DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling.

~ Ouroboros ~

But time flows like a river... and history repeats.

The sudden disappearance of Bellatrix Black threw both sides of the war into chaos. At first, everyone thought the girl was dead. The light side assumed (wrongly) that she had been killed by her master. The dark forces assumed she'd been exterminated in secret by the Order of the Phoenix.

It seemed to Voldemort that he was the only one who actually believed that she was alive, and that she had - of her own volition - run away from home. He did not know why she left, and didn't care to speculate on the matter. Death Eaters who deserted were killed - no exceptions. If there were extenuating circumstances behind her departure, or if she was in the clutches of the Order of the Phoenix, he would deal with that when the time came. And so his search for her began.

She had hidden herself well, for it took him over half a year to find her - and when he did find her, it was on a public street in broad daylight and he nearly passed her by without a second glance, so unrecognizable had she become. She was a mere shadow of her former self, so thin she was practically skeletal - except for the obscenely swollen stomach.

When he saw her, he did not realize at first that it was her, but he was reminded of the story of his mother's death. And, thinking such thoughts, he glanced at the woman again. He might still have not recognized her if she had not looked in his direction at that moment. Her gaze collided with his and he watched as those familiar gray eyes widened in surprise. Her left hand flew up to cover her mouth; her right dropped to clench in the frayed fabric of her skirts.

She's going to run, he thought. And she did... but not away.

As she ran to him, in that moment all of the puzzle pieces finally clicked into place. She had never betrayed him, nor deserted him. She had hidden herself so that his enemies would not attempt to use her or their child against him. And, perhaps, she had been a bit afraid of how he would take the news of her pregnancy - but that, in and of itself, would not have been enough to drive her away from him.

He did not move toward her as she approached but once she reached him, he wrapped her in his arms and held her close.

"My lord, I-" she began. He silenced her with a finger upon her lips.

"Hush," he said. "You do not need to explain why you left; I know." Tears spilled down her cheeks and he lifted his finger from her lips to brush them away. "But, tell me this, Bella," he continued, frowning, "did you really think that I would not protect what belongs to me?"

"I didn't want to be a burden to you, my lord," she said softly.

So then, she had understood full well that he would have protected her, and she had still chosen to leave?

"I will decide what is a burden to me and what is not," he growled, pulling her more firmly against him so that she could not escape - he didn't want to have to hunt her down again.

"I'm sorry, my lord," she murmured, pressing her face against his shoulder as she broke into a fresh round of tears.

As they stood there, he wondered just how close his young lover and their child had come to following in the footsteps of his mother and himself, and what twist of fate had led to Bellatrix looking up at him at that exact moment, when otherwise he would have not realized that he'd found her.

~end~

A/N: The first line of the fic is not my own words, but a sentence taken from the beginning narration of Secret of Mana.

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