Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or anything in their magical world. These characters and their world belong to the talented J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.
At some point, Bella must have fallen asleep because she was awoken by a very annoying voice shouting orders at her. The voice sounded familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it. All she knew for sure was that it was giving her a headache.
“Sit up,” the voice snapped. “You need to take the blood-replenishing potion.”
Instinctively, Bella turned to see who was speaking to her, but she saw nothing but darkness. The hopelessness of her situation hit her. It made her want to curl up and cry, but she was not about to do it. She needed to maintain the small amount of dignity that she had left.
“Who are you?” she demanded. “Where’s Andy?”
“My mother had to go into town. She asked me to stay with you. You could show a little gratitude. It’s not like I want to spend my day nursing your cruel psychotic ass back to health.”
“I’m sure you’d much rather be snogging your werewolf boyfriend. Don’t you worry about the kind of genes you’ll be passing down to your children?”
Bella heard a loud clap, and pain shot through her cheek as Tonks hand connected with it.
“Why are you so hateful?” the younger woman yelled. “Have you ever loved anyone? Do you really care about nothing other than blood status and genes?”
Bella said nothing. There was nothing for her to say. Every horrible thing her niece thought about her past was true. She couldn’t defend herself; even if she could no one would listen. To the whole world, she would always be a monster. Well, to everyone but her forgiving sister.
“Are you going to take this or not?” Tonks demanded, after a few minutes of silence.
Bella forced herself into a sitting position and accepted the vial Tonks pushed into her hand. She drank the foul tasting substance and allowed her niece to take the vial back.
“Do you need the pain potion?”
Bella shook her head. “No, I’m all right.”
“Fine,” Tonks said shortly. “Do you need anything else?”
Bella didn’t answer right away. Her mouth was dry and sore, but the thought of asking Tonks for anything sickened her. She hated that she was reduced to this. She couldn’t even take care of herself. She was forced to rely on someone who clearly hated her.
Tonks realized why she hesitated to answer.
“If you want something, please, just tell me,” she said in a much calmer voice. “Mum asked me to take care of you. I promised that I would. Just tell me what you need and I’ll get it.”
“Just a glass of water, please,” Bella told her weakly.
“Sure.”
Bella listened as Tonks left the room. She returned promptly and shoved a cold glass into Bella’s hand.
“Thank you.”
Tonks didn’t respond, however, she did sit on the edge of the bed. This was odd. Why would she want to spend more time in the presence of a woman she deemed to be a monster?
She sipped her water before attempting to speak. “I expected you to flee the room as soon as you fulfilled your obligations. I can’t imagine that you desire my company, so what is it that is keeping you here?”
“I’m trying to understand why my mother is so determined to protect you.”
“Because we’re sisters,” Bella told her simply, repeating the words Andromeda had said to her countless times since she arrived. “There was a time when your mother and I were very close.”
“Until you disowned her for marrying my father.”
“Your mother chose her path, and I chose mine.”
“My mother chose to follow her heart. She has led a decent life. You chose to follow an evil master. You have spent your life torturing and killing. You hate for the sake of hate. I don’t care who you used to be, or how close you were to my mother. The things you have done are unforgivable, and you deserve to pay for them. You should be rotting in Azkaban, instead of taking advantage of my mother’s charity.”
Bella knew that her niece spoke the truth. Andromeda had chosen to live a good life. She married a decent man and raised a highly intelligent daughter. Whereas, Bella had followed the Dark Lord. She spent her life on her knees. She had worshipped and obeyed, or she would have died. And she had certainly done unforgivable things in her master’s name. She had no argument for her niece’s allegations because there wasn’t one.
“What do you want me to say, Tonks?” she finally asked.
The young witch sighed loudly. “I honestly don’t know. I don’t think there’s anything you can say. There’s no way that you can justify what you’ve done. It’s not like it matters anyway because you don’t want to justify it. You don’t think you need to. You think you were right.”
It wasn’t exactly true. Bella knew she couldn’t justify her actions, but she certainly didn’t feel that they were right. She supported her ideals, and she would continue to do so. But she didn’t have the right to kill and torment Mudbloods just because they were inferior to her. She was finally beginning to realize that. However, she knew there was no point in explaining that to her niece. Tonks had already made up her mind about Aunt Bellatrix.
“I don’t know what you want from me,” she said at last.
“She wants the same thing I do,” said an angry male voice that she recognized as Ted’s. “She wants you out of her life, and out of her mother’s life.”
“Dad, what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be at work.”
“Andromeda stopped in to see me. When she told me that she left you alone with this killer, I was understandably concerned. I came to make sure that you were all right. I can’t believe your mother would leave you alone with her. It’s bad enough that she insists on risking her own life, but to put you in danger.”
“Dad, I’m an Auror, and she’s injured. I think I can manage.”
“You don’t realize how evil she is.”
“You know that I’m blind, not deaf right?” Bella muttered.
“It’s not like you have feelings,” Ted snapped. “You couldn’t have done the things you did if you had any capacity to feel.”
Bella was surprised that the remark stung. She had certainly had worse things said to her. She should be used to hearing it. Tonks had said practically the same words to her only a few minutes earlier.
But she found that Ted’s comment hurt her. She was tired of people telling her that she didn’t feel. It wasn’t true. She had the capacity to feel. Maybe she had never been in love, but she had felt love. She loved her sisters, in her own way. She always had.
“That’s enough, Dad,” Tonks said. “You’re upsetting her. We need to leave her alone. I promised Mum that I would take care of her.”
With that they left the room, allowing the door to slam shut behind them.