An: For anyone who has come to this from my James and Lily fics, please note the rating. There is torture, swearing and a weird sense of forgiveness. Consider yourself duly warned.

Hell Hath No Fury

Her face was impassive as he writhed on the floor. He had tried not to scream, knowing that she wanted to see him hurt and he hadn't wanted to give in, but it hurt. It hurt so very much. When it ended, he gasped, struggling to breathe. He couldn't move; even the shallow breaths that his body were taking hurt him in places he didn't think possible. Even so, he knew he had to say something, try to get her to understand. "Bel.a."

She sneered as he grasped for the faintest whisper of oxygen that might help him convey what he wanted, no, needed to say. "What? Bella, bella, my darling, my love, my one and only." She laughed manically then spat at him. "It may have meant more, sweetheart, if you hadn't gone and said the same to her!" It came out as a shriek, and before he could brace himself that dreaded word came out of her mouth again. "Crucio." She whispered it; it was without fury, without passion, without anger. Just cold, calculated vengeance.

It ended again, leaving him without the will to try, but he had to. ".so."

"Sorry?" She laughed again and he would have winced if it hadn't pained him enough just to stay alive. "He's sorry. The cheating, lying bastard is sorry. Sorry for what, darling?"

He gasped. ".….ing."

"Everything? Everything." She placed a foot in the small of his back, pressing down on the wound she'd left there earlier, her voice beginning the ascent to a yell. "You're sorry for fucking another woman, you're sorry for making a mockery of me, you're sorry for ripping my heart out."

"Yes." The word was barely even breathed, but she heard.

"It's not enough." Her voice was quiet again, dangerously so. "It's not enough for you to be sorry. It's not enough to see you so close to dying. I want her heart in a box." She paused, gathering herself because it had sounded as though she might cry. She shouted again, enunciating every word. "I want her fucking heart in a box, and then, maybe then, I can forgive you."

He went out that night, and in a pureblood house the killing curse was uttered with calm. He took a knife and hacked out the heart of his folly, then left. He presented it to his loving wife with a flourish and was rewarded with a kiss and forgiveness. He learnt his lesson, as did the entire wizarding world. You do not toy with the emotions of Bellatrix Black.

Fin