"No higher pleasure. That means a great deal coming from you Bellatrix."
Those simple words. Those simple, understandable, almost meaningless words, But that's always been the thing about simplicity. It's a pick and choose sort of gift. "Hello." coming from so many people means so little, but if a teenaged girl were to hear that from a bloke she fancied, she'd spend a great deal of time replaying the passing message in her mind, dissecting it in any way possible, be it syllabic, tonal, or the 'hidden meaning' behind that one word.
Yes, coming from anyone else, Bellatrix would have maybe given it a common polite sort of response. But this hadn't been 'anyone else'. It had been Voldemort. And coming from him, it meant so much more. It made her pallor glow pink, her eyes water with the tears that would never be shed for anyone but her Master, her dark heart sing uncharacteristically. It made her weak in the knees and unsound at the mind. It made her that girl. You remember her don't you? The teenaged one who was at the boy's beck and call. But the difference lies in the time. You see, the teenaged girl will eventually see the lack of justice. She'll wake from her dreams, her follies, her nightmares, and see the boy for what he truly is: an illusion of perfection, and nothing more.
Bellatrix will forever be blinded by this illusion. This is her mirage, her oasis that never approaches. But even with all of her cruelty and malice, her fakeness, her utter naivety, her absolute refusalto see Voldemort for what he really is: a pitiful mockery of a fearless crusader; there is one thing that we must never question: her loyalty. Perhaps it is to the wrong side, but let it never be said that she wasn't prepared to follow her Master to the end. She would have gone to Hell and come back, if only to hear her name fall from those lips. She would have sunken into oblivion, if only to make him a tad-bit more successful. And in the end, that's just what she did.
Never seeing the truth, she sank into the Oblivion of Death, where truth and illusion are irrelevant.
Fin.
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