way to let Cissy or me know. You know how Dumbledore is. She's probably gotten stuck listening to one of his rants, the ones that don't even make sense."

"I'm okay. I am coming through the dungeons. Meet me in our dorm." Bellatrix's voice rang out through the quick post.

"You're right Andi. I'm headed to bed. I'm exhausted. Goodnight." Aurora said abruptly. She quickly stood and walked as calmly as she could to the stairs that led to the dorms. She raced to their dorm as soon as she was out of sight and waited for her girlfriend.
A few minutes later, Bellatrix walked through the door and closed it quietly behind her.

"Before you get started on yelling at me for not responding, I couldn't. I can't talk about what we discussed tonight. But I'm okay. What I can tell you is that Dumbledore has it handled." Bellatrix held her hands up in mock surrender.
"You said you would meet us in the Great Hall for dinner. I was just worried. Why can't you talk about what happened?"
"I just can't, okay? It's better if you don't know." Bellatrix snapped.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize we were keeping secrets from each other now. And since when did you speak to me in that tone of voice?" Aurora tried to keep her voice level.
"Because I told you that I can't speak about it and you're pushing it," Bellatrix rubbed her forehead. "It is better if you just do not know. I'm trying to help you."
"I'm a big girl, Bellatrix. I want to be there for you. I don't care about the risks. I love you." Aurora crossed the room and grabbed her girlfriend's hands in her own.

"Come here." Bellatrix pulled her onto her four-poster bed and closed the curtains, muttering the muffliato spell.
"Please, please trust me when I say that I want to tell you. But I can't. I'm not trying to be cruel, mon cœur. I am trying to keep you safe. I love you, and I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you. All I can tell you is that things will get dark. The world as we know it is changing, and bad things will happen. And we need to be prepared when it does. But I can't tell you what Dumbledore and I discussed. It's not safe for you to know." Bellatrix pleaded.

"I'm sorry I snapped. I was just worried. We've always been able to tell each other things and-"

"Don't apologize, love. Just trust me. Okay?"

———————

October 8th, 1968

Just over a month had passed since that night when Bellatrix had begged Aurora to trust her. But Bellatrix was getting more distant every day. She spent less time with her girlfriend and sisters and more time in the library studying alone. Aurora had tried to join her a few times, but Bellatrix insisted that she was okay and preferred to study alone lately.

"Nott?"

Aurora looked up to see Arthur Weasley standing in front of her.

"Hey, Weasley. Can I help you?"