Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related characters and copyright of Joanne Rowling.
Warning: This story contains spoilers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Timeline: Pre-Philosopher's Stone
The Importance of a Horcrux
Bellatrix stared at the golden cup in her hands with something akin to awe reflecting in her eyes. He trusted her. He trusted her with something so important. At least, he'd said it was important. It was a very old artefact to be sure – wasn't that Hufflepuff's crest engraved on the side? It was too dark to really tell – and if her Master said it was important, even essential to his survival, then it was, surely, a great honour to be given such a thing.
"Do not fail me, Bella," her Lord purred in that high voice, somewhere above her head. "You would hate what would happen to you if you did." Bellatrix gave a shaky nod and turned her head upward, worship in her every feature. She didn't know why some old cup needed so much protection, but he was entrusting her!
"I would never fail you, Master," Bellatrix rasped, voice filled with wonder. The Dark Lord snickered softly and gave a nod, an eerie grin on his face as his scarlet pupils stared into her eyes. Bellatrix resisted the urge to turn her head from the intensity of the gaze, lest he think her cowardly, or worse, lying about protecting this cup.
"Do not promise what you cannot deliver, Bella," Voldemort said softly after a moment, breaking his gaze with the woman before him and turning on the spot, his Disapparition from the place utterly silent, the movement almost ghostly. Bellatrix stared at the spot a moment, the weight of the golden object in her hands bringing her gaze back to it.
Never, never, had she thought that the Dark Lord would trust her with such a task. It was true, that she was the Dark Lord's most loyal follower, that she would do absolutely anything for him, but to have that recognised? Bellatrix knew she'd been granted a great honour. How many other Death Eaters could boast that they'd been trusted with one of their Lord's most prized, most secret, and most important, possessions?
Oh, but of course she could never, ever boast. The Dark Lord's instructions had been clear. No one was to know of the cup, not Narcissa, not Rodolphus, no one. It was to be kept entirely secret between the two of them. Bellatrix let out a soft laugh, which quickly mounted to spurts of cackles. He respected her. She grinned, and a long, high fit of cackling regaled the Muggle neighbourhood beyond where she stood. The echoes of laughter bounced and rebounded through the streets, the sounds still there even as she drew her wand and Disapparated.
Later found Bellatrix in her home's drawing room, staring at the golden cup on the table in front of her and pondering. She could not keep it in the house, to do so would simply be stupid – their house hadn't been raided yet, but it was only a matter of time. The Ministry wasn't lax, and some of her darling relatives knew – or suspected – more of her than she wished. So the house, and anywhere within its walls that may seem safe now, were completely out of the question.
It struck Bellatrix then that, of course, there was one place that the cup would be safe, from both the Ministry and most prying eyes. She couldn't do anything about hiding it from Rodolphus – though he would be largely uninterested anyway if she told him it was an heirloom – but in Gringotts it would be safe from his idiot brother Rabastan (who spent more time under her roof than she liked) at the very least.
Smirking to herself, Bellatrix stood and, taking the cup with her, made her way to the armoire by the front entryway that held her travelling cloak. She'd just hooked it around her neck when she spied Rodolphus in the hall mirror, entering the room just behind her.
"Where're you going, Bella? It's late," the man said, frowning at her. Bellatrix rolled her eyes, hating that she was married to a man who thought he was her keeper. Slipping the cup into one hand beneath her cloak, she turned to glare at her husband.
"Out. Not that it's any of your business, is it?" she barked. Rodolphus frowned, and Bellatrix saw in his eyes that he wished his betrothed wasn't quite so… maniacal. Bellatrix' glare intensified, though the thoughts weren't anything new to Rodolphus' head. Oh, if only the man had bothered to try and learn Occlumency – she was sure he'd be that much of a better person to be around if she couldn't read him like a book.
"Bellatrix." He stated her name softly, but she simply smirked at him and gave him a tiny mocking wave before Disapparating from the room. The man seemed to think he owned her, and it irked her to no end. She was a trusted lieutenant of the Dark Lord. The only one she had to answer to was her Master, not some lower class Death Eater who was only in Voldemort's Inner Circle because he was married to her. How Rabastan had become a member of the Inner Circle was completely beyond her.
Bellatrix scowled at the nearest witch when she appeared in the middle of Diagon Alley, watching with a smirk as the woman stumbled backward with a fearful expression on her face, and then fled, taking two running steps before vanishing. Bellatrix shook her head, cowards and Mudbloods, the lot of them. They didn't have any right to live alongside the likes of her or her family. She was a Black, a member of one of the last true Pureblood families.
She shook her head and started down the narrow street, the snowy building at the end the only real thing that her eyes took in as she moved. She was dimly aware of a few other heavily robed figures moving up and down the street, going about their business, and even responded to one or two family "friends" when they greeted her, but mostly, Bellatrix was running on auto-pilot.
She was aware of the cup in her hand, her wand stowed in the easily accessible pocket in her robes, the cobblestone beneath her feet. There was a reason why she was one of the Dark Lord's lieutenants, and this was it – she was devoted, focused. She'd never deviate from a task, because she simply wasn't easily distracted. The Dark Lord knew that about her, trusted that part of her. That had to be it. That had to be why she now held this cup.
"Yes?" the goblin at the Gringotts counter drawled, looking Bellatrix up and down with a carefully guarded expression. Bellatrix thought that he was probably hiding a frown, or otherwise a look of disgust, but refrained from commenting. The goblins held all of her gold beneath the floors of their bank. She would be foolish to anger one simply for an expression he was politely keeping to himself.
"I need to deposit an item into my safe," Bellatrix stated. The goblin was looking her over again, and she silently urged him to move more quickly before this became an all day affair – or before she lost her temper with him, which was likely to happen soon if he continued acting in this manner.
"Your key, Madam?" Bellatrix rolled her eyes and fished the key from her pocket, dropping it unceremoniously on the counter that stood between them. As though he didn't know who she was!
The goblin took his time staring at the key, turning it over and over in his long-fingered hands, and Bellatrix snapped. "I wish to leave here sometime tonight!" she barked. The goblin looked up at her, his offence showing on his face, but Bellatrix was rather beyond caring – not that she'd cared very much to begin with.
"Of course, Madam," the goblin drawled. There was unveiled anger in his voice, though Bellatrix was sure that the goblin had known he was provoking her when he moved so incredibly slow when examining her key. However, there was no further delay as the goblin beckoned one of his associates over. The new goblin took a quick look at Bellatrix before giving a snap of his fingers, and grabbing from the air the heavy-looking bag that appeared at the sound.
"If you will follow me," the new goblin said. Bellatrix gave a huff of annoyance, but did so, trailing after the creature into the tunnel that would take them to her vault.
Her mind wandered during the journey into the bowels of the bank, barely blinking as her goblin guide scared off the dragon that guarded the entrance to one of the lowest sections of vaults, where her vault was alongside other families whose blood was old enough and worthy enough.
"There you are, Madam," the goblin said. Bellatrix noted that this one seemed more kindly, and that it was moving more quickly than the one that had been interrogating her at the counter. Perhaps trying to make up for his fellow's offence? Intriguing.
Bellatrix entered the vault and looked around, eyes taking in the mounds of gold and silver coins that filled the room, as she wondered where the safest place for the cup would be. Not at the front. Rodolphus would be likely to sell it, or some such thing. Then, perhaps… She made her way to the back of the room and drew her wand, carefully putting a levitation charm on the cup, and raising it so that it sat perched atop one of the stacks of Galleons. Nodding and satisfied with the placement, Bellatrix let a soft laugh escape her lips and made her way out of the vault. Nothing could get the cup now. It was impossible.
Still, her Master's words drifted through her head, as though they'd been a curse. 'Do not promise what you cannot deliver.' Did he expect her to fail? It sounded as though there was something he knew of this that she did not, but surely, surely he would have shared it with her, if he had doubts? Didn't he share everything with her? His most trusted, most loyal…
Paranoia seeping into her very bones as she left the bank, Bellatrix stopped to request that more protection charms and curses be placed upon the contents of her vault. She would inform Rodolphus of them tomorrow, and they were only to be removed from the contents within the vault if she or Rodolphus – whoever was entering – requested it. That way, someone who didn't know would never be able to get at the valuables within.
She would not fail. She couldn't afford to fail. Her Lord's trust wasn't something that she ever wished to lose.
End.
Note: I think very lowly of Rodolphus, but not quite as lowly as my Bellatrix does. We don't know much about him, so I took liberty…
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