Soul Bound 8

“Narcissa Malfoy this is Albus Dumbledore. I have a warrant to search your manor. Please allow myself and my people access. We are outside right now.”A ghostly white and silver phoenix said as it floated in front of Narcissa and Bellatrix. The pair had spent most of the day at the Granger’s only leaving because they knew the Order would be showing up soon. Now that they were there Narcissa was just annoyed they took so long. If they had acted the night before then she would have gotten more time with Hermione. Narcissa was just happy that she got a chance to feed the baby before they left. She and her sisters had done a perfect job of babysitting their soulmate and Narcissa was confident they would get asked to do it again.

“Well it seems the idiots have finally shown up.”Bellatrix like her sister was annoyed it took so long.

Narcissa set her book down on the coffee table and stood from her seat. She made her way out of the room with Bellatrix right beside her.”Now we get to deal with them tearing apart the manor.”

“If they break or ruin anything I will kill them.”Bellatrix wouldn’t put up with someone disrespecting Hermione’s property.

“You will do nothing more than scowl because if you act out you will be put in Azkaban with the others. Meaning you will be kept away from Hermione.”Narcissa didn’t want her sister to get in trouble.

”I can’t wait until she is old enough to get in trouble with me.”Bellatrix was going to involve Hermione in all her schemes in the future.

“I have no doubt the pair of you will give me many grey hairs due to your hijinks.”Narcissa stopped at the front door and pulled out her wand. She cast three spells before opening the door and making her way outside to the gate where a group of people including Dumbledore were waiting. Reaching the gate she opened it.”You can safely go into the manor but I warn you that some things including a few books in the library will attack those who are not purebloods.”

“Thank you Lady Malfoy. Everyone knows what to do.”Dumbledore motioned for the group to go ahead of him.

“My sister Bellatrix is here as well if you wish to speak to her.”Narcissa told him.

“I would indeed like to not only speak to her but you as well.”Dumbledore wasn’t sure what to make of the Black sisters. From the interrogations they had already done it seemed the pair were not very involved with the Dark Lord’s cause. They mostly just went to meetings but didn’t give any input on planning nor did they go on missions. The pair didn’t get the Dark Mark either. From what he could tell the Dark Lord kept Bellatrix around because she amused him. Narcissa he had no clue why she was important enough to invite to meetings.

“We both expected you to want to and will happily tell you everything we know.”Narcissa held back a smile when she saw the shocked expression flit across Dumbledore’s face before he schooled his features.

“You are going to tell us everything. Even if what you tell us will incriminate yourselves or your husbands?”Dumbledore wasn’t sure he believed that.

“We have committed no crimes so we aren’t worried about that. As for our husbands we were forced to marry them by our parents. 

If we can help you put them in Azkaban where they will no longer have access to us we will happily tell you everything.”Narcissa was being completely truthful. Both she and Bellatrix wanted their husbands locked up so they wouldn’t have to deal with them and they wouldn’t have access to Hermione’s inheritance.

“I guess the first thing I should ask you is what rooms did he use in the manor?”Dumbledore wanted to know where to focus.

“The ballroom he used for his meeting place. He even has a throne for himself in there. As for other rooms he had private meetings with Lucius in his study but mostly he used the ballroom. I was told he stayed at an old Gaunt family property. Which one I’m not sure.”Narcissa told him.

“That’s good to know.”Dumbledore hadn’t thought to look at any of the Gaunt family estates because they were all run down and uninhabitable. Now he was kicking himself for not looking.”Is there a place that we could speak privately?”

“Yes the kitchen is perfect as no one but me, my sister and the elves ever go in there.”Narcissa led him through the house down a hallway through a door into a large well maintained kitchen. Two house elves were sitting at a small table drinking tea. Seeing them react to Dumbledore Narcissa was quick to reassure them.”Don’t worry this man is going to help keep Lucius away from all of us for a long time.”

“Thank you sir.”The female elf said.

“We will help with anything you need to keep the master away.”The male elf offered.

“Lity and Dispy this is Albus Dumbledore. You have my permission to give him access to anything in the manor.”Narcissa knew the elves wouldn’t let him know about anything she hid on the property.

“Of course Cissa.”Lity said.

“In the mean time I hate to put you out but there are people searching the manor and they may need help. Would you be so kind to check in with them to see if they need any assistance?”Narcissa asked.

Lity drank the rest of her drink and stood from her chair.”We will go right now misses.”

“Thank you.”Narcissa had faith the elves would keep the building from being destroyed.

Dumbledore watched as Dispy finished his drink and with a wave of the hand he and Lity left the room.”You treat your household elves very respectfully.”

“You seem surprised.”Narcissa made her way to the stove and put on the kettle.”Have a seat. Would you like some tea?”

“Tea would be lovely. I am surprised because pureblood families don’t usually treat their elves that well.”Dumbledore took a seat at the small table. He wasn’t sure what to make of Narcissa’s treatment of her elves. It was obvious that the pair genuinely liked Narcissa and the woman let them call her a shorten version of her name. It wasn’t what he expected from Narcissa who was known as the Ice Queen and the perfect example of what a pureblood wife should be.

“My sisters and I have always treated our house elves well. We all believe the poor creatures deserve much more than just kindness for what they do for us. I personally would free all of them if it were safe for them to live in the magical world on their own.”Narcissa was a big fan of elves having freedom. It just wasn’t feasible yet.

“I have seen Andromeda treat house elves very well.”Dumbledore wanted to see how Narcissa would react to her sister being brought up.

“How is my sister?”Narcissa asked.

“She is happy. She and her husband have a loving marriage and a daughter that has more energy than anyone knows what to do with.”Dumbledore watched Narcissa’s face but the woman showed no emotions.

“I’m glad she is happy. That’s all I ever wanted for either of my sisters.”Narcissa knew they wouldn’t be completely happy until they could claim Hermione. Hearing the whistle go off Narcissa poured the hot water into the teapot and brought the full tea service to the table setting it in the middle before taking a seat.”Now I know you aren’t here to talk about my sister’s happiness so what would you like to know?”

Dumbledore took a minute to pour and doctor his tea.”I think the first question I have for you is why did you never receive the Dark Mark?”

“I was never offered the opportunity nor would I have taken it if given the offer.”Narcissa told him.

“The Dark Lord never offered to give you the Dark Mark?”Dumbledore asked.

Narcissa took a sip of her tea.”No I wasn’t involved in any of his business. He only requested I go to the meetings. I never went on a mission nor did I help him plan anything. As a matter of fact the only time I spoke in any meeting was at the last one he held to make a cutting remark about my husband.”

“Why did you go to meetings if you weren’t involved?”Dumbledore hadn’t understood why Narcissa was at every meeting if she wasn’t involved.

“I have no clue. I have never even had a personal conversation with the Dark Lord nor have I shown any interest in his cause. For some reason probably only the man himself knows he had Lucius tell me that I was expected to be at every meeting. The same thing with Bellatrix.”Narcissa didn’t think she would ever find out why the Dark Lord requested herself and her sister in his meetings.

“What was discussed at these meetings?”Dumbledore focused his attention on Narcissa’s mind trying to find a way in. He was surprised to find himself blocked by powerful mental walls.

Narcissa held back a smirk when she felt a nudge against the walls protecting her mind.”Some meetings were large ones where it would seem like he just called everyone there to hear him talk. Others were small with only a handful of people where he discussed plans for or the results of different missions. The last one I went to was last night when a group of his followers came here after it was revealed he was killed. They were of the opinion that myself and Bellatrix should give them all the gold in our husband’s vaults so they could use it to hide.”

“Can you give me a list of name’s of the people that were at those meetings?”Dumbledore was very interested in knowing that the sisters had access to their husband’s vaults. If he could plan it right he could get them to give him access as well.

“I can do you one better. I kept a record of every meeting to include who was in attendance and what topics were talked about.”Narcissa knew it would be important to have the information to prove she was never on the Dark Lord’s side.

Dumbledore couldn’t stop his gasp of surprise.”You have a detailed account of every meeting the Dark Lord held in this manor?”

“Well not the first dozen. Bellatrix would have the details of those as she was asked to come to the meetings from the very beginning.”Narcissa told him.

“Would you be willing to testify in court to what you witnessed?”Dumbledore was now a firm believer that Narcissa was not involved with the Dark Lord. She wouldn’t have kept a record of everything from the beginning if she was a follower.

“I would testify against my own husband if you wanted me to.”Narcissa didn’t care what she had to do to put the Dark Lord’s followers away.

“What exactly was your sister’s role in things? You mentioned that she was called to the meetings from the beginning but why was that?”Dumbledore would have expected Bellatrix to be one of the Dark Lord’s soldiers as her skills at dueling were well known.

“He found her amusing. He would have recruited her but he believed that she didn’t have the temperament for killing anyone. That said he encouraged her to fight his people. He would sometimes use fighting Bellatrix as a punishment.”Narcissa was happy the Dark Lord didn’t have faith in Bellatrix.

“I would have thought she would have been one of his most devoted followers.”Dumbledore said.

“That’s were you are wrong. My sister like myself does not believe in blood purity. We have no problem with muggles or muggleborns. We even support squibs having rights. The reason we even associated with the Dark Lord and his people is because our husbands which we are bound to with blood magic forced us to. If you really must know we think that pureblood families only having children with other pureblood families weakens their children’s magic due to all the inbreeding.”Narcissa told him.

“Then why did you disown your sister?”Dumbledore knew how close the sisters were. If they didn’t believe her marriage was wrong he didn’t know why they stopped talking to her.

“I didn’t disown my sister, my parents did. As to why we haven’t talked to her it’s quite simple. If we had we would have been punished severely or even killed for associating with who our husbands and their master see as the enemy.”Narcissa wasn’t going to admit they never stopped talking to Andromeda. It wasn’t any of Dumbledore’s business.

“I think she would be happy to speak to both of you.”Dumbledore was going to go out of his way to encourage the reconciliation between the sisters. Narcissa and Bellatrix had access to two pureblood vaults. If he could get their loyalty it would give him access to a large fortune. With that money he could finally live the life he always deserved.

Narcissa could easily see what Dumbledore’s motive for them talking to their sister was. Andromeda told them all about his many attempts at getting gold from Sirius.”I want to see how the trials go first. It wouldn’t do to reach out to my sister if my husband remains free.”

“You don’t have to worry. The evidence we have against him and the Lestrange brothers is enough that they will never breathe free air ever again.”Dumbledore was going to pin the deaths of Lily and James on the trio to guarantee their conviction. 

“I won’t be able to relax until I see him leave the court chambers in shackles.”Narcissa wasn’t going to let down her guard until Lucius was occupying a cell in Azkaban.

Dumbledore made note to make Lucius’ and Rodolphus’ trials some of the first ones. The sooner he reunited the sisters the faster he could get his hands on the gold.”Is there anything else you can think of that might help in convicting the Dark Lord’s followers?”

“Not really. I recorded anything I thought would be important outside of the meetings and recorded everything about the meetings themselves. The only other thing I can offer is my testimony at their trials.”Narcissa expected she and Bellatrix were going to be the star witnesses for the prosecution at many trials in the future.

“I think that’s all I have to ask you. Now I’ll go find Bellatrix.”Dumbledore didn’t expect Bellatrix to tell him anything more than Narcissa did but he had to ask her questions to keep up appearances.

“I bet she is in the library guarding the books.”Narcissa knew Bellatrix would want to stop anyone from ruining her favorite room in the house.

“I see she still has her love of reading. I remember having to have many talks with her about sneaking into the restricted section at Hogwarts.”Dumbledore had been afraid at the time that Bellatrix was trying to find books on dark magic to learn spells. If Narcissa was to be believed and he thought she was it seemed that Bellatrix just wanted to learn. The proof being the Dark Lord didn’t think she had the temperament to kill anyone. If a man who would take the weakest of magic users on his side thought it it had to be true.

“Bellatrix can always be found with a book in her hand. That is if she isn’t flying out back.”Narcissa was looking forward to when she would be able to go flying with her sister. A pureblood wife didn’t fly on brooms. That meant that Narcissa in her role as the perfect pureblood wife didn’t fly on brooms. No matter how much she wanted to.

“Sir we haven’t found anything.”A middle aged man dressed in auror robes said as he approached Dumbledore and Narcissa in the hallway.

“How much of the manor has been searched?”Dumbledore was hoping to find some physical evidence.

“About three quarters. We were stopped from searching a few rooms by Lady Lestrange who told us they were her and her sister’s private quarters. A couple people tried to push the issue but she warded the rooms and won’t let us in.”The man told him.

Narcissa held back a sigh. She told Bellatrix to cooperate.”I can have her take down the wards if you want.”

“That would be nice because even if you wouldn’t put anything incriminating in there someone else might.”Dumbledore was pleased Narcissa wasn’t fighting them on looking places. It was just more proof of her innocence.

“That’s a good point and one I will be using to get Bellatrix to take down the wards.”Narcissa led the way to the library opening the door finding her sister hovering over a woman looking through one of the four desks in the room.”Bella why did you ward our rooms?”

“Because these vermin don’t have the right to look though our underwear drawers.”Bellatrix didn’t want anyone touching her stuff.

“They need to make sure no one hid something in one of the rooms.”Narcissa told her.

“Like someone could get past the wards you and I normally use on them.”Bellatrix knew that no-one went into her room.

“The sooner they search the manor the sooner you can visit your friend.”Narcissa knew using seeing Hermione would get Bellatrix to agree.

“That is true.”Bellatrix wanted the group to leave so that she could be free to do what she wanted. Looking at her watch she noticed it wasn’t that late and if they finished soon then she could see Hermione before she went to bed.”Fine but if I find a pair of my underwear missing I’m hunting all of you down.”

“Thank you Lady Lestrange.”Dumbledore was happy that Bellatrix was going to take down the wards because he didn’t want to have to fight her.

“It’s Black.”Bellatrix corrected.”I never took my idiot husband’s family name.”

“I apologize. Lady Black thank you for taking down the wards. May I ask why you didn’t take your husband’s name?”Dumbledore asked before he could stop himself.

“My husband is a weak man who doesn’t deserve to even be in the same room as me let alone claim me as his wife. If it wasn’t for the blood magic used to bond us together I would have shown him my displeasure at being married to him a long time ago. The fact of the matter is I would have taken Cissa and run off with Andy if Cissa was of age but she wasn’t. How I got stuck with Rod was he was originally set to marry Andy. When she married Ted I made a deal with my parents and the Lestrange family that if they left Andy alone I would take her place and marry Rod. Rod was madly in love with me at the time so he happily agreed. Since then I spend as little time with him as possible and have devoted my life to keeping Lucius in line.”Bellatrix lied. She would have never run off because of the prophesies. She just needed to give Dumbledore reasons to think she was trustworthy.

“I didn’t realize you had made that deal.”Dumbledore wondered if Andromeda knew about it. It did give a point in Bellatrix’s favor of her not being a part of the Dark Lord’s side.”Would it be alright to ask you some questions?”

“Sure go ahead.”Bellatrix led Dumbledore and Narcissa through the hallway coming to a stop at a green and silver door. Pulling out her wand Bellatrix began undoing the wards.

“Why were you never given the Dark Mark?”Dumbledore watched Bellatrix wield her magic and had to admit that he was quite impressed with Bellatrix’s skills. Some of the spells he didn’t even recognize.

”Probably because I made it well known I didn’t want it.”Bellatrix told him.

“You told others you didn’t want the mark?”Dumbledore asked in surprise.

“Yes because I didn’t want my body to be a slave to someone else’s desires. Something I constantly brought up anytime the mark was mentioned. Another reason could be was because the Dark Lord didn’t think I was mentally strong enough to be one of his Death Eaters.”Bellatrix brought down the last ward.”The room is safe to go into now.”

Dumbledore motioned to the two men standing with them.”Was there a reason he thought that?”

“I’m not a big fan of blood or gore and on a few occasions emptied the contents of my stomach when some of his people came back beaten and bloody. I especially can’t handle open wounds.”Bellatrix had forced herself to throw up so the Dark Lord would think she was weak. She knew her skills had peaked his interest and she wanted him to dismiss her as a weak woman.

“That would definitely be an issue if you went out on missions for him.”Dumbledore wouldn’t send Bellatrix out on missions either if she was one of his soldiers. Learning of her weak stomach did put a damper in his plans to recruit her as a soldier in the future. He figured he could still use her in a different role though.

“She has been like that since we were kids.”Narcissa lied. She could see the way Dumbledore was watching Bellatrix and wanted to get him out of the mindset she could be recruited by the Order.

“Narcissa said that you had been invited to the meetings he held here since the beginning of the Dark Lord using Malfoy Manor as his headquarters. Why were you included when you weren’t involved with the cause?”Dumbledore asked.

“I think he saw me as his court jester. I made him laugh when I would mouth off and insult his followers. Something that came naturally to me because I couldn’t stand any of them. I think he knew that as well. Honestly though I really don’t know why I was included because I didn’t help plan anything nor did I organize any projects. I literally would only open my mouth to verbally attack someone.”Bellatrix stopped at Narcissa’s bedroom door and began taking down the wards.

“Are you willing to give me the notes you took on the meetings you attended?”Dumbledore was still confused on why the Dark Lord insisted that both sisters attend his meetings but he did believe that they were not the man’s followers. It seemed to him like they were just two women who were forced by magic to stay married to men they hated. The only reason either of them were associated with the Dark Lord was because of their husbands. It was obvious neither sister even believed in blood purity.

“You can have those and if you want I can go to Rod’s manor and get you all of his personal journals.”Bellatrix offered.

“Rodolphus kept journals?”Dumbledore would definitely be interested in those.

“He wrote down everything. It didn’t matter what time he got home he would spent sometimes two or three hours writing down everything he did that day from what he ate to who he saw walking on the street.”Bellatrix waved her wand one last time bringing down the final ward.”These rooms are safe now.”

“I would appreciate it if you could get me those journals.”Dumbledore hoped they were as detailed as Bellatrix said. If they were it would give them more than enough evidence to convict the man.

“I would do anything to help put that scumbag away.”Bellatrix said.

“Does that mean you would testify against him and the other followers of the Dark Lord?”Dumbledore asked.

“Of course. I would happily be a witness for the prosecution.”Bellatrix had been planning on being a witness since the Dark Lord showed up. That was why she and Narcissa kept such detailed records of everything. Not only to get a lot of people convicted but to prove they weren’t on the Dark Lord’s side.

“Is there anything you can think of that would be important for helping us catch any of them that are one the run?”Dumbledore still had a list of people he needed to track down and any help would be nice.

“Last night a group of them showed up here demanding gold from Narcissa and myself. A few of them were purebloods who obviously had no access to the family vaults. That being the case I think that some of them are going to start selling family heirlooms. If I were you I would keep an eye on fences and pawn shops.”Bellatrix suggested.

“That’s a good idea.”Dumbledore wouldn’t have thought of that. He added that as more proof Bellatrix wasn’t one of the Dark Lord’s followers.

“Do you have any more questions because I would really like to get back to my room so I can watch them go through my stuff.”Bellatrix didn’t want her room trashed.

“I think that’s all for now. Just make sure you get your notes and those journals to me tomorrow.”Dumbledore told her.

“We can do that.”Narcissa would be going over to the Lestrange home with Bellatrix so she could help her sister burn her husband’s belongings. They had been waiting for the Order to finish with Malfoy Manor before they burned Lucius’.

“Thank you for being cooperative. I’m going to check in with everyone and will let you know when we are done.”Dumbledore didn’t think they would find anything and was planning on getting some teams together to visit the Gaunt family properties when they were done.

“Let us know if we can help in any way.”Narcissa said.

“I will.”Dumbledore knew he would be contacting the sisters a lot in the coming days.

Bellatrix watched him walk away.”I want to go check out my room. Once they’re done in there I’ll come back here and make sure they are respectful with your things.”

“Thank you.”Narcissa knew with Bellatrix there her stuff would be safe.

“Come get me if anyone steps out of line.”Bellatrix wouldn’t put up with any disrespect.

“Alright.”Narcissa called out to her sister’s retreating back. Taking stock of everything Narcissa thought that she and Bellatrix had played their parts perfectly. Dumbledore had obviously believed them which meant they wouldn’t be charged with anything. Narcissa was somewhat concerned about his obvious want of the sisters reuniting so he could get access to the Lestrange and Malfoy vault. Not that she or her sisters would let that happen. Narcissa’s worry was for the pressure he was going to put on them and then on Hermione once he learned about her. It was something all three sisters were worried about. They didn’t want Hermione to get caught up in one of his games. The man used people like chess pieces willing to sacrifice them with no hesitation or remorse. It was just more proof that Narcissa needed to get a job at Hogwarts. That was the only way she could completely protect Hermione from him. Maybe she could use his want to get access to her vault as a way to secure a job. It was something she would bring up with her sisters. Now she needed to focus on the three people who were walking towards her rooms. She wanted to make sure they didn’t wreck anything.