DISCLAIMER: I own nothing...too bad, actually...pity about Bella
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16-year-old Rodolphus Lestrange was floating on air. Just last fall, he'd finally dared to ask Bellatrix Black on a date. She had said yes, and more dates had followed. Then, when he'd gone home for Christmas, his parents had told him that they had invited his bride-to-be and her family for New Year's. He had been ecstatic when the Blacks arrived, but had felt quite anxious while waiting for his parents to announce who was to be his bride. Surely, Andromeda and Narcissa were beautiful, but neither had Bellatrix's dark fire, her passion, her intense aura.
It would make most sense for him to marry Bellatrix- usually, parents would first arrange the marriage for their oldest child. But he didn't know if Bellatrix was already betrothed to anyone.
Finally, after the long feast with its many courses, Narcissa, Andromeda, and Rabastan were sent off to play, and Rodolphus and Bellatrix were sent to the drawing room, to "become acquainted", as their mothers put it.
With his heart pounding, he settled himself on a sofa next to his future wife. Bellatrix smiled shyly at him. Shy. A word he would never have connected with the girl beside him.
"So…we're getting married," he finally said, mentally slapping himself for his lack of conversational skills.
"Yes…"
"Could be worse."
"I guess." She smiled a true smile.
"Much, much worse. Actually, I'm pretty happy about this." Rodolphus admitted.
"Me, too." A slight blush coloured Bellatrix's cheeks.
Rodolphus dared to lean closer and kiss her gently. She kissed him back, quite eagerly. Before things could proceed, Mrs. Black had entered the room to escort her daughter home.
Later that night, Rodolphus was told that they would be wed right after Bellatrix's graduation, a year after his own.
He was happy. He would marry the girl he loved, who also felt attracted to him. What more could he long for?
His friends were envious. Quiet Rodolphus, who had barely ever dated, who had needed years to ask Bellatrix out, would marry the most lusted-after girl in Hogwarts. They tried to minimize his happiness, saying that Bella would never bother with him, were it not for the arranged marriage. Rodolphus just smiled at that. Bella had dated him before and had said she was happy about marrying him. And now, back at school, she was all over him at every occasion.
Life was good.
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"Crucio!"
A smile tugged at his mouth as he watched his wife torturing a muggle. Lovely, beautiful Bellatrix, her black eyes flashing, her hair wind-tossed, an ecstatic look on her face, a lustful moan escaping her lips as the woman in front of her writhed and screamed.
A crash alerted him to the arriving aurors. He quickly motioned to his fellow death eaters. Disturbing Bella was not wise. Her scorn was feared by all of them, surpassed only by the fear of the Dark Lord's wrath.
But if she got to play as much as she wanted (and needed, he admitted to himself), he would be rewarded immensely in their bed. Or their tub. Or kitchen. Wherever Bella wanted him. She was the one in control, always had been. The darkness sang to her in ways he couldn't begin to understand, but he gladly followed her as she beckoned him down that road. As he blasted away the aurors, hearing Bellatrix moan more loudly in the next room, he promised himself he would always be her left-hand man.
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He loved it when she embraced her dark side. Embraced it, explored it, pushed her boundaries. But lately, he had felt a certain sense of trepidation. He was sure she would mess up somewhere along the way, would take a wrong turn, blinded by her devotion to the Dark Lord and by her sadistic desires.
Rodolphus wanted to save her. Every time when they were doing ordinary every-day stuff, like visiting Narcissa, Lucius and their baby son, he wanted to beg his wife to leave the Dark Lord.
But then, they would be sent on another mission, and she would display pure lust and passion as she tortured and murdered. He would torture and murder with her. And get his reward in bed afterwards, because no amount of torture and killing could satisfy her completely. She needed him for her climax. He loved her so dearly, and for his own selfish reasons, he allowed this routine to go on.
It went on as usual until they tortured the Longbottoms.
Bellatrix had already tortured Frank for hours, to no avail. He hadn't said a word about the Dark Lord's whereabouts, even though he must know. Alice, his wife, was being held by Rabastan and Rodolphus, forced to watch, while Bellatrix and Barty tortured her beloved husband. Their little son was crying at the top of his lungs in the room next door.
Panting, Bellatrix instructed:" Hold him and give her to me! He'll never let his wife suffer."
Rabastan and Rodolphus obeyed, pushing Alice Longbottom onto the floor and picking up Frank. Barty bound Alice so she couldn't escape.
"Don't bother, she'll be going nowhere." Bellatrix purred in her sultry bedroom voice, a greedy look in her eyes.
She raised her wand and whispered:" Crucio!"
Alice screamed, the pain contorting her pretty face.
Frank cried:" We don't know where the Dark Lord is! Please, let my wife go, for the sake of our baby!"
Bellatrix moaned as she sent more energy into her curse, causing the woman to scream even louder. Frank, his face tear-stained, pulled against the Lestrange brothers' hold. It went on and on. Bellatrix was lost in ecstasy, her lustful moaning getting louder as she tortured Alice.
"Bella…" Rodolphus said cautiously, when Alice's voice was only a hoarse whisper, when Frank had been reduced to a sobbing ball of misery.
"Bella, it's enough now." He was convinced that the Longbottoms knew nothing about the Dark Lord's disappearance, and he was getting scared of how far Bella would go.
Bellatrix completely ignored him, continuing to send pain at Alice, strengthening the dose still, her moans coming in short gasps.
Finally, with a cry of:" Oh, Merlin, yes!" Bellatrix collapsed in a heap on the floor.
"Did she just…?" Rabastan whispered to his brother.
"I think so." Rodolphus answered.
"That's pretty sick." Revulsion and admiration laced Rabastan's voice.
Rodolphus looked at Alice. Her eyes were blank as she unwrapped a piece of candy she had found god knew where and stuck it in her mouth. Without realising it, he had let go of Frank's arm.
"Alice! Alice!" He surged forward, gathering his wife in his arms. She hung there like a limp rag doll. Frank held her away from his body, trying to catch her eyes, which refused to focus on anything. Smiling a demented smile, she held out the candy wrapper to her husband. With an angry yell, Frank jumped up and lunged at Bellatrix, who was still gathering her wits.
"Crucio!" Rodolphus, Rabastan, and Barty shouted in unison.
They would always protect Bellatrix. It didn't take long to torture Frank into insanity along with his wife.
Rodolphus grabbed Bellatrix and apparated home with her.
Flopping down on the sofa, she looked at him. An evil grin spread across her beautiful face.
"That was soooooooooo good," she giggled, falling backwards into the thick cushions.
Untying the top of her corset, she looked at him through lowered lashes.
"Come and join me, love."
He removed every memory he had of the torture from his mind and obeyed Bellatrix. He loved her. He was and would always be her left-hand man.
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Azkaban. Fourteen years of Azkaban. When fourteen hours would have been more than enough. Not being able to see, to touch Bellatrix, not being able to hold her, kiss her, had almost broken him.
Her being in the cell next to him, talking to him, sometimes touching his hand, had kept him tottering on the edge of sanity. That, and her insistence that the Dark Lord would come and release them, that it wasn't a lost cause.
But he worried. He worried about Bella's sanity. She become more fanatic with every passing day, ensuring everyone, mostly probably herself, that He would save them, that He would grandly reward them for their suffering.
He hoped the Dark Lord would really come and save them, otherwise Bellatrix would surely be devastated.
His feeling of trepidation was growing, though. Maybe…maybe it would be better if…but he mustn't even think that. After all, he was a death eater as well. Anyway, staying in Azkaban would be no alternative, they would rot in their cells. Not really a very nice way to end a life. But they had ended lives in not very nice ways, too. Especially that of Alice and Frank Longbottom. Both still alive, but lost. Pretty much like a dementor's kiss, really. He still woke up with nightmares of that torture, still heard Alice's and Frank's screams in the dark of night. And even worse, their crying son. They had taken away that boy's parents. For no reason but for Bella's fun and satisfaction. He felt a deep regret every time he thought of that. Which was most of the time. The Longbottom's torture was his worst memory, and the dementors were extremely skilled in making those resurface repeatedly.
So, staying in Azkaban was not an option, but staying with the Dark Lord would be the end of him and Bellatrix as well. He knew that his wife was caught up in the Dark Lord, but he wasn't sure if she was totally lost to him.
His mind felt fuzzy, it was difficult, almost painful to think.
But he had come to a decision.
"Bella?" he whispered. No answer.
"Bella, are you awake?" He knelt by his barred door, stretching his arm as far as it would go towards her cell. A cold hand brushed his fingertips.
"Bella! Bella, if…WHEN the Dark Lord comes, we have to flee. Do you hear me? We have to get away from here and from him. He…he isn't good for you. You know how much I love you, how much I love your darkness, but you'll go wrong somewhere, and the results will be horrible. And I…I couldn't stand to see you get hurt."
It was silent in the cell next to him. Then, his hand was roughly pushed away.
"Traitor!" Bellatrix hissed, enraged.
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Rodolphus was hurt. Ever since he had talked about getting away from the Dark Lord, Bellatrix had ignored him. Since escaping from Azkaban, she had latched onto the Dark Lord, whose fanatism concerning the death of the Potter offspring was frightening. But Rodolphus was still there, protecting Bellatrix as much as he could. Even if, in her eyes, he was a traitor, he still loved her with all his heart. She hadn't betrayed his doubts of the Dark Lord to anyone, so maybe, she loved him as well.
But he couldn't think about this now. They were in the middle of a battle, a battle, THE battle that would determine who ruled the wizarding world. A huge group of death eaters had disappeared upon seeing that Potter was still alive, but he, Rodolphus, was still there, fighting for his life, officially fighting for the Dark Lord, but in truth only fighting for Bellatrix, since the Dark Lord's victory meant her victory as well.
He had tried to keep an eye on Bellatrix during the battle, but it had proven to be too difficult and he had lost sight of his wife. Frantically searching the battlegrounds, he heard the Dark Lord roar as if in agony. Instinctively, he knew that only one thing could provoke such a reaction. He turned and ran towards the sound, afraid of what he might find.
As he dropped to his knees next to the mangled body of his wife, a single tear slipped from his eye. He stroked her hair, ran a finger lovingly across her cheek, leaned down until he was a mere inch above her face. He whispered:" I got a lump in my throat 'cause you sang the words wrong."