Bellatrix could tell the moment Adrian walked into the house that something had changed.
Adrian held himself differently; he altered suddenly between hunching and barely mumbling to arching his back proudly and gazing at her with a cold had his wand wrapped with white knuckles and sent off spells before Bellatrix could launch a curse.
Rabastan noticed as well, and informed Rodolphus who hadn't been around enough to notice.
Adrian relished in his newfound freedom in the security of the wards. He practiced spells, spells Bellatrix had never heard before and spells which fumbled awkwardly from Adrian's mouth like he had only read them.
Adrian was growing distant. He was slowly and surely separating himself and relying less on Bellatrix. It hurt her in small pangs, a part of her cried out. She missed the sparring, the exhilarating laughter Adrian always gave when he had finally bested her. He missed hearing him chuckle under his breath from something his snake whispered in foreign tongue.
She knew that eventually he would be taken from her, yet she longed for more time.
Adrian approached her with cold eyes and curtly ordered her to take him to his father.
And then, she knew that time had run out.
.....
Adrian walked through the halls with silent shoes and a fluttering cloak.
His occlumency walls were hardened, strengthened with the steely ability of the diary. It influenced his abilities, it snuck into his mind and made his thoughts shrouded and protected.
He opened the large doors, hearing them click behind him; this time he felt no fear.
"Father," Adrian addressed, words sliding from his tongue thick as honey as he approached and bowed, "I have a gift for you."
He pulled the diary from his pocket, securing it in his hold as he walked forward and placed it gently on the table directly in front of the skeletal creature.
He felt his father's surprise- just as he could always feel from the diary. Something sour and sulfuric that tickled the furthest portion of his mind.
"I hope it to be of service," Adrian spoke again, bowing low and smiling crookedly although it was unseen through his hair.
In his rare confidence and pride over his success, he smugly stated "It told me it would be."
He wasn't cursed, so he left.
Nagini greeted him, the real serpent. She was excited to see him, wanting to know his ventures in the 'Stone-den'. He mentioned Adalonda and suddenly he was pinned under her mighty bulk, demanding to know what she had spoken.
He smiled, and explained the beauty of her eyes and the wisdom of her words.
Bellatrix seemed to be fueled by an unnoticed fire. She constantly searched for Adrian under the guise of teaching him new spells.
She gifted him books, marked with broken quills where specific pages had information of interest.
Adrian was rather overwhelmed, although he understood it on a basic level.
He was older (although only twelve) he was of age where his father was beginning to take a special interest in him. Not only that, but he had heard the bare whispers from Bellatrix and Nagini that his father was planning to undergo an elaborate ritual, using the diary to restore himself to power.
Adrian knew that his father had succeeded when he saw all three of the resident wizards crumple to the ground clutching their forearm in pain.
Bellatrix was ecstatic, yet her normal chaotic energy was tainted by a melancholy she tried to veil. Adrian felt impassive- would his father accept him and take him under his wing? Or would Bellatrix continue to be his authority figure and teacher until he was older still?
Regardless of Adrian's own insecurities, the appearance of his father only swarmed the past followers to his feet once more.
Bellatrix hushed him and ordered him to wear his prized cloak, enchanted and charmed to keep his features shrouded from prying eyes. There was nothing to be done about his height, although various magical creatures and magical ailments could excuse such size.
The halls were filled with masked bodies and hidden eyes, each filling the large banquet room Adrian had never seen. It was elaborate, tall stained glass windows displayed the fading twilight in hues of deep lavender and scarlet.
His father stood tall, and his features were garish and horrifying.
This was what Bellatrix referred to as powerful? The serpentine creature bore a striking resemblance to a cobra, a folded reptilian hood pressed to the sides of his throat and shoulders. His father had lost all semblance of a nose, his face having been warped into the serpentine planes of scales and slitted nostrils. Around the edges of what should have been cheekbones, pitted grooves eerily similar to Nagini's heat sensing pits surveyed the room.
His eyes were the darkest red Adrian had ever seen, his body exuded dark magic like the finest perfume.
"My followers," He spoke, his voice layered with a high pitched hiss similar to his previous vessel's vocal capabilities, "how long, we have waited."
Adrian shifted nervously, sticking embarrassingly close to Bellatrix's robes.
"For the days you have all hid," his father's eyes flashed as his lipless mouth articulated the words smoothly, "uncertainly in your estates and in the comfort of your gold." he sneered loudly, aura pulsating in rhythm to a heartbeat, "the loyal, will be rewarded."
He said nothing for those who hadn't been.
"Go, my followers," Voldemort smiled, showing the barest traces of a forked tongue, "Await my instructions further, do not fail me."
The room bowed, Adrian stumbling to follow along with the movement. His father stood, sweeping across the floor and through a door further behind where he had stood upon a platform.
"Come along," Bellatrix murmured under her breath, "We are to speak with our Lord after all have left."
....
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