The girl is lost in the ruins of an old estate. She thinks that she is there for a reason. Sharp lights and harsh words fly around her when she closes her eyes, but she can't quite remember. The girl stumbles, falls, yelps in pain. She looks around, wide-eyed and panting. Aren't there supposed to be other people here?
Her long blonde hair whips around her. It's like the wind, if the weather were anything but perfect and clear that night. Or like magic.
A snake finds her. He hisses and snatches her up by the muddy cloth clinging to her body.
"Another one. Kill her."
He tosses the girl aside, but she is quickly picked up by clawed fingers.
"Where is Potter?" the clawed woman spits. She has heavy-lidded eyes, wild hair, and sharp features.
The girl stares at her blankly. Potter? What is that? She tries to ask, but she can't form words. She whines, and the clawed woman pulls tightly on the cloth around her neck, choking her. She begins crying, and paws frantically at the woman's hands.
The woman drops her back in the mud and debris. The girl pulls at the cloth that's been choking her, that these scary people seem to want to grab. She lifts it over her head and tosses it as far as she can, then scoots backwards, trying to get away from it.
The girl tries to stand on her own. Her legs hurt, and they give way beneath her.
The clawed woman watches her carefully, then points a stick at her.
"Come here, precious," she coos.
The girl is taken aback by her sudden change in nature. Cautiously, she crawls toward the woman. The woman takes the girl's long golden hair in her fist, and pulls it so the girl is looking straight up at her.
"What is your name, girl?"
The girl shakes her head. She doesn't know.
"Tell me!"
The clawed woman drops her back to the ground and points the stick at her again. The girl is terrified, and she's not even sure why. She crawls to the woman's feet, leans against her legs, and sobs.
After a moment, mercifully, the woman strokes her hair.
"My Lord!"
The hissing man is back, and the girl moves behind the woman.
"What, Bellatrix?" he asks harshly.
"I want to keep this one."
"A prisoner?"
"Something like that."
"Do what you wish with her. The only one that matters to me is the Potter boy."
"Thank you, my Lord."
She pulls the girl up by her hair.
"You will be my pet, precious," she coos.
The girl nuzzles appreciatively into her hand.
The girl is small and thin, with wide eyes that shine like the moon, and long, flowing hair. Now that she is bathed and undressed, Bellatrix can marvel at how lovely she really is.
"Are you hungry, Precious?" she coos, and the girl cocks her head to the side interestedly.
Bellatrix snaps her fingers, and a house-elf appears with a tray of fruit, aged elven wine, and a potion. Bellatrix mixes the potion and the wine in a glass, and hands it to the girl.
"Drink. It will ensure that you remain safe as my pet."
The girl--Precious--drinks enthusiastically.
A tall man enters the room. The girl stares at him. He is lovely, with hair like her own.
"Lucius," Bellatrix greets icily.
"What is this?" he demands.
"She's my new pet. Isn't she lovely?" Bellatrix replies, and Precious sits up straighter, proudly, for her mistress.
Lucius scowls. "Does she obey you?"
"Of course she does."
He considers it. "Then I suppose you can keep her here, but she is not to leave your wing of the manor."
Bellatrix's lips twitch irritably. "I had not intended to allow her to, anyway."
Precious settles into her new surroundings. She likes them. She likes Bellatrix, her mistress.
Bellatrix dresses her in fine, flowing fabric that is sheer and light, and shows off her body. She coos over how lovely she is. She pulls her hair into fine braids, and uses the stick--a wand, Precious has learned it is called--to weave gold through it and hold it in place.
Precious sleeps in front of the ornate fireplace in Bellatrix's study. She eats when Bellatrix tells her to, plays with her toys when she is allowed. When she does wrong, her mistress causes pain in a way that Precious doesn't understand, but she knows that it is because Bellatrix loves her.
A woman Luna doesn't recognise enters Bellatrix's quarters. She has similar sharp features to her mistress, but she looks upon Precious with disgust. Precious backs away from her, and runs off to warn Bellatrix.
Her mistress greets the new woman with a hug, however, and asks the house-elf to bring tea. Precious settles comfortably next to the couch, by Bellatrix's feet.
"I love that you're staying with us now, Bella, but don't you think this is a bit unnecessary?" The woman (Bellatrix calls her Narcissa, Precious has noticed) asks some time after the tea is served. She gestures to Precious.
"The Dark Lord said I could do as I wish with her. This is what I wish." Bellatrix reaches down to pat Precious' head.
"I've never had to be so cruel."
"It's not cruel. She's hap--" She stops suddenly and shifts her attention from Narcissa to Precious. "You're happy, aren't you, Precious?" she coos.
Precious kisses her hand in return, and nuzzles against her legs.
"A pretty, Obliviated young girl like this is hard to come by, Narcissa," Bellatrix says.
"Yes, but she isn't the first, correct? What was the name of the other? It was so long ago!"
"Alice. I called her Dearie, though." Bellatrix leans close. "I hear that she doesn't respond unless the Healers in St. Mungo's call her that." She laughs.
"Oh, yes, the Longbottoms. There really was no need to torture the husband as well."
Precious noticed that Narcissa didn't look at Bellatrix as she said that.
"Oh, but I couldn't have him trying to do anything silly, like saving her."
Precious didn't think saving someone sounded silly. She was very grateful, in fact, that Bellatrix had saved her.
"Still, I think it would be best if you let her go. Obliviate her again," Narcissa says, as if it were so simple.
Precious doesn't know what Obliviate means, but it doesn't sound good. She clings to Bellatrix's legs.
"Oh, Cissy, don't tell me you're growing weak as you age."
Narcissa stiffened. "No. Of course not."
Precious can't get the words of the woman called Narcissa out of her mind, even if she can't understand most of them. She wants to understand though, and one afternoon, when Bellatrix is not home, she sneaks out to find Narcissa.
She wanders through long halls, and wide, high-ceilinged rooms. They are all immaculately clean, and decorated with materials that sparkle and glow in the bright afternoon light. Precious feels intimidated, but keeps walking, determined to find the woman.
She stops in front of a set of glass doors. She doesn't know how to open them, she realizes. She can see lovely things outside: soft green patches of earth, thin, colorful objects arranged in delicate patterns, paths that she can't see the end of.
She fumbles with the door, pulls and pushes, until a house-elf comes along and unlocks it. She gleefully bursts out into the warm sunlight. She smells the flowers, lays in the grass, and forgets about the woman called Narcissa entirely.
Then, suddenly: "What are you doing out here!"
The man with hair like hers grabs Precious' arm and drags her inside. He stops when he realizes he's dragging dirt and flower petals in as well.
"You're filthy! But I should expect nothing less from a dirty little blood-traitor," the man (Lucius, she remembers now) snarls.
Precious stumbles back, afraid. She loses her balance and falls to the floor. Lucius grabs her by the hair and forces her to stand. He brings her to Bellatrix's bathroom, and tells her to stay there until Bellatrix comes back.
"You know you are supposed to stay inside."
Precious lays on the cold tiles, naked, curled into a ball.
Her mistress, tall and fierce, stands over her, wand in hand. She is smiling. Precious likes when she smiles.
It hurts, but Crucio means that Bellatrix is happy, so Precious is glad.
Time passes. To Precious, it seems like a lot of time. Bellatrix loves her, pets her. She likes it when Bellatrix runs her hands down her body and strokes the soft, wet space between her legs the best. On nights when that happens, Precious is allowed to sleep in the bed.
Precious tries to learn to speak like her mistress, because she thinks Bellatrix would like that. One night, she greets her with a slurred, "Be-lla!" The next day there is a new taste in her wine, and she once again forgets how to speak.
There are terrible screams, loud noises, and bright lights that flash through the air. Precious panics as her home collapses around her. There are people in masks, and she's pretty sure one of them is her Bellatrix. She tries to run, she tries to cry for her mistress, but all she can do is cower beneath the debris until this is over.
This feels oddly familiar, actually.
A boy with round glasses and a lightning scar finds her huddled among the wreckage.
"Luna?"
No. I am Precious, she thinks.
The boy grabs her arm. "We've been searching for you! I can't believe you've been at Malfoy Manor. Have they been horrible to you?"
He looks Precious over worriedly. He touches her wounds gently, but she pulls away from his grasp. She's afraid of him. Bellatrix said not to trust anyone but her, and she can't betray her mistress.
She tries to run, but the scarred boy grabs her and lifts her off the ground. She kicks and whines and cries, but he doesn't let her go.
"Luna, what's wrong with you?"
I'm not a luna! I'm Precious!
Harry dumps her in the arms of a timid-looking boy, thick-set with ears that stick out.
"Take her to St. Mungo's!" he orders.
"Harry, I--" the boy starts to say something, but Harry turns in place once and disappears, like a house-elf.
Precious doesn't think she's ever seen a human do that, and she's shocked into being quiet for a moment, long enough for the boy with the ears that stick out to spin around and wave his stick of wood.
There is a sinking, spinning sensation in Precious' head and stomach, and then they're not Home anymore. They're someplace white and sterile, and there are people she doesn't recognize rushing about. She clings tightly to the new boy, the boy who's brought her here, even when he tries to hand her over to the people in white robes.
"What is your name?" Precious looks up with tears in her eyes. She can't answer. She doesn't know how to.
"Can you speak at all?"
She doesn't know this woman. She's nothing like her mistress. She's too soft in both looks and demeanor, and she smells funny.
She always asks Precious questions that she can't answer. But this time, the boy with the lightning scar is there with her.
"We need to move her to the Janice Thickey Ward for permanent spell damage."
"What? No!" the scarred boy protests. "There must be something more you can do!"
"Mr. Potter, it's been months. She's not getting any better."
Potter. I've heard that name somewhere before.
Precious doesn't know how long she's been in this long white room with the man with too many teeth and the woman who chews gum and the man who drools a lot. It feels like a very long time, but she doesn't mind anymore. She knows her mistress will come for her soon.
The boy with the ears that stick out visits occasionally. He spends long hours with the man who drools and the woman with the chewing gum, but he stops and visits her as well. He says things in a sad voice. He tells stories about his "Mum and Dad" and his "Gran who is so hard on him" and "Crumple-Horned Snorcacks" and "the Quibbler."
He always says, "You don't want to be like them," and points to the gum-lady and the drooling man.
The scarred boy visits her more often than the boy with the ears that stick out. He says things that don't make any sense, like "...my fault…" and "Voldemort." He uses that odd "Obliviate" word a lot. He always calls her Luna, and she still doesn't understand why.
And finally, he brings her a paper, and on the front is her mistress, laughing in a photograph. There are symbols all around it that she can't read, but she understands that Bellatrix is happy.
She paws at the paper, snatches it from the scarred boy's hands, and clutches it to her chest. He snatches it back and points to words that she can't read.
"Bellatrix is dead, Luna. Please, whatever this is, snap out of it. Please."
She looks at him blankly.
"You know, dead. Gone forever," he says angrily. "She can't come for you, because she doesn't exist anymore!"
She thinks she understands now. Her Bellatrix abandoned her.
She cries.
After that, the scarred boy stops visiting.
Please let me know what you think!