"I told you not to summon me!" The words irrupted from him in an angry torrent. "How dare you! For nothing less than Potter. I was to be called for nothing less than the Potter boy." Voldemort's furious glare fixed on Lucius Malfoy. "Well?" He demanded.
Lucius kneeling in the midst of his ruined house glanced up. Confusion and terror lit his face, "My Lord?"
"WHERE IS HE?"
Lucius bowed his head but did not speak.
Voldemort circled him like a hungry vulture. "Lucius, I asked you a question." He said in a whisper which was even more terrifying than when he was shouting.
"He's…gone….escaped." Lucius was trembling worst than ever.
Voldemort lifted Lucius off the ground with a flick of his wand so the two men were at eyelevel with one another.
"He escaped?" Voldemort whispered.
"But he was here, My Lord. I assure you. We had the boy, but the house-elf-"
"A house elf? You were defeated by an elf?" Voldemort hissed. Lucius swallowed hard. Words seemed to escape him. "Are you not wizards? Pureblood wizards at that. The noblest race on earth. And you let Potter get away because of a house-elf?" The last few words came out as a shriek. Voldemort flicked his wand and sent Lucius fling across the room where he hit the opposite wall and slumped to the floor unconscious.
But he was not finished there. The angry that he felt boiled within him as he turned on the others.
Greyback and the other Snatchers, who by this time had revived and where now staggering to their feet, were the next to feel his wrath. He did not have time for them-not for questioning, not even for torturing. He raised his wand and the Snatchers fell to the floor, dead, with a loud crash. The werewolf was lucky enough to have been spared by his killing curses but was lying, once again, unconscious face down in the debris that covered the floor.
Finally he turned on Bellatrix. Slowly, very slowly he walked towards her, silently appraising her with a cold expression.
She sat, huddled in a corner, watching his approach with large terrified eyes. In a corner across the room, Draco sat whimpering next to his mother, but Voldemort did not pay either of them any mind.
Still gazing at the dark-haired woman with the same cold glance he began slowly to speak. His voice barely above a whisper.
"Bella-"
But before he could even finish her name she flung herself at his feet.
"My Lord," she whispered. "Master please. Forgive me. It was not my fault. I tried." The last words came out with a sob.
Voldemort sighed. "I expected better from you, Bellatrix. You, who has never failed me. You knew I was abroad. You knew I was not to be summoned and yet here I am." His voice hardened. "Perhaps I didn't make myself clear."
Bellatrix sobbed harder. "No My Lord. Please My Lord."
"Or perhaps you thought I could be summoned at your every whim. Summoned like a common dog." He spat the last word with disgust.
Bellatrix shook her head furiously. "No My Lord. Never My Lord. You know how much I respect you. How much I lov—" the word caught in her throat. "I would do anything to for you. Anything. I would never presume. It is I, who is at your command. I would never, could never think…never dream such a thing."
Voldemort glanced down at her considering her through cruel cold eyes. She looked up at him for a fraction of a second and for the briefest moment their eyes met. Over by the wall Lucius moaned softly. Voldemort immediately turned his gaze on him but Lucius did not stir again.
He did not look back at the woman lying at is feet, stubbornly refusing to even so much as glance at her.
Bellatrix meanwhile averted her eyes once more to the floor. Tears streamed down her face. She bowed her head and kissed the hem of his robes. "Please My Lord. I didn't mean….It's not my fault…I tried. They stole my wand. That evil little ungrateful monkey. He tried to kill me." The last sentence sounded almost indignant before returning to desperate sobs. "Please it's not my fault. Master please forgive me."
Voldemort felt anger swelling inside him once more. He kicked out at Bellatrix. She fell back, sprawled on the glass strewn floor. Glass shards pierced her hands and she cried out.
"You have failed me Bellatrix." He snarled still refusing to look at her. He could hear her sobs grow louder. "You failed. I asked something very simple of you and yet you were unable to comply." He considered her for a long moment. "Still you have served me well in the past. I trust you will not make this mistake again."
Bellatrix glanced up hopeful. She stared at his face searching for some sign of forgiveness in his eyes but Voldemort was staring into the empty space above her head.
"But," he continued sharply. "You still must be punished. Surely you understand you must still be punished. Lord Voldemort doesn't forgive that easily, not even you. You must pay for what you did."
Bellatrix whimpered but did not say anything.
Voldemort to a deep breath and finally forced himself to look down at her. He drew his wand and aimed it at her chest. "Crucio."
The word came out cold as ice, but its chilling effect was shattered by the sounds of Bellatrix's shrieks which echoed through the halls. She body contorted with agonizing pain.
"You have disappointed me Bella." He said, each of his words punctuated by her screams. "You deserve this, you know that don't you?"
Bellatrix's response was yet another shriek of pain.
In a distant corner of the room, Narcissa watched impassively as her sister cried out again and again. Draco was not as stolid. He squirmed uncomfortably with every scream, wincing every once in a while and generally looking so terrified he could cry.
The torture seemed to go on forever. When at last, Voldemort removed his wand; an eerie silence fell over the manor. It was disturbed only by Bellatrix's heavy breathing as she lay on the floor in a heap, still twitching from the pain.
"I don't have time for you right now Bellatrix," Voldemort said in a high voice. "There are more pressing things I must attend to." He turned and strode towards the door. When he reached it he turned around.
"None of you are to leave this house. None of you, without my expressed permission. Do you understand?" He did not wait for a response. He turned on the stop and Disaparated, confident with the knowledge none of them would dare to disobey him again.