femgenficathon

Title: A Choice of Life and Love
Autor: catsintheattic
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: Hard R
Warnings: torture, original character death
Prompt: Promp no. 35: It had only been my repeated experience that when you said to life calmly and firmly...'I trust you; do what you must,' life had an uncanny way of responding to your need. Olga Ilyin (1894-1991), Russian emigré author of memoirs.
Summary: Sometimes, a woman has to decide whether to follow the path of love or to set out to fulfil her life-task. Few, like Bellatrix Black, manage to achieve both. Whatever they do, the path is never easy, until the last shred of doubt is finally burned away.
Word count: 6,242
Author’s notes: Just like last year, I managed to turn a lovely, positive prompt into something dark and twisted. Do I see a pattern emerging? Is it the number 35 that makes me do it? ;-)
Bella’s vow during her Marking was inspired by the Lord’s Prayer – I mean no offense, but I want to be clear about my sources. I really struggled with Bella’s story and had a hard time of getting under her skin or into her mind. So I thank celta_diabolica and paragraphs not just for their beta-reading and the POV guiding, I also thank them for their support and encouragement, for their questions and impressions, and for helping me to find my way through Bella’s night.

( A Choice of Life and Love )