Lucius sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he looked around what would be his new home for the next five years. After the Battle of Hogwarts, most, if not all, of Voldemort's supporters were rounded up and shipped off to Azkaban.

He had been lucky to get off with the short sentence he had; most of his "compatriots in arms" had been imprisoned for life.

He wracked his brain. Where had it all gone wrong? As a young boy, he hadn't envisioned himself as a Death Eater. He had always seen himself the hero or the man who stood up for the best of the Wizarding World. Not once would he have thought of himself as one of the villains, or one of the… losers.

Lucius sat down on his prison bed, immediately aware of how unlike his comfortable bed back at Malfoy Manor it was. He found his thoughts wandering back to the time where everything had started down the path to his current situation. Lucius could easily link his misfortune back to just one witch: Bellatrix Lestrange.

The First of September, 1965

"GRYFFINDOR!" the Sorting Hat bellowed across the Great Hall, and one of the tables behind Lucius erupted in applause. The frightened young girl now spread a look of joy across her face as she ran past the group of first years he was currently in, off to join her new classmates.

"Lucius Malfoy."

Lucius froze, looking up at the Sorting Hat with wide, terrified eyes. As he slowly made his way up to the large chair he was meant to sit in for the ceremony, he was overcome with troubling thoughts. What if he was not placed in Slytherin? What if the Sorting Hat decided he belonged in Hufflepuff?

As he sat down, and the old hat was placed on him, he began to tremble nervously. Luckily, his worries were misplaced, for the hat had hardly grazed the top of his head when it shouted out, "SLYTHERIN!"

Breathing a sigh of relief, Lucius walked over to the Slytherin Table and looked at his new housemates, who were loudly cheering. Sitting down, he was greeted and given pats on the back as he turned to watch the other first years getting sorted.

Only one month after his Sorting, Lucius was walking down the steps, heading back to the Slytherin common room another day of classes when all of a sudden, the staircase changed, leading him to a completely new destination.

Part of him wanted to go back up and take a different set of stairs back to the common room, but the other part wanted to continue and see where it would take him. It would be a good time to explore the dungeons and see if he could find another path.

Ignoring his gut instinct, he decided on the latter, following the steps down into the darkness.

He hopped off of the last stair with a feeling of gusto and confidence as he began to stroll down the corridor he believed would lead to the common room. After a few minutes, however, reality dawned on him: he was lost. A sense of panic washed over him as he increased his pace, trying desperately to find an escape from the dungeons.

Just as Lucius was about to give up, he heard a distant, high-pitched laugh. His eyes widened in surprise and relief as he ran towards the sound. The cackling led him to the outside of a seemingly-abandoned classroom. Peeking through the dusty window, he saw the figure of a young girl, presumably just a bit older than himself. Her hair was curly, black, and wild. She was clothed in a black robe with a large green serpent on the back.

A loud squeal of pain came from inside the room - and it wasn't coming from the girl. The obviously-Slytherin witch shrieked in delight, bouncing around the room, her hair flying wildly around her face.

Lucius wanted to turn and flee, regardless of how lost he was, but at that exact moment, she glanced out of the window, and their eyes locked.

He stared at her fearfully, unable to read her emotions as she ungracefully exited the classroom, slamming the door shut. He wanted to run, but he was frozen on the spot.

"Who are you?" she asked curiously as she stopped in front of him, tilting her head to the side.

"Lucius-" he began, shaking, but she cut him off.

"-Malfoy," she finished for him, nodding. "I remember. You're a first year- Abraxas Malfoy's only son. He supports the Dark Lord. Do you?"

"W-What?" he stuttered in surprise as she stared at him expectantly. "How... How do you-"

He was cut off as she grabbed his arm, dragging him into the abandoned classroom.

"Come see this!" she exclaimed excitedly, completely forgetting her previous question.

She pulled him to a large wooden desk, standing opposite him. In the middle of the desk were two unconscious rats.

The witch grinned sadistically at the two rodents, before extending her arm out to Lucius. "I'm Bellatrix Black, by the way. Fourth year," she said calmly, as if this were a very casual situation.

"Nice to meet you..." Lucius said cautiously, shaking Bellatrix's hand.

She quickly changed her attention back to the two rats, grabbing her wand from her pocket and pointing it at one of them. After muttering a spell, the rat woke up and quickly got on its feet in an attempt to escape, but only managed to fall onto its side. After a few more unsuccessful attempts, it was able to run a little ways, but collapsed once more after running head-first into the other rat, panting heavily.

"What did you do to it?!" Lucius asked, horrified, as she began to laugh maniacally.

"Watch," she said, grinning. "Crucio!" she yelled, and the near-dead rat began to shriek, writhing around on the desk in pain.

Lucius flinched in horror. "Stop! Stop!" he yelled, covering his eyes as she continued to laugh.

Bellatrix stopped, lowering her wand and peering at him curiously. "Isn't it funny?" she asked innocently, a crazed look in her eyes.

Lucius was at a loss for words. He knew now that she was crazy, but he also knew that if he answered incorrectly, she could easily hurt him. "I... um-"

"Do you want to try?" she interrupted.

He look up at her in shock. "Do I... What?"

"Get out your wand," she instructed, and he obliged, retrieving it from the pocket of his robe. "Have you ever performed the Cruciatus Curse before?"

Lucius shook his head worriedly, staring at the unfortunate rat.

"Basically," she started, "you just have to really mean the spell. You have to want to hurt this rat. Understand?"

He quickly nodded, his hand trembling as he pointed his wand at the poor creature. "Couldn't we get caught though?"

"Does it matter?" Bellatrix asked and Lucius reluctantly shook his head. "You're a strange boy, Lucius."

The young wizard had to resist the urge to snort at this ironic assessment of his personality, for he feared it would get him in trouble with her. Instead, he just nodded.

"Well, go on!" she urged, gesturing towards the rat.

Lucius murmured a quick and inaudible apology to the rodent before raising his wand again. "Crucio!" he shouted, but nothing happened. The rat just continued to pant on its side, and he suppressed a sigh of relief, though a vague feeling of disappointment nagged at him at the back of his brain.

"You didn't mean it enough!" she exclaimed. "You're never going to produce a proper Cruciatus Curse like that! Try again."

He hesitantly pointed his wand at the rat once more, before repeating the spell. "Crucio!" he yelled, and watched in morbid fascination as the small rodent began to thrash around on the desk, squeaking in agony.

Bellatrix squealed in delight, but Lucius just stared in awe, horrified and yet enchanted by what his handiwork had caused.

It was in that moment that Lucius realised he had gone too deep, torturing a helpless creature for no apparent reason other than sheer entertainment. However, it was also then that he realised he couldn't care less. He was quite enjoying the feeling of power he felt for being the one to cause such suffering.

Lucius opened his eyes as his thoughts returned to present day. He found himself thinking back to his very first steps into Dark magic and his very first gifted, yet arguably insane, guide. Years would pass where he would consider the bitter irony that while Bellatrix Black had risen quickly into the high echelon of the Dark Lord's service, he had been the master of a far more subtle savagery. She had been the mistress of cruelty for its own sake, but he, the regal and well-coiffed Lucius Malfoy, had perfected the more subtle and sinister nuances of being in the Dark Lord's service.

Thanks for reading, guys! Be sure to leave a review and tell me what you thought!

Written for the Quidditch League Competition
Prompt: Write about your team's chosen character in their first year at Hogwarts
Character chosen: Lucius Malfoy