Chapter Text
Elara Regina Lestrange, daughter of Lord Rodolphus Lestrange, Lord of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Lestrange, and his wife, Lady Bellatrix Black Lestrange, Lady of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Lestrange, had an incredibly vivid memory of her parents.
She had been three years old, had woken woke for a nightmare in the middle of the night. And like many children, she had sought out her parents for comfort.
Stumbling out of her room and hurrying down the hall to her parents room, she could hear murmurs of hushed talk through the door. Elara paused, before pushing open the door.
The conversation stopped at once, and Elara faced her parents, Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange.
"Elara?" her mother asked, face alight with concern. "It's the middle of the night darling, why are you awake?"
"I had a nightmare." she replied, rubbing the sleep from her eye as she made a beeline for her parents.
Her father picked her up in a single smooth motion and sat down on the grand king-sized bed to place her on his lap. Her mother sat down next to the, gently running a hand through her dark hair.
"What was the nightmare about?" her father asked as she hid her face in his shirt as Rodolphus's familiar scent of spice and tobacco wafted into her nose. It wasn't his sleeping shirt, she realized, but his sturdiest traveling shirt.
"Are you going somewhere?" she asked, peering up at her parents with her dark eyes.
Being three, she couldn't decipher the look her mother and father had shared. And for years, she would wonder what emotions, what silent conversation, had been exchanged.
"We're going on a mission for the Dark Lord, Elle." her mother said. "We'll find him and restore him to his full glory, and all will be well again."
"Will Uncle Rab or Aunt Roxanne stay with me for the mission?" she asked.
"Uncle Rab will be coming with us." her mother said. "As for your aunt Roxanne... well, I'm sure she's busy with her runes and potions in Paris."
Elara's small hands curled around her father's shirt. "Then will I stay with Auntie Cissy until you, Papa, and Uncle Rab return?"
Sometimes, after her aunt Roxanne had departed for France, she would stay with her aunt Narcissa while her parents and Uncle Rabastan where away fighting for the Dark Lord. She didn't mind it, and she enjoyed spending time with her glamorous, vivacious aunt.
Her mother pursued her lips. "No. You will stay here with the House Elves. Clover, Winnie, Jax, Gabo, Marc, and Velma will take care of you until we return."
Her father tilted her head so they made eye contact, looking at her. "Now, little one, what was your nightmare about?"
"Both of you were gone," she mumbled. "I couldn't find you and the house was so quiet. You and mama were gone."
"Don't be silly, darling." Bellatrix said. "We would never leave you."
Even at a young age, she knew her parents marriage wasn't the fully loving one her Aunt Narcissa and Uncle Lucius shared. But she did know that her parents loved her dearly her. They spent every Yule, every Easter, her birthday- her parents spent the entire day with her, showering her with love.
Elara nodded, feeling sleepy again. A small yawn escaped her.
Her mother's sharp eyes didn't miss this. "Back to bed now, Elle."
Bellatrix easily picked her up, holding her in her arms as she strode from the master bedroom. Elara wrapped her arms around her mother's neck, and missed the the silent, wordless conversation, that her parents had exchanged.
"You'll be back in the morning?" she asked as her mother strode out of the master bedroom, Bellatrix's grip on her warm yet tight.
"Of course we will." Bellatrix said. "Just... just stay in the estate until we get back, and only go into the gardens if you want to go outside. And do not leave the ward boundary. The wards will be going into citadel mode as soon as we leave."
"So not even Aunty Cissy will be able to get in?" she asked through a sleepy yawn.
"No one, unless they are a Lestrange by blood and soul, by magic, or by marriage, or a Lestrange House Elf, can get inside while we are gone. They won't be able to get inside by the Floor Network, Apparition, or by a broomstick unless they are a Lestrange. It's for your safety, Elara." her mother said, running a hand through her daughter's dark locks. Taking a look at her young daughter.
Even at the tender age of three, her daughter was the spitting image of Bellatrix.
"Okay." Elara mumbled, her eyes fluttering shut. Feeling safe in her mother's arms.
Her mother began to sing the Black family lullaby, a song of the heavens and the sky, of stars and constellations, of the moon and the planets. It was the lullaby she had sung to Elara ever since she was born. Elara let herself be lulled to sleepy by the familiar song, a lullaby that her mother sang to her every night.
The last thing she registered before falling back to sleep was the song ending, and her mother whispering "I love you." into her ear.
And when she woke up again, her parents were gone and there was strangers attempting to force there way into the grounds of the estate.
Elara's most vivid memory of her parents was also the last memory she ever had of them.