"I want to fuck your wife."

Stop.

Rewind.

Stop.

Play.

"What is it that you want, Lucius?"

"To see you, Rodolphus. You did call me here after all." A glance at the shiny gold watch with the emblem of the Winged Ecstasy emblazoned upon the face. "Or did you mean twelve in the afternoon. I can get so confused."

Rodolphus yanked the blond Death Eater into the house, hastily shutting the door behind him. "You could have been seen."

Lucius, knowing he was not, stays quiet. He is never seen unless he wishes to be so.

Rodolphus grins at his friend, his compatriot. "How's your wife?"

More silence. Broken only by a thin-lipped grin that can hide a mountain of secrets within them. Lucius takes a seat by the table, legs crossed just so, his manner relaxed, confident. Rodolphus so hates seeing the other man like this, so his first move is to break the physical sight. A hand wraps around Lucius' ponytail, fingers locked in hair, the blond's head is wrenched back as Rodolphus' lips cover the other man's.

Lucius bites down upon Rodolphus' slithering tongue that made its way inside his mouth. Rodolphus spits up blood and Lucius stands up after prying out the hand on his scalp.

"You know I don't allow that."

"You know I make the rules!" The Lestrange, angered now, reminds his friend. Lucius merely shrugs out of his cloak and outer robes. "Do you still want her, Malfoy?"

"Always."

"Then you go through me first. And you play by my rules if you don't want your wife to know." Those were the rules, those were Rodolphus' rules.

Lucius smiled. "And does it ever bother you to know that your wife prefers me?"

He gets his head smashed onto the table for that comment and is fucked until he bleeds. Throughout, he makes not a sound. Rodolphus does not like head games.

Stop.

Pause.

Fast forward.

Play.

Rodolphus is dead. Killed by the killing curse only to have his body mutilated and cut into with a knife. A blade. A woman's weapon. A weapon of anger. Lucius holds such a weapon, twirling it about casually as though it were a wand.

Bellatrix enters the house and sees her husband's body upon the floor. A husband she never much cared for, despite the years they held each other in Azkaban. Lucius barely looks at her as her arms go around him.

When their eyes meet, he sees madness. Her own or his reflected back at him, he is not sure.

"You killed him," she says in her seductive tones of darkness and passion. Black and red, how well they suit her.

Lucius smiles as he thrusts the knife into her stomach. "I have killed him," he clarifies as the knife goes up inside of her. He is wearing gloves. Beautiful, black, leather gloves that fit his hands just so. They hide the softness of his skin, the paleness of his features. The warmth of a soul that was never reserved for Bellatrix. Nor for poor dead Rodolphus.

"The Master.." Bellatrix gurgled as blood rose from between rose lips. "The Master.."

"Will not care within a fortnight." The knife was pulled out and as Bellatrix dropped to the floor, Lucius made sure to put the weapon in her soft, gloveless hands. She was still warm when he left the house.

Pause.

Fast forward.

Stop.

Play.

Voldemort watched Lucius carefully. "She was loyal."

"To who? You or her madness?"

"To myself."

"The other Death Eaters did not think so."

The matter was dropped. Voldemort knew that while Bellatrix had escaped, with his help, his other Death Eaters had become incarcerated. Including those who had been in Azkaban before. Dolohov, Rabastan...

"What does Rabastan think?"

"He is sorry his brother married such a mad wench and he hopes to continue serving you faithfully to make up for the absence of his brother."

"Inspiring words."

"Indeed."

"Anything to say in your defense?"

"I preferred the Rabbit, my Lord. And the Morningstar will always shine brighter."

"Let us hope so, Lucius."

Stop.

Rewind.

Play.

"I want to fuck your wife, Rodolphus."

"Why?"

Stop.

Rewind.

Play.

Narcissa lay upon her marriage bed, anxious and annoyed. "It's not here, Lucius."

His voice came from the bathroom. "Where did you leave it?"

"On the coffee table in the living room. The green one." She got off the bed and stood in the doorway of the bathroom, watching her husband brush his teeth. "Do you think it was stolen?"

He shrugged.

"My sister came over. Can you find out if she borrowed it? Maybe she needed the money. Ever since she got out of Azkaban, she and her husband have been having some hard times."

"No excuse."

"I know." She glided over, all white lace and porcelain skin. Her hands rested upon her husband's chest, knowing that she could touch him, have him, hold him and no one else could ever get away with so much. Not without finding themselves dead. "But I'd like it if you could help me look."

He promised her he would.

Stop.

Fast forward.

Play.

"Your wife will hate you for this, Lucius. She thinks you're loyal to only her."

"Who says I'm not?"

A stab here, a slice there and blood pooled out of Rodolphus' body, darkening the floor.

Stop.

Fast forward.

Play.

Narcissa smiled as her hand moved away from the pillow. "I found it!" She bounded up from the bed, gracefully moving to the bathroom where her husband was brushing his hair, preparing for work. "Good news."

"Yes?"

"I found the missing charm to my bracelet. It wasn't stolen after all."

He smiled at her lovingly. "Oops."

She returned his smile.