A/N: Bellatrix has a sweet secret. Some RodBella fluff. AU. RxR. FxF.
Submission for:
The Photography Drabble Challenge: 'Bellatrix eating her favorite cereal for breakfast'. Points if you identify the cereal.
Hogwarts Casino 2014 Challenge/Competition: Bar
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
No one knew Bellatrix's dirty secret and if it was up to her, no one ever would. It wasn't that she stored several dead bodies under her house to practice her curses on. The other Death Eaters knew that and her Lord even replaced one of the corpses when it had started to rot. It wasn't that she had actually been a twin, born after her brother but he had died in childbirth and left her as the oldest of her siblings. Her family knew that but no one spoke about it. Their father wasn't very happy to find out he had been denied an heir and unable to get one from her siblings. It wasn't that she was actually balding and most of the hair on her head was fake and magicked to appear like her real hair. Only her husband knew that and he dare not tell a soul else she blast all his hair off his head.
But Bellatrix's dirty secret was way worse than that. It would out her as a hypocrite and a blood traitor, and she couldn't have that. She couldn't believe she let it get this way. It had been just one time, one taste, but then one turned into two, three, five and now she couldn't stop. It became a drug to her, giving her a high she couldn't get from anywhere else. Not even sex with her husband, her lustful thoughts for her master or the giddy feeling from a fresh kill, gave her such a high. She had tried other things to achieve the same goal, anything for her to come off the drug completely but they weren't the same. She would always go back and she would revel in the high and then wallow in the shame afterwards. She was betraying her family and beliefs by doing this, but she just couldn't help it. She'd ween herself off it, even go cold turkey, but it called to her like a song in the night and she had to answer it and by morning, she was doing it again.
Like this morning. It was early, way earlier than her husband would wake up. This was the only time she could do it without raising suspicion. She pulled the container from her hiding place at the back of one of the cabinets behind a glamour. She opened it slowly, the lovely smell of it reaching her nostrils and making her smile and her mouth water in anticipation. She prepared her equipment, the things she needed so she could partake in every morsel without missing a speck. She glanced at the clock and read 5:30. Though her husband wouldn't wake up until 7, she would try to do it as quickly as possible.
Oh god! The sugary goodness! The colourful little balls that popped in her mouth with every bite! She felt like she was in heaven as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensations. Why did muggles have to make such sweet and sugary foods? They were everything she despised but now she was thanking them for making this delightful treat. She wished she had known about this when she was a kid, though she knew that would have been impossible. Her parents would never let such muggle things their home.
The light flicked on and Bellatrix froze. She saw her husband, his thinning hair sticking up slightly and his robe opened over her night clothes. His eyes blinked rapidly as they tried to focus on her. Then his jaw dropped. He saw his wife at the table, in her night gown, a jug of milk on her right and a decorated muggle box with a large cartoon rabbit on her left. Milk dribbled down her chin as she stared at him and the full spoon still hovering near her mouth.
The spoon dropped with a plop into the bowl. She stood up and placed her hands flat on the table. "Why are you down here?" she spat.
He tilted his head to the right and said, "I heard a noise. Why are you down here?"
She looked away and tried to clear up her almost full bowl to get rid of the evidence. Such a waste. "I was just eating as you can plainly see. But now I'm done."
She was about to pick up the milk jug and the box when he grabbed her hand, his own warm to the touch. She looked at him coldly, but he held her gaze. He was used to her and all her looks. This was the face she put on when she felt threatened for doing something considered weak, but he could never think of his Bella as weak.
He took the box and milk jug from her and placed them back on the table. He gave her a smile and said, "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me, love." Then he walked towards the kitchen cabinets to get himself a bowl.