Bellatrix Lestrange's smile grew wider as Cassius's opening spell tore toward her.
A perfect streak of compressed blue force—silent, sharp, and fast enough to punch through a troll's skull.
She flicked her wrist.
"TECTUM."
The shield wasn't even spoken loudly.
A whisper.
A caress.
Blue light smashed against it, bending around the shimmering barrier—sparks fanning like a spray of white stars.
Bellatrix laughed.
"Pretty little thing you are," she purred. "So controlled. So elegant. Just like your father."
Cassius didn't flinch.
"IGNIS LANCEA!"
A spear of white fire erupted from his wand and shot forward, silent as light.
Bellatrix twirled.
Literally twirled.
The fire-lance missed her by an inch, scorching a tree trunk behind her.
The tree split in half with a groan.
She landed gracefully, hair wild and eyes glowing.
"Try again, sweetling."
Cassius raised his wand.
She grinned wider.
"Scream for me."
Her wand slashed.
"CRUCIO!"
The red bolt shrieked across the clearing.
Cassius vanished.
Not apparated—he had too much respect for the barrier he'd ordered Serepha to create.
He simply moved.
Wind coiled around him, wings of air pushing his steps faster than human legs should run.
The Cruciatus hit the ground where he'd stood, burning a crater into the soil.
Bellatrix's grin twitched.
"Oh? Oh ho ho—fancy."
Cassius reappeared behind her.
"Incarcerous!"
Violet strands cracked toward her like snapping serpents.
Bellatrix ducked, slid across the dirt like a dancer on wine-slick marble, and rolled to her feet.
"Nice form," she crooned. "Reminds me of the little drills the dark lord used to give us… before he upgraded to actual pain."
Cassius didn't respond.
He sent three spells at once.
"VENTO IMPACTUS!GLACIES FRAGMENTA!LUMEN TORQUE!"
A blast of wind.
A volley of razor-sharp ice shards.
A twisting spiral of light aimed at her wand-hand.
Bellatrix's eyes gleamed.
She blocked none.
Because she didn't need to.
She moved—fast.
Faster than most realized she could.
Her body bent at angles no sane witch could mimic.
Wind brushed her sleeve, ice grazed her boot, light singed a strand of hair.
She cackled.
"That's it! THAT'S IT! Show me the monster the Dark Lord wanted you to be!"
Cassius raised an eyebrow.
"You're mistaking me for someone who'd ever follow Voldemort."
Bellatrix's smile died instantly.
A cold, horrified silence fell over her expression.
Then—
She screamed.
"DON'T YOU EVER—EVER—EVER—"
A jet of purple flame shot toward him.
Cassius extinguished it with a snap of his fingers—literally—folding the magical structure mid-flight and scattering it into harmless sparks.
Bellatrix froze.
"…oh."
Cassius leveled his wand at her.
"Do you understand your position now?"
Her pupils dilated in something far deeper than fear.
Recognition.
She licked her lips.
"You're dangerous."
"That was the point."
Bellatrix giggled shrilly.
"Do it again."
Cassius exhaled sharply through his nose.
He flicked his wand.
A column of earth erupted beneath Bellatrix's feet, launching her skyward.
She screamed—not in fear, but in manic glee—spinning midair and firing curses downward.
"DIFFINDO!CRU—AVADA—!"
Cassius moved through the falling spells like a man drifting through curtains.
Fluid.
Effortless.
His eyes narrowed.
Enough games.
He raised his wand and murmured, "Fulminor Rota."
A ring of crackling electricity snapped into existence around him, humming like a living storm.
Bellatrix landed hard, skidding through dirt, hair wild.
She grinned up at him, breathless.
"Oh you are a fun one."
Cassius stepped forward.
The electric ring expanded, circling him like a rotating halo.
Lightning sparked between the edges, illuminating his eyes with sharp gold.
Bellatrix's legs quivered.
She wasn't afraid.
She was excited.
"So," she purred, "which spell will it be, hm? Something cutting? Something burning? Maybe a nerve curse? You boys always did have a flare for—"
Cassius cut her off.
Not with a spell.
With truth.
"You're not worth killing."
Bellatrix choked on air.
She stared.
Horror.
Offense.
Disbelief.
"You—! You—INSOLENT—!"
Cassius flicked his wand.
The electric ring shot outward.
Bellatrix raised a shield—
Too slow.
The lightning wrapped around her torso like glowing chains, constricting, binding her arms to her sides.
She screamed—not in pain, but in sheer outrage.
Cassius rotated his wrist.
Bellatrix slammed to her knees.
Her hair splayed across the ground, wild and crackling with residual sparks.
Her eyes were huge, her voice torn between fury and something disturbingly childlike.
"You can't—do this—you can't—Voldemort will tear your SOUL OUT—"
"No," Cassius said calmly. "He won't."
She strained, the bindings tightening with every twitch.
"Let me go—LET ME FIGHT—LET ME BREAK YOU!"
Cassius stepped forward, meeting her frantic gaze.
"You've already lost."
Her breath hitched.
"You little—"
Cassius tapped her forehead with two fingers.
A pulse of white shimmer spread through her skull—gentle, painless, but overwhelming.
Bellatrix's eyes rolled back.
Her knees buckled fully.
And she slumped sideways onto the ground.
Bound.
Conscious.
But unmoving.
Breathing softly, almost peacefully.
Cassius lowered his hand.
Magic began to pour through the pores in his hand as it entered her head.
Within seconds her Occlumency defense were shattered and her mind was at his mercy.
Quickly Cassius began to do the work he'd set out to complete.
Fixing what went wrong with poor bella, and ensuring that a cousing to Sirius did not need to fade out into history, nor would the name lestrange need to die out either.
If anyone was watching they would simply think he was casting a supplemental binding curse upon her to ensure her passivity during prisoner transfer.
But in reality what Cassius was doing now, was effectively reprogramming the witch entirely.
As he used a concept from an anime he watch in his previous life to apply magic from his current one to scan through her memories and using targetted oblivions remove or utterly rewrite entire sections of her memory.
Turning her from a Pureblood purist and devout follower of the dark lord, into a decent and apt witch who dablled in the dark, but didnt avoid the light either.
the biggest change of all was removing her name, Bellatrix Lestrange was indeed dead, but her new persona was only just being birthed now.