Dark Desires

Chapter 17

A.N: It's been a hot minute, but the new chapter is up! I was thinking - you guys are probably really talented, and I would love it if you would draw something inspired by this story and tag it with #darkdesiresbellamione on either Instagram or Twitter. I want to select some drawings to put above each chapter as a photo (credited, of course!). Tell me what you think about this idea in the comments! Peace & love xx

Narcissa opened her eyes and groaned in pain. She had slept at the dinner table, it seemed, with a cheek pressed towards yesterday's paper. With a sigh she massaged her eyelids carefully and looked at her wristwatch: 5am. Why hadn't Lucius told her to get in bed like a normal person? Outside the sky was just starting to light up - it would be a windy day, she could feel it. As her senses came back to her, the dread she had felt these last days came creeping back as well. It was about Bella. This uncertainty - not knowing where her sister was, if she was okay, or even if she was dead. Her stomach churned. Not even a week had passed since the Battle of Hogwarts had thankfully come to an end, and it was not unnatural for Bellatrix to disappear for days at an end, yet Narcissa had this unshakeable feeling that something bad had happened. She had perused yesterday's paper several times in hope of finding some clue to her whereabouts, to no avail.

It was useless to go to bed at this hour; besides, the mere thought of laying down beside Lucius again made her fatigued, so she put the kettle on instead and curled up in the windowsill with a blanket. Through the window of the little cabin, she could faintly see the cliffside far away and the shore down below. They had barely escaped to this place - their little cabin of safety. Bellatrix was the only other person who knew where it was, and she would know to come here in case of an emergency. The Battle of Hogwarts had been an emergency, and it was an unspoken rule that they would meet here - yet Bella had seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth. Lucius had told her not to worry, that this probably was one of her sister's many tricks, but she was not convinced. Anyway, Lucius had become a nuisance to her these last days. When they lived in the manor there had always been space in their marriage, which is what made it manageable. Now, in this crammed cabin, Narcissa had begun to feel suffocated by family-life, by duties, by expectations. And without Bella, everything seemed to weigh her down even more.

Sipping her tea, she rested her eyes for a moment while contemplating what to do. Life seemed to be put at a standstill. It was as though, outside these walls, the world went on, yet the Malfoys could not participate in it. Mostly thanks to Lucius and his death eater escapades. Narcissa had put up no effort to hide the fact that she was angered with the whole situation. If she had been the head of the family, they should never have been involved with Voldemort in the first place. And now, because the Battle had ended, and ex-death eaters were being hunted down, they had no choice but to ride this storm out in a tiny, non-existent place off the coast of rural Wales.

A sharp knock on the window made Narcissa stir and instinctively grab her wand. She exhaled when she realised it was only Hel, their owl, bringing the morning paper. She let the black bird in, stroking her feathers before finding some leftover pieces of meat from yesterday's dinner to reward her for the paper.

Turning open the front page, Narcissa scanned every centimeter quickly while sipping her tea and moving on to the next page when nothing stood out as interesting to her. As the witch moved on with this morning ritual, Hel moved on with hers, which was gulping down the water and the bird-feed that Narcissa always put out for her when she had finished her daily task. She then perched herself at the table, close to Narcissa's chest and listened to her steady breathing. Like a cat, she bowed her head towards the witch's body, and received distracted head scratches in return. Suddenly, Narcissa's breath hitched, and she stood up abruptly. On the page spread out at the table beneath her, was a moving picture of two shadows - one of which she unmistakably recognised as Bellatrix. Over the image, the headline read:

KILLERS ON THE LAM

"Oh, Bella, what have you done?" Narcissa breathed out in a daze, before making up her mind at a moment's notice. She had to act before something worse happened to her darling sister. A small smile flickered on her lips, as her thoughts started swirling - at least she now knew that Bellatrix was alive, whether it was someplace in Italy or another obscure part of Europe did not matter, she would find her nonetheless.