Soul Bound 24

“The court finds Rodolphus Lestrange guilty of all charges and sentences him to life in Azkaban with no chance of parole.”Dumbledore announced. Bellatrix shot up from her seat and cheered loudly. Seeing Rodolphus finally being held responsible for his crimes was even more satisfying than she thought it would be. The man of course was screaming his head off as he was dragged out of the room and when he made eye contact with Bellatrix in the crowd she waved at him then gave him the middle finger. He may not have recognized the muggle gesture but he obviously knew it was an insult because he started screaming insults and threats at her. The guards had him completely secured so he wouldn’t be able to do anything to her and that seemed to piss him off more. Bellatrix just laughed at him. 

“We did it!!”Bellatrix said pulling Andromeda into a hug.

“Two down many more to go.”Andromeda was extremely happy her sisters were free.

“The two most important down though.”Narcissa said receiving her own hug from Bellatrix. It wasn’t something she usually allowed in public but would make an exception in this case.

“That is true Cissa dear. Not only have we sent them away for life we have secured our friend’s inheritance.”Bellatrix was just as happy about Hermione’s inheritance being saved as she was about her husband being put away.

“Speaking of our friend. Let’s go deal with the press and get out of here. I’m sure they will have a lot to ask us due to us not answering questions the last three days.”Narcissa bet the press was going to be out in full force when they left the courtroom.

“With the new articles that have been released since the last time we talked to them they will have questions for all three of us.”Andromeda was more than happy to talk to the press. Especially due to the response from Molly over what Andromeda said about her and her house’s cleanliness. Then there was Ted’s response to the divorce’s court minutes and the judge’s full verdict. Andromeda was just going to let the public see the final ruling but her lawyer convinced her to have the complete transcripts released. Ted the idiot he was didn’t object.

“What have I done?”Narcissa couldn’t think of a reason the press would want to talk to her.

“They will think of something to ask you.”Bellatrix said as she led her sisters out of the courtroom and was met with a bigger crowd of reporters than they ever had before. All shouting questions at the same time with cameras flashing.

“Bellatrix how do you feel after hearing Rodolphus’ verdict?”A woman asked.

“I feel vindicated. Finally the rest of the world sees who the man truly is and because of that he is being held responsible for his crimes. He is also being stopped from committed anymore atrocities in the future.”Bellatrix was going to be riding the high she felt from Rodolphus being sent to Azkaban for life for a long time.

“What are your plans now that Rodolphus is going to Azkaban?”A man asked.

“First I’m going to go home and burn all of his personal belongings on the front lawn of the Lestrange Family Manor.”Bellatrix smiled when the crowd laughed.”Other than that I’m not sure. Probably spend some time with my sisters and get to know my niece better.”

“Bellatrix why do you think Rodolphus refused to take a truth potion before testifying?”A woman asked.

“He knew if he did he would get caught lying. Not that what he tried to say on the stand was believable. I mean he tried to say that I was actually the Dark Lord’s right hand and forced him to join the cause and take the Dark Mark. His answer when asked why I didn’t take the Dark Mark was quite telling I think.”Bellatrix and Andromeda had laughed when Rodolphus tried to claim Bellatrix had a bad reaction to the magic used for the Dark Mark so the Dark Lord couldn’t complete it properly.

“His brother’s trial is next. You claimed that he is mental handicapped. Due to that do you think it’s right for him to be put in Azkaban?”Another woman asked.

“I personally think that Rabastan should be put in St.Mugos. Yes he committed horrible crimes but he wouldn’t have if not told to do it by Rodolphus. Rabastan has the mind of a toddler and can’t make decisions for himself. I guarantee that he will not understand that he is being tried for any crimes and will be confused as to why people are talking about his past deeds.”Bellatrix didn’t think Rabastan should go to prison.

“So you would push for him to be hospitalized?”The same woman asked.

“I have been pushing for Rabastan to be hospitalized since the day I married Rodolphus.”Bellatrix hadn’t like the way Rabastan had been treated by his family.

“Why didn’t the Lestrange family act if Rabastan is as bad as you say?”A man asked.

“The Lestrange family didn’t want anyone to know about Rabastan’s condition because they felt it would reflect poorly on their blood line. They thought it would make people think their blood was weak if a member of the family was mentally impaired.”Bellatrix thought it was a reflection of their blood line. A reflection of the inbreeding ruining the minds and magic of their offspring.

“Bellatrix what are you going to do with the Lestrange fortune and estate now that you are the sole owner of it?”A women asked.

“I haven’t really thought about it. I likely won’t do anything outrageous because I don’t know exactly what I want to do in the future. That being the case if wouldn’t be good to give it all away incase I need to fund a business or build a new house for myself and my sisters.”Bellatrix was not going to do that much with the gold. Just spend it as she had always done.

“You wouldn’t give it away to charity?”A different woman asked.

“Seeing as I have no skills or education to get a job it would be silly to give away the only means I have to support myself. I don’t want to lose the freedom I just gained by giving away the only way I have to support myself. If anything I think I will start to live more frugally to make sure the gold lasts me the rest of my life.”Bellatrix lied. It was the perfect excuse to tell the public though and the one she would be using when Dumbledore came to her with his hand out. Seeing more than a few people nodding their heads in agreement to that Bellatrix knew it was a good one.

“Andromeda how do you feel about the claims made by Ted that you paid off the judge in your divorce case?”A man asked Andromeda.

”If I knew it was an option I would have done it because then the divorce wouldn’t have been as drawn out as it was.”Andromeda joked.”In all seriousness I did not bribe the judge and I am really getting sick of my ex-husband giving interviews to the press as often as he can. Everything he says is public record and one day my daughter might see that he father claimed that her mother was in a sexual relationship with her sisters. Not only is that untrue but it isn’t something that my daughter should be hearing about from her own father. I honestly fear when Dora is old enough to go Hogwarts because I worry that she will be bullied by the other kids over them hearing about Ted’s lies.”

“Has Ted reached out to you to see your daughter at all?”Another man asked.

“No he has not once reached out to me for anything. Nor has his lawyer. No one in the Tonks family has tried in anyway to see or speak to Dora.”Andromeda wouldn’t let them if they did.

“With the way he has been acting we aren’t planning on letting any of them see her even if they did reach out.”Bellatrix said.

“Do you think that he is really going to be able to overturn your divorce?”A different man asked.

“The judge who saw the case is extremely respectable and did everything by the book. Ted has no legal standing to even reopen the case and will most likely just waste gold he doesn’t have on hiring a lawyer who will fail. Most of you read the transcripts. You can see that Ted has no case.”Andromeda had spoken to her own lawyer about it and the woman promised she would make sure that Ted’s case didn’t see the time of day. Andromeda had sent a thank you bottle of a rare valuable elven wine to Augusta to thank her again for the recommendation. Andromeda’s lawyer was worth the high price she charged for her services and none of the Black sisters minded paying her the gold. They liked her so much that they were planning on using her exclusively in the future.

“What was the three of your reactions to learning that Molly Weasley had started taking up a collection for him to pay that lawyer?”A woman asked.

“We were unsurprised as we had expected it to happen. It just shows you that Molly has a personal vendetta again me and my sisters.”Andromeda was only surprised that the woman admitted to doing it.

“Do you think the public is going to donate their gold to her cause?”The same woman asked.

“What the public does with their gold is their own business. I just hope before they give their gold to her cause or any cause for that matter they do their research first. Don’t make the decision based on emotion. That’s the perfect way to get swindled.”Bellatrix warned.

“You think Molly is trying to swindle people?”A man asked.

“I don’t know what Molly is trying to do. I just don’t want people to get tricked out of their gold.”Bellatrix wouldn’t put it past Molly to swindle people.

“One thing people should remember before giving her gold is that she stole a lot of it from her own family and had to be threatened with the prospect of going to Azkaban to give it back. Personally I wouldn’t give my gold to a thief.”Andromeda wouldn’t give her gold to anyone who wanted her to back their cause. 

“How do you respond to Molly’s accusations that it is really the three of you that are jealous of her and not your claims of her being jealous of you?”A woman asked.

“Us jealous of Molly?!”Bellatrix laughed.”For what reason would we have to be jealous of her?”

“She claims that you are jealous because she is a Prewett and that she was more popular than all three of you in Hogwarts. That and she has more children than you.”The woman told her.

“We have nothing but respect for the Prewett family. That respect has never extended to Molly however. In school she was a nasty gossip who spreads lies about not only us but many others as well. She was not popular she was hated. You can ask anyone in our year. No one liked to be around her. As to her having children it’s true myself and Narcissa are in fact horribly jealous of that. Although it is rather rude for her to bring it up because the reason we don’t have children and never will is because of the bonds that we have with our husbands. Without a divorce neither of us will able to get pregnant. For Molly to hold that over our heads is disgusting.”Bellatrix kept her expression sad to sell the lie. Based on the faces of the crowd that were mostly angry and showed pity Bellatrix predicted Molly was going to get some more bad press.

“Another thing that should be brought up is the fact that we have never attacked Molly in any way. Yet she continues to attack us constantly. Teaming up with my ex husband after there has been overwhelming proof I am telling the truth just proves how despicable she is. My daughter testified telling the judge many instances of Ted endangering her or outright neglecting her and Molly a parent herself is trying to help him get custody of Dora. What kind of person supports that kind of parent child relationship?”Andromeda thought that was more than enough proof of what kind of person Molly was.

“It’s not surprising because she did tell you you should beat Dora to get her to behave better.”Bellatrix smiled when she heard gasps of shock.

“Molly recommended you beat your child to discipline her?”A man asked in disbelief.

“Molly not only beats her children but she screams at them as well. That’s how she parents them. We were out in public recently and visited a shop Molly and her children were in. The boys were all running around screaming their heads off and knocking into things. When speaking to Molly she dismissed their behavior by claiming they were boys and that’s just how they acted. Dora was with us and was completely well behaved and didn’t act out at all. So the child she told me to beat was acting just fine while the five she beats were extremely misbehaved.”Andromeda would gladly tell Molly’s secrets.

“Molly claims that she was an essential part of winning the war. What’s your opinion on that?”A man asked.

“Molly was not an essential part of winning the war. I’m not claiming I was either. The Order didn’t trust me because they thought I was aligned with my sisters and the Dark Lord. Even under those condition I was their main healer. Molly and her husband however had no role in doing anything. Neither were involved in planning missions nor did they participate in any missions. Mostly Molly would walk around screaming at people. She usually would hover over my shoulder while I worked on a patient to in her words make sure I didn’t actually hurt them more. She made no attempt to hide her distrust of me and many times tried to have me kicked out of the cause. She was only allowed to be a member in the first place because of the respect everyone had for her brothers. That is also the reason she wasn’t kicked out even though she insulted a lot of members.”Andromeda told them.

“Molly also claims that you Lady Malfoy and you Bellatrix didn’t in fact take truth potions before you gave your testimonies.”A man said.

“I invite Molly to take a truth potion and then let herself be questioned. Hell I will even take a truth potion and let her ask me questions if she agrees to take a truth potion and let me ask her questions.”Bellatrix smiled at the excited whispers coming from the crowd.

“Would anything be off limits during the questioning?”A woman asked.

“Nothing would be off limits. I will answer any question. I don’t care if it’s about my childhood, my relationship with my sisters, she could even ask me why I’m supposable jealous of her. It wouldn’t matter. If she agrees I’ll do it. Then we can finally put this stupid feud behind us and all go on with our lives.”Bellatrix had a feeling that Molly was going to be pestered until she agreed.”The only condition I have is that we get the potion from a respectable potionier so I know for certain she can’t poison me.”

“Is there a certain time you want to arrange this?”A man asked.

“Anytime she is available as long as I’m not needed in court I will do it. We can even do at her home so she is more comfortable.”Bellatrix also wanted everyone to see the shit hole Molly lived in.

“Would the two of you be willing to do it as well?”A woman asked Andromeda and Narcissa.

“I have no problem with it.”Andromeda like her sisters were immune to truth potions. Sofia was very intent on making the sisters immune to those and most poisons. They had already planned on working with Hermione when she was old enough to make her immune as well.

“If it will stop people from believing her lies then yes I will be involved. However I don’t trust her to get the potions. Likely she doesn’t trust us either but I refuse to let her acquire them.”Narcissa would never ingest anything Molly gave her.

“Lady Malfoy have you been contacted by anyone concerning Lucius’ heir?”It seems the crowd just realized Narcissa was there as well.

“No I have been contacted by no-one in regards to Lucius’ bastard.”Narcissa wouldn’t respond if anyone did.

“Are you going to reach out to the mother?”A man asked.

“My mind has not changed. I want nothing to do with the boy. Not now or in the future. The only exception to that is if Lucius dies and the child becomes Head of Household. Then we will have a discussion. Not before that happens however.”Narcissa knew it would never happen because Hermione would claim her titles before the boy could do anything. That is if Lucius didn’t die. If he did the boy was older than Hermione. Even if he was only a month older and claimed the title the vault was empty. Thinking about it Narcissa wondered if she should empty the many estates and put the contents in storage. That way the boy couldn’t sell any Malfoy family heirlooms. She would talk to her sisters about it later.

“Are you going to continue to live at Malfoy Manor?”A woman asked.

“My sisters and I are quite comfortable there and will not be moving out any time soon.”Narcissa lied. The three of them and Nymphadora had all officially moved in with the Grangers. They were going to wait but once it was confirmed that they weren’t being put under surveillance they felt it was safe to move. Narcissa had rearranged her room to magically add a bigger closet and a reading nook. Plus she added some extra furniture. It was she dare say the most comfortable room she had ever lived in.

“What are your plans for the Malfoy fortune now that you have sole access to it? Are you going to give gold to Lucius’ heir?”A man asked.

Narcissa held back a smirked thinking about what she already done with it.”I have no plans for it. As for giving it to the boy I have no plans to do that either. He will get access when Lucius dies no sooner.”

“You wouldn’t let the boy benefit from his father’s estate?”A woman asked.

“Would you willingly support your husband’s mistress and their love child? Would you especially support them when your husband was no longer in the picture? My marriage may have not been a love match but I still performed my duties as a wife. That at least should have gotten me enough respect from Lucius not to have a child out of wedlock. So to answer your question I’m not going be involved with the boy as he is a constant reminder of my horribly abusive husband and his many betrayals.”Narcissa told her.

“You shouldn’t!!”A man’s shouted out with the rest of the crowd joining in with their agreement.

“I think that should be all for today. See you at the next trial or if Molly agrees see you at her house to witness the questionings.”Bellatrix took her sisters’ arms and pushed them through the crowd. She ignored the questions and other shouting as she led them to the atrium. Once away from everyone she dropped their arms.

“You really know how to stir up shit Bella.”Andromeda said when they were clear of everyone. The crowd had stopped following them after realizing they wouldn’t make anymore comments.

“Molly will have to agree to it just to save face.”Bellatrix knew Molly would do it.

“I think she will agree to it without even focusing on the fact she will be questioned as well. She will just be so excited to ask us questions she won’t think of the repercussions.”Narcissa didn’t think Molly would consider the consequences of agreeing.

“True she isn’t that smart.”Andromeda said.

“I’m going to make her admit her marriage isn’t a love match.”Bellatrix wanted the world to know all Molly’s secrets.

“I am going to sit down and take some time to think of a list of questions.”Narcissa didn’t want to miss anything.

“I think we all should.”Andromeda didn’t want to throw away such an opportunity by being unprepared.

“I can’t wait to wipe the smirk she always has when talking to us off her face.”Bellatrix had always wanted to hex Molly due her belief she was superior to Bellatrix and her sisters.

“You know even if she goes through with this she will likely claim that the potions were tampered with and everything we said was a lie.”Narcissa told them.

“That and we forced her to say whatever she says after she takes the potion.”Andromeda could easily see Molly trying to disregard the outcome.

“That’s why we are doing it in front of the press. Then it won’t matter what she says because we will have dozens of witnesses to it happening. Maybe some people will believe her claims but most of the public won’t and that’s all that matters.”Bellatrix didn’t care if Molly spoke out against the results. The damage would be done and the sisters would get a break from having to deal with her because the press wouldn’t want to touch for fear of angering them.

“Do you think they are ever going to stop asking you about Lucius’ bastard?”Andromeda asked Narcissa.

Narcissa shook her head.”I will be questioned about him for the rest of my life.”

“That just gives you another reason to hate him.”Bellatrix expected the boy to be a continued irritation his whole life.

“Regardless of my feelings he isn’t my problem yet. I fear he will be if we step into our future roles like we plan to.”Narcissa was talking about teaching at Hogwarts.

Andromeda knew exactly what her sister was talking about.”I didn’t even think about that.”

“If I get the role I want I may be able to hex him a few times.”Bellatrix would definitely be using the boy for demonstrations of the nastier curses.

“I just don’t want him to try and speak to our friend.”Narcissa didn’t want the boy anywhere near Hermione.

“The three of us will stop that from happening.”Andromeda had no problem interfering if the boy tried to talk to Hermione.

“That and we will stop any Weasleys from approaching our friend.”Bellatrix said when she walked into the atrium.

“That’s a given.”If Narcissa had it her way a Weasley wouldn’t even attend Hogwarts while Hermione was there.

Andromeda got into line for the fireplaces.”It will be a full time job with how many Molly is popping out.”

“Why she has so many children is going to be one of my questions.”Bellatrix was sure Molly had an ulterior motive having all those children.

“We can worry about all that later. We have two days and a night with our friend and I don’t want anything ruining it.”Narcissa told them getting murmurs of agreement from her sisters. She hoped that Molly did agree to the questioning. It would be nice to finally have the validation of the public knowing that Narcissa and her sister were not the ones with the vendetta against Molly that it was actually Molly who had the vendetta against the sisters. Narcissa wanted this feud to be over with because Molly had pushed to far by aligning with Ted. It wouldn’t matter to Narcissa if Ted just kept his attacks focused on Andromeda. They laughed every time he said something about her. No it was the fact that Ted was bringing Nymphadora into this and that Molly was supporting him using a child as a weapon that pissed Narcissa off. She personally would never even mention Lucius’ child if she wasn’t constantly asked about him. Children should always be off limits and those who don’t follow that rule were despicable. That’s why Narcissa agreed to the questioning. She wanted Molly to lose her following.