I am The Dark Lady (ABANDONED)

Horcruxes

Bella arrived to an empty, ordinary Apartment. Nothing was out of place, nothing was glimmering with magic. It was simply ordinary. She stepped out of the fire hesitantly. "Tom?" She called out. "I-i'm here!" She shifted on one foot from the other, knuckles turning white from the sheer forced she gripped her luggage with. Bella waited for some kind of noise, a sign, anything to let her know he was here. A pit in her stomach formed. She heard nothing.

Until she did.

A low hiss from the corner of the room startled her into movement. Bella whipped out her wand with a practiced hand and jabbed it in the air, her other hand dropping the bag.

Then she saw it.

A large green snake stared at her with evil beady eyes, a forked tongue almost mocking her. Bella almost groaned in disgust - She did not appreciate snakes in real life. She may be a Slytherin but snakes a huge no - but took several steps back. Vaguely she wondered what such snake was doing situated in a random apartment in Berlin but was soon distracted when the reptile uncurled itself. The snake moved slowly with purpose, never taking her eyes off of the witch. When the time came to strike, Bella called upon her husbands magic in her veins and blasted a warning shot at the animal. The snake practically froze in mid air after getting a taste of the Masters magic and petulantly backed down.

"Yeah that's right" Bella taunted the snake, her own eyes turning into ice.  "You though-"

"Bella"

A weak voice called out to her accompanied by a cough. Bella's neck could've snapped with the speed she turned it. She didn't dare turn her back on the snake.

"Meet Nagini" Voldemort's hoarse and raspy voice called out. "My..soulmate I guess you could say" And he sent himself into a fit of laughter which then morphed into a coughing fit at his own joke. Bella eyes the snake up, who's body jerked as though it was also laughing She rolled her eyes at the disembodied voice and began to follow it slowly. "Nagini Meet my Wife, Bellatrix. I trust you to play nice"

"Yes, Sir" Nagini practically spat back. Bella knew he could speak Parsel- tongue but never actually heard it in usage.

It creeped her out.

"Doesn't mean I like her" Nagini snapped at the witch with her jaws once before curling back into herself and slinking away in the darkness. Bella thanked and cursed the gods that she couldn't understand the language. She would've killed to know what that snake said.

"Tom?" Bella's nostrils flared, eyes fixated on the snake. "Where are you?"

"Second door left in the hallway" Voldemort rasped out.

She was met with a pitiful sight. Two weeks ago the man that left, despite his thwarted appearance, held himself strong, a dark aura surrounded him, commanding the room's attention where ever he was. The man lying in that bed couldn't be the same wizard. His hair was gone. Her husband was bald. His dark hair had practically melted away, his eyes were sunken and surrounded with dark circles, His nose had shrunken even more, his eye colour a dull red. Her own eyes stung and a lump formed in her throat.

Bella had to look away.

"A horcrux can be a living thing" He said into the silence. Bella's face scrunched up.

"You look.." Her mouth moved but no sound came out of it. A shuddering breath took the word's place. Voldemort sighed.

"I know" He coughed lightly and tried to push himself into a seating position in the bed. His arms appeared to weak to hold himself up as they gave out almost immediately and he flipped back harshly, eliciting another angry coughing fit. Bella fluttered instantly to his side and gently held him up, trying her damndest not to stare at the hollow shell that was her husband.  "It's a lot"