Title : Bella's Daughter
Penname : Stacey
Rating : PG13
Pairing : none
Constructive Criticism : Yes please
Disclaimer : Don't own any of the characters created by our beloved JKR, just borrowing them to play

PART 1

Everyone agreed that they had never seen a more beautiful baby that grew into an extraordinarily beautiful little girl. Thick dark brown hair, not quite black, just a very rich brown, fell in perfect waves to her waist. Stormy grey eyes framed by lush lashes gazed out of an aristocratic face, high cheekbones, perfect rosebud lips, and creamy pale complexion. The girl felt like a misfit among her older brothers, a loud unruly mob of sandy blonde- brown haired children with dark brown eyes. They liked to play football, and with insects, and worms, and even spiders. She preferred to sit in her room, decorated like a princess in a fairy-tale. She would sit and read and dream about her “real” parents. Not that she didn’t love her parents, she did, but she felt that she just didn’t belong.
“Isabella Lillianne Bruno, could you please come here?” Her mother stood at the bottom of the steps waving a piece of paper excitedly. Isabella slowly walked down the stairs, not sure why a feeling of excitement mixed with dread filled her at the sight of that paper. “Isabella, this paper is an invitation to attend Cumberland Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry.” Her mother looked at her expectantly. Isabella couldn’t think.
“You mean where Aunt Joanne went to school? But Aunt Joanne is a witch, I’m nobody.” Isabella knew it had to be a mistake, she was not a witch. Sometimes weird things happened around her, and sometimes she knew things, but she wasn’t a witch. She couldn’t be.

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The next few years flew by and before she knew it she was seventeen and was going into her final year at Cumberland Academy. She had turned into a tremendous witch, the smartest, most powerful witch of her generation. She was a bit unsure when her headmistress Professor Dennison appeared at her home before school started back up after summer break.
“Professor Dennison, whatever are you doing here?”
“My dear Isabella, you have been chosen for a great honor. Every year one witch or wizard from all over the world gets selected to go to the greatest wizarding school in the world for their final year. You, Isabella, have been chosen to go to the famed Hogwarts School in England.”
Isabella was shocked, “How is that possible?”
“The selection is based on grades, scores of standardized tests and personal recommendations of teachers. Each wizarding school nominates one student and the Hogwarts staff decides which student to invite for the year. Congratulations Isabella, you deserve it.”
“Thank you Professor Dennison. I hope I can make everyone at Cumberland Academy proud of me.”
Isabella was all aflutter packing. What should she take with her? She packed her school robes, dress robes, a gown she had worn to last years Homecoming dance, and all her favorite blue jeans and t-shirts. She threw sandals and sneakers, and all her high heels in the bag. She also packed some of her favorite “muggle” items, her I-pod filled with her favorite music, and her laptop. She hoped she’d be able to pick up a wireless connection at Hogwarts. That was one thing she loved about Cumberland Academy. They combined magic with the most up to the minute technology. Before she knew it she was arriving in London via airplane with her mother. Her mother wanted to do some last minute mother-daughter bonding and thought shopping and sight-seeing in London was just the way to do it.

***************************************************

The second day Isabella and her mother had found their way to Diagon Alley. As they were walking along they passed a large group of people laughing and joking as they shopped for school. A beautiful girl with silvery blonde hair held hands with a gangly boy with shocking turqoise hair, lagging behind the grown-ups, heads leaning toward each other whispering. Isabella grinned. “Puppy love”, she thought as she walked passed.
“Murderer!” A shout came from behind Isabella. She and her mother turned to see what was going on. An older woman with fading red hair pushed through the crowd with her wand raised and advanced on Isabella. “Bellatrix! How many times do I have to kill you before you’re dead?”
“Mum! That’s not Bellatrix! You’re scaring the poor girl. Sorry about all that. I’m Ron, Ron Weasley, my wife Hermoine, my sister Ginny, her husband Harry, and that’s his godson Teddy with my niece Victorie. And you met my mum, Molly. I’m sorry, it’s just you look remarkably like this evil witch we knew once. She’s dead though, died in the war with her master Voldemort.” At the sound of his name a shudder went through Isabella.
“I’m sorry for freaking your mom out. I’m Isabella Bruno and this is my mom Jennifer. We’re from the States.”
“Yes, my Isabella has been chosen to attend Hogwarts for her last year of school. It’s a very famous wizarding school, and my Isabella was chosen from hundreds of students. It’s a great honor.” Jennifer beamed sure that these wizards would be suitably impressed with her daughter.
“Yeah, it’s a great school. Ron, Hermoine, Ginny, and I were all in Gryffindore house at Hogwarts. Teddy is in Hufflepuff house and Victorie is in Ravenclaw.” the dark haired man with the bright green eyes said with a smile. “You’ll have a wonderful time there Isabella.” He looked into her eyes and paled. “You have his eyes.” he murmured under his breath. “Well we have to be going now. It was very nice to meet you.”

**************************************************

As they walked off the debate heated up, exactly whose child was she? Harry was certain she must be Sirius’s daughter, she had his eyes. Molly argued they were the Black family eyes, and she had to be Bella’s daughter. They immediately ruled out who in the Black family it could not be : Regulus, long dead in the first war; Narcissia, they would have known if she had had another child, the same for Andromeda. The only possible suspects were Bella, Sirius, or if Tonks had had a child before Teddy that no one knew about. They were pretty sure they could rule that theory out. Harry decided to contact Professor McGonagall, the current Headmistress at Hogwarts.

Professor,
We have run into your new student Isabella Bruno from the States. What do you know of her background, particularly who her parents are? The reason for my concern is that she looks almost identical to Bellatrix Black and has Sirius’s eyes. Anything you could find out for me, I’d be most grateful.
Harry Potter

McGonagall looked up from the message the owl had delivered. She took a closer look into the records. What she found was quite disturbing, the girl had been born and abandoned in a New York hospital exactly nine months to the day of Sirius’s death. She knew that Sirius had not had any contact with any women outside the order in the two weeks prior to his death so that ruled him out. Could the girl be Bellatrix’s daughter? And if so, who was the father? It couldn’t have been her husband, he was still in Azkaban when Sirius had died, so which Death Eater could it be? McGonagall paled when she realized who the only possible candidate of Bella’s baby’s father - Voldemort.
Dear God in Heaven, what sort of evil viper had they invited into their bosom? Words used to describe the girl now took an ominous ring, powerful, talented, strongest of her generation; all words used to describe Tom Riddle in school. With trepidation she realized all she could do was wait and watch, and be always vigilant

awesome story

Heyyy this it's so good, I've just read bella's baby, and now I found this fic!!!
Good job Stacey!!

ε(ت)з Maddy

Ooh wow! Just like Tom Riddle? I hope not! Poor Isabella! Her name's even similar to Bellatrix's! I really hope she isn't similar!

Anyway, I loved Molly saying "How many times do I have to kill you before you're dead?" Brilliant! Go Molly!

Loving this!

Ebony

xxx

Thanks guys. I hope to post part 2 real soon.

This is so interesting! I love that you included the trio and their family. Very cool! Can't wait for more!



~Pawprint

Sorry it's so short, I hope the next post will be longer

Part 2
Isabella waved goodbye and got on her broom. The nice man with dark hair and green eyes was escorting her to Hogwarts early per Headmistress MacGonagall’s request. Her mother was leaving for the States later that afternoon, but she had promised the whole family would fly over for Christmas. Isabella’s belongings had been sent on ahead on the train but the wouldn’t arrive until after Isabella had gotten there. The brooms were a much faster way to travel.
“Mr. Potter, do you know what this is about?” Isabella shouted over to Harry.
“I have an idea, but we’ll discuss this at Hogwarts.” Harry yelled back. After an hour or so of flying they found themselves on the rounds of Hogwarts. Isabella had never seen anything more beautiful in her life. This wonderful place was going to be her home for the next year. Isabella’s face flushed with joy, she felt as if she had come home.
Isabella and Harry entered McGonagall’s office. It was filled with treasures that captured Isabella’s attention as she moved from case to case.
“Welcome Isabella, Harry. Please have a seat. Tea, anyone? Isabella, I’ve brought you here to discuss your parents.” Isabella was confused, her parents were muggles. Would they kick her out because of that?
“My parents? What do they have to do with this?”
“I mean your birth parents. I know that you are aware that you were adopted. Have you ever wondered about the parents that gave you up?”
“Not really, I wondered a little but I’ve never wanted to find them or anything, that would break my mother’s heart. My mom and dad are just that, my mom and dad. Those other people are strangers that just happened to give birth to me.” Isabella wondered where this conversation was leading, and thought that she didn’t want to know. “Headmistress MacGonagall, if this is about my birth parents, I don’t want to know.”
“I’m sorry Isabella, but you must know. I have found out that your parents were two of the most powerful wizards in recent history. Two very evil, destructive people who tried to take over the world, Lord Voldemort and Bellatrix LeStrange.” Isabella gasped. Even she had heard of them, and they were her birth parents? This was worse than she imagined. Before she could get her mind wrapped around this announcement an old brown hat was placed on her head.
“Hmmm. Where to put you. Very powerful, very smart, you’d do well in Slytherin, hmmm” Isabella shuddered at that. “Loyal, and a pure heart, reminds me of another Black, hmmm, can see signs of your parents in your blood, but something more, hmmmm, something they didn’t have, most curious…where to put you? You’re no Hufflepuff, but Ravenclaw…you’ve got the brains, but no, not there…Slytherin or Gryphindore?”
Isabella prayed as never before. “I’m not my parents, I’m not, I’m not.”she thought.
“No, not your parents…you must be Gryphindore. More like that other Black boy than your parents, must run in the family amid all that pure-blood.”
Harry beamed as the hat compared Isabella to Sirius. He planned to get to know this strange daughter of Bellatrix. Had something her parents didn’t, Harry couldn’t wait to figure it out.

Inspiration struck this evening!!! Happy reading

Part 3[b]

Isabelle settled into life at Hogwarts. She had made fast friends with Teddy Lupin and Victorie Weasley. They told her stories about their parents and their famous relatives especially the great Harry Potter.
“Everyone calls him that, you know. The Great Harry Potter, like that’s his title. He really is great though, but not for why they say he is. He’s my godfather, and it was hard on my grandmum Andy, but even though he wasn’t that old, he stepped up and really helped out taking care of me. I don’t really remember them, my parents, just the stories that everyone told and some pictures. I wouldn’t really know about who my father was without Harry.” Teddy looked away.
“The only family Teddy’s got is his grandmum and Harry, but now he’s got you too. You are cousins, his grandmum and your birth mom being sisters. We know that you don’t really consider them your family but you do have relatives.” Victorie grinned at her friends. She loved when they snuck off to hide in the owlery. The smell of the hay and the soft coos all around her.
Isabella had told her two friends about the truth of her parentage when they became curious why Harry had been spending so much time with her. “Harry says that I’m related to Andy and Teddy, and also the Malfoys on her side. On his side I’m distantly related to Harry. And most importantly I’m related to Harry’s beloved godfather Sirius. Harry says that I have his eyes, that it must run in the Black family tree. Harry’s invited me to Thanksgiving and they’re having it at 11 Grimmauld. You’re both invited, with your families.”
Teddy grinned, “Harry’s been comparing us to him and Aunt Hermoine and Uncle Ron. Almost as mischievous as the Mauraders: James, Sirius, and Dad. I don’t think our pranks are quite on their level though.”
“I wouldn’t say that. I do get a good discount on Weasley products.” Victorie said with a laugh. Most people saw only her pretty face and discounted that she really was quite brilliant.
“Come on, we better not be late for dinner. I don’t want to miss dessert. I heard they were having chocolate tort, and that’s my favorite.” Teddy shouted as he ran out.
“Everything chocolate is his favorite.” Victorie whispered. The two girls followed him out laughing. As they walked across the courtyard, their two heads, one fair as moonlight and the other dark as midnight, bent close together, troubled eyes watched them go.

************************************************************
Thanksgiving at 11 Grimmauld was an occasion that the old house had never witnessed before. Harry had been instructing Kreacher for days on a proper American Thanksgiving, so that Isabella would feel welcome. As Harry escorted her inside Kreacher ran up to her with wide eyes.
“Miss Isabella, Kreacher welcomes you to the ancestral home of the Blacks.” Kreacher’s eyes were wide with conflicting emotions. He now served Harry Potter, but the Blacks had been his family. Some of the Blacks had been kind others had scorned him, what would this Black do?
Isabella knelt down and took Kreacher’s small hand in her own. “Thank you Kreacher for your kind welcome. I can see that you take good care of this house. I look forward to having some of your wonderful dinner. After dinner would you like to show me the house?”
“Oh Miss Isabella, Kreacher would be delighted to show you the house. You must see the family room, you are on the tree.” Kreacher danced off to finish dinner for his Mr. Harry and Miss Isabella.
“Isabella, you handled that well with Kreacher. Is that how you treat house elves in America?” Hermoine asked as she chased some small children out of the room. “Go upstairs and play until we call you.”
“No Mrs. Weasley. We actually don’t have house elves in America. We tend to be more reliant on muggle technology there. I find that we have a more blended society than here in Britain.”
“Muggle technology?” an older man asked.
“Now Arthur don’t get started. Don’t mind him Isabella, he’s a fanatic about everything muggle.” Molly Weasley explained. She kept her distance and regarded Isabella as one would watch a pet tiger, uneasy and waiting for it to attack. She still didn’t trust the girl, not with those genes, no matter how much Harry tried to pursuade her.
Thanksgiving passed with a happy blur for Isabella. She felt welcome by most of the large family. Molly was watchful; Arthur fascinated with stories of her muggle upbringing; Harry, Ron, Hermoine, and Ginny tried to keep calm and order in the chaos and the children were blissfully unaware of any tension.
The moment that Isabella had dreaded had come at the end of Kreacher’s tour of the house, the family room. A woman with graying dark hair and grey eyes sat on an upholstered couch. She patted the seat beside her.
“Hello Isabella. I am your Aunt Andromeda. Teddy has told me much about you. You look so much like your mother at that age. She was different then. I don’t know what all they have said about her, but whatever they told you was not the whole story. Bellatrix Black LeStrange was a complicated woman, and difficult to understand. She wasn’t always that way. She was strong and powerful in her magic, but she wasn’t strong enough to go against our family. She had a vulnerable heart that life had sorely mistreated. She wanted our family’s approval and no matter what she did, it was never quite enough. She loved only one man, but it was doomed because she wasn’t strong enough. He had strength enough for both of them but they were separated and she could never forgive him for something he couldn’t control. She became obsessed with never feeling pain or hurt again. Your father promised her that, safety and approval. So she followed him. He led her further into darkness until there was nothing but madness. She even killed the man she had loved. The only good thing she ever did was to give you a chance for a good life by giving you up in America. Here you would have been judged by being their child. There you had freedom. No matter what you hear of her, once upon a time she was a young girl who loved and was loved. I believe that she did love you in her own way and that is why she gave you up. Yes, she did bad things and is regarded by most to be a bad person, but no one is all bad, they are defined by the choices they make. That is all I will ever say about my sister to you. Welcome to the family, niece.” Andy got up and left Isabella alone with her thoughts. She wandered around gazing at the faces on the wall, until she found her mother’s and her own. They really did look similar. She started searching for Sirius to see if she really had his eyes but all that was there was a black smudge on the wall.
“His mother blasted his picture off the wall when they disowned him.” Harry entered the room. He picked up a small framed picture off the table. “Here he is. You really do have his eyes.” She gazed at a serious looking man, pale with steely grey eyes looking intensely out at her. “It was taken shortly after he had gotten out of Azkaban. He was cooped up in this house that had become his prison. He would go on dangerous missions for the Order just to escape this house.”
“My mother, she was the one to kill him?” The question came out as a whisper.
“Yes. I’m not sure if she really meant to or not. The spell hit him and knocked him back into the veil. Then he was gone.”
“Did she love him? Andy said she killed the only man she had ever loved, She didn’t know why, but the answer just seemed to be important, as if she could understand Bellatrix by knowing who she had loved.
“I don’t know. I had never heard anything like that. Sirius never said anything about your mother to me.” Harry was puzzled. He resolved to talk to Andromeda about it. Sirius and Bellatrix, that just seemed impossible.

absolutely amazing

Quote::

My mother, she was the one to kill him?” The question came out as a whisper. “Yes. I’m not sure if she really meant to or not. The spell hit him and knocked him back into the veil. Then he was gone.” “Did she love him? Andy said she killed the only man she had ever loved, She didn’t know why, but the answer just seemed to be important, as if she could understand Bellatrix by knowing who she had loved. “I don’t know. I had never heard anything like that. Sirius never said anything about your mother to me.” Harry was puzzled. He resolved to talk to Andromeda about it. Sirius and Bellatrix, that just seemed impossible.

WUHOO!!! The truth comes out! Well, some of it. I love how it's folding out and especially how Harry never heard of Sirius/Bella. I'm very interested about how and when he'll take it. Can't wait for more!!



~Pawprint