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Let one thing be very clear, Bellatrix was not insane nor a madwoman. That was a vicious rumour started by her enemies after she tortured one of the little beasts to death while manically cackling.
She still didn't understand why the Order would talk about her as if she couldn't be reasoned with. As if she would suddenly twirl around and stab someone in the chest before licking the blood of her knife, like she had done with one the Prewett twins.
Wasn't it logical for her to act that way. She had all those knives, hidden between the folds of her skirts even before she attended Hogwarts. Those knives were good for only one thing. Intimidation, and well if they could also ensure hands were kept away from her body then that was a convenient extra.
But no, their original purpose had been for intimidation.
Orion had given her her first one, when she was about to attend her first ball and had shown her how to use it. Not that using a knife was all that difficult, the pointy end needed to be kept away from your own body and close to your opponent's. It was only when her collection reached the double digits that Bella seriously started to look into flashy knife moves. Anything that would help her show she was the most dangerous person in any given room.
And now? Now she barely needed to show a knife before people started backing away from her. The smile on her face enough to deter even the densest idiots from approaching.
"Bella, no knives in bed."
But there was one exception, no matter how Bella smiled, no matter how she made the knife twirl between her fingers, her lover didn't seem fazed at all. And Bella didn't know what to do with that, except comply when asked to put her knives down.
Especially when there was such a sweet reward waiting for her.
"Of course, love, anything you want."
Bella disposed of her knives on the bedside table, even the ones hidden in her garter. She was safe here, and the knives would only hold her up when she was trying to get as physically close as possible to her lover.
The next morning, Bella awoke in a rush. Her Dark Mark tingled and grabbed a hold of all her attention. She needed to hurry to be on time for the rendezvous with the Lestrange brothers near the Longbottom residence. There was no time to collect all her treasured weapons, and beside the time issue, they would be safe here.
Bella gave her lover a goodbye kiss, and then quickly apparated towards the meeting point. They would need to move quickly, the Longbottoms were a well-defended family and with the way the world was currently in complete disarray, there was no room for mistakes.
Bella had her wand in one hand and one of her knives in the other, ready for anything and everything the Longbottoms could throw at them.
But not for the Aurors who were waiting for them.
They were dragged to the Wizengamot before Bella could curse, or stab, a single of them. And that was where they made a mistake, they weren't breaking any laws (not that Bella would have cared about that either way), and the Aurors wouldn't be able to prosecute them for something they weren't able to do. So why exactly did these dunderheads think that they could simply send a group of purebloods to Azkaban for the crime of existing in a public space.
The manic smile on Bella's face scared the Aurors enough that they kept a wide breath from her. Enough that she was easily able to discern the different members of the Wizengamot, her lover among them.
It was at that moment, when Bella's eyes caught those of her lover, her former-lover, the monster in her nightmares, the worst thing that had ever happened to her, and the person she would kill slowly regardless of the cost to her own life, that she realised it had all been a lie.
Amelia Bones looked her straight in the eye and gently smiled. She ruled over the Wizengamot, presented the evidence and showed the memories that all showed that Bella, the Lestranage brothers and Barty had tortured the Longbottoms into insanity.
The one piece of physical evidence, a knife with Bella's family crest and name branded into it.
Bella was dragged to a Ministry cell, far away from the other prisoners. There could be many reasons to isolate her, but Bella could only consider one. Someone was planning to gloat, and for once it wouldn't be Bella herself.
"It's not my fault you know."
Bella didn't look at Amelia, didn't deign to give that traitor her attention.
"You dug yourself this grave, so go and takе the fall. Someone has to, and it wasn't going to be me."
Bella still didn't look at the woman who had held her heart in her hands for years.
"You have to watch you back for random acts of violence, but you didn't. Now be a good girl and don't give the Aurors too much grief on your way to Azkaban. I'm going to Fortescue with Hannah before the afternoon rush, so I don't have time for your dramatics."
Bella watched Amelia's retreating back and didn't utter a single sound when the Aurors came to accompany her to Azkaban. Maybe she should have realised sooner that there had been no room for us between her and Amelia.
After all, she had never met the niece who meant so much to her. Which was only logical when Amelia had always been planning to stab her in the back with her own knife.