The Dark Lord could not feel love, they told her. She saw for herself that they were right. He would make a show of calling her "dearest", but his face made it clear that he felt nothing.

"Crucio!"

There was nothing for Bellatrix in the Dark Lord. Yet she could not sway her own feelings.

"Crucio!"

So she made do with pleasing him this way.

"Crucio!"

They say that love and hate are but two sides of the same coin. "They" are, of course, wrong...

"Crucio!"

... mostly.

It is well-known that the Unforgivable Curses are fueled by hatred.

"Crucio!"

But the Cruciatus Curse requires directed hate. The Dark Lord hated Muggles and Mudbloods as groups, not individuals. They were unworthy of the consideration it would take to hate them properly. And so his Cruciatus was blunted.

Not so Bellatrix's.

"Crucio!"

How dare they displease him?

"Crucio!"

How dare they walk free with their inferior blood?

"Crucio!"

How dare they exist?

Such were Bellatrix Black's feelings.

One day she was told to marry Rodolphus Lestrange. She obeyed without question or reservation, for his blood was as pure as her own, and he followed the Dark Lord willingly.

There was no love in their marriage, but neither of them minded that. Blood purity was more important. The Death Eater cause was more important.

After some of the counterattacks by Muggle-lovers they had killed, they most likely weren't capable of having children anyway. Not that they bothered trying.

For a loveless marriage, it was surprisingly happy.

"Have you heard, Bella?"

"They think our Lord is dead! They have seen his corpse!"

"It is surely a fake."

"I know that! I know that. The Dark Lord cannot be killed. But he can be captured. He can be imprisoned."

"Someone will suffer for this."

"Many will suffer for this! ALL will suffer for this! And then they will die! And then I'll stomp on their corpse until there's nothing left to remember!"

Rodolphus did not bother telling Bellatrix to compose herself. "Some of our so-called allies have already renounced him."

"Traitors! Not even worthy of my anger!"

"We must do something quickly, before all is lost."

"Yes! We must! Crucio!" Bellatrix did not know the name of the person who fell to the ground in agony. She did not even bother looking.

"Focus yourself, Bella. It is the Aurors that are responsible for this. It is they who we should punish."

"Where is he?"

"He's dead! I told you!"

"YOU ARE LYING! CRUCIO!"

"I ask again."

No response.

"Very well. Crucio!"

"I think we overdid it, Bella."

"They deserve it."

"Certainly they do... but without their sanity, they can provide us no useful information."

"Then we will wait. We have run out of other choices."

Thirteen years later, the Dark Lord rose from the dead, as Bellatrix knew he would.

He was no more capable of love then than he had been before his death. But she loved him. That was all that mattered to her.