Author's note: So I got this idea from the heat wave when I found out that the last time we had one this bad was 1976, which was during the first wizarding war. I plan to make this story about five or six chapters long.
The sun had finally gone down, pale blue sky going darker and merging with hues of purple as the moon rose. The sun had unfortunately not taken the heat with it, as thick, sticky air made its way in through every open window in the front bedroom of Lestrange manor's east wing. The sun had been a relentless presence across Britain for the last six weeks, bringing sweltering days and uncomfortable nights that didn't show any signs of disappearing.
Bellatrix sighed, adjusting the sliver of emerald silk draped over her naked body as it stuck to her sweat soaked skin. She absolutely detested the heat, and the fact that there was no escape from it chipped away at her already low patience. Her body felt flushed as the night air licked over her, strands of hair sticking to her face and neck. She closed her eyes against the discomfort from the sheets plastering themselves to her, before turning to look at Rodolphus, who was lying on the other side of the bed.
"You need to go and sleep in a different room," she huffed, not angrily, but frustrated. The heat had been causing a problem. It wasn't a problem exactly, but it certainly was not making the heat wave any easier to tolerate. As it was incredibly hot outside, leaving the house became difficult. Long sleeved robes became drenched with sweat in minutes and short sleeved robes weren't an option since both of them wore very incriminating tattoos on their forearms.
Remaining inside the mansion wasn't much better. Despite the elf's best efforts, the house was still roasting inside, and Bellatrix was incredibly restless since the Dark Lord had left for Albania without telling a single person why. She'd asked everyone, nobody knew. They had all been ordered not to act until his return, which hadn't put her in the best of moods, and then the summer heat intensified. Her need for action went unreleased, building inside her as each day wasted past. Recently she'd found some release through Rodolphus, but her chosen method wasn't exactly compatible with the heat.
Rodolphus scoffed as he considered his wife's suggestion, amused by its audacity. He turned his head to face her, resting his cheek against the arm that was tucked behind his head. Meeting her eyes, he noticed how unimpressed with him for laughing at her suggestion she was. He fought a smirk. "I'm not being kicked out of my bedroom simply because you can't control yourself."
"Don't you dare act like this has come entirely from me," Bellatrix argued, feeling her chest grow warmer. The fact that she'd taken to wearing her silk nightdresses during the day probably hadn't helped him, but he'd begun wandering around the manor topless long before that, and the pettier parts of herself wanted to show him how annoyingly distracting it was. Bellatrix sighed again. None of this would have happened if it wasn't so damn hot, and if the heat hadn't made the other Death Eaters start hosting parties.
As soon as the summer had shown itself to be a good one, the garden parties began. Each rich pureblooded family took turns hosting, and all other wealthy purebloods were expected to attend. This became a problem when the heat got stronger, as long sleeves became completely intolerable, which meant that only other Death Eaters could attend the parties. Bellatrix and Rodolphus both hated social gatherings, and often ended up making their own amusement while in attendance, either through alcohol or an empty room, as they had done as Yaxley's garden party three weeks ago.
"Is this the right one?" asked Bellatrix, squinting at the large red stone house at the bottom of the drive that she, Rodolphus and Rabastan were travelling down.
"I think so," answered Rodolphus, stepping out of the shade from the hedges to peer down the drive. "Although I haven't been here since I was ten."
"It's the right one," added Rabastan as the house grew nearer. The house in question belonged to Corban Yaxley, a fellow Death Eater who worked within the ministry. He'd been a close family friend of the Lestrange's since he'd started working at the ministry and was mentored by Rodolphus and Rabastan's father. He was hosting what was sure to be the first of many garden parties to occur this summer. His house was isolated, down a long driveway off a country road, as most wealthy pureblood's houses were.
The trio reached the end of the drive, Bellatrix immediately annoyed with being thrust back into the sun's direct path, as the hedges and trees lining the drive had provided shade. A round topiary hedge sat in the middle of the mouth of the drive, surrounded by gravel. They walked around it, the unrelenting heat bearing down on them. Rabastan knocked on the door when they stopped in front of it, knowing that since the guest list was exclusive, Yaxley most likely would not have left the door unlocked.
"Good afternoon," greeted Yaxley once he opened the door. The relief at the escape from the heat was instant, and all three of them looked visibly happy to be out of the sun. Yaxley shook hands with Rodolphus and Rabastan, and gently took Bellatrix's before raising it slightly. She smiled. Yaxley was one of the few inner circle Death Eaters that she didn't despise. Most of the others were nosy, pathetic and insecure little boys that couldn't handle the fact that a woman did their job better than they did.
Bellatrix pretended to listen to Rabastan make small talk in the foyer with Yaxley until he disappeared, and then informed Rodolphus that she was going to look and see if Narcissa and Lucius had arrived yet. She wandered around the house, taking her time exploring each room and assessing their quality, before finding Narcissa and Lucius sat out on the patio with their cousin, Evan Rosier.
As soon as she spotted her, Narcissa rose from the chair she was in and sped over to Bellatrix, clasping their hands together as she complimented her dress. Narcissa hadn't taken the mark, so sleeves weren't an issue for her. Bellatrix wasn't too concerned about having to keep her arms covered as summers were never usually hot enough for it to become a problem, but now it was.
"You look so lovely when you're not having to cover your arms," mused Narcissa as she studied her sisters dress, leading her over to the iron table where Lucius and Evan sat.
"Thank you Cissy," Bellatrix replied half heartedly as she was led across the patio. Once she arrived at the table, she greeted her cousin Evan with a kiss on the cheek, and gave Lucius a curt greeting. It was no secret that Bellatrix largely disliked Lucius, but she tolerated his presence for Narcissa's sake, as she had been truly lucky in marrying somebody that she fully, completely loved.
"You on your own?" asked Evan, his fingers resting at the bottom of his wine glass.
"No," answered Bellatrix. "He's in there with his brother." She glanced towards the house. "Could you get me a drink?"
"Sure," replied Evan, silently summoning a floating tray of drinks over to them. Bellatrix took one.
An hour and a half passed, and Bellatrix had grown immeasurably bored of listening to Lucius and Evan dominating the conversation by talking about ministry work, Narcissa attempting to make conversation by bringing up idle gossip, and the gramophone music that was projected through the garden. In addition to her boredom, Bellatrix was completely fed up with the heat. Her dress was stuck to her, her hair had doubled in size from the humidity, and the champagne had left her feeling dehydrated. She'd had enough.
"I'm going inside," she huffed, rising from her chair. The other guests at the table turned and stared at her.
"But why?" pouted Narcissa as she looked up at her sister. Bellatrix knew that Narcissa didn't want to be the only one left listening to the conversation, and there were very few other women for her to socialise with, but she didn't have any sympathy. It had been her decision to marry one of the most boring men alive.
"Because I am not sitting here this sweaty and getting nothing out of it," she explained before leaving, wondering how long it would take Lucius to figure out she'd just insulted him as she sauntered into the house.
She peered cautiously in doorways, checking each room she passed for its occupants. She was searching for one person, and didn't want to have to engage with anybody else. There were faces she recognised, and a few that she didn't. Death Eaters were generally divided into soldiers, spies and recruiters, with most inner circle members falling into at least two of those categories. Nobody knew the exact number of followers the Dark Lord had, and Bellatrix preferred it that way, less people to interact with. She eventually found Rodolphus in one of the lounges at the front of the house, stood by a table engaged in conversation with Jugson.
"Hi there," she said slowly, announcing her presence as she walked over to them.
"You're being summoned," joked Jugson, not even glancing in Bellatrix's direction. Bellatrix rolled her eyes.
"Can I have a word?" she drawled, keeping her contempt for Jugson locked back, ignoring his presence. She'd deal with him in a minute.
"Sure," said Rodolphus, turning his attention away from Jugson and towards Bellatrix. Behind them, Jugson snickered.
"I just wanted to let you know that I was getting rather bored," stated Bellatrix, raising her eyebrows slightly. This had become somewhat of a code phrase between the two of them. "That's all."
"Okay," replied Rodolphus, his eyes darkening as he looked at her. The fact that Jugson had no idea what they were discussing appeared to amuse the both of them.
"'bout to drag you off home is she?" laughed Jugson, catching Bellatrix's attention. She turned around and stepped in front of Rodolphus, putting space between the two men.
"Ah Jugson," she sighed, meeting his eyes fiercely as she moved closer to him. "Your tired attempts at humour are really quite pathetic, and my intensions are none of your business." She took another step closer, enjoying the slivers of fear projected from his eyes as she locked him in place. "And if I hear another word out of your mouth while I'm trying have a conversation with my husband, I'll take great pleasure in sewing it shut." Jugson swallowed. She smiled wolfishly. If they were all so afraid of her, then they really should know better than to irritate her.
"Anyway," Bellatrix continued, the low, intimidating tone she'd used on Jugson completely gone from her voice. She whipped back round to face Rodolphus, who was failing to contain a smirk.
"When you're finished with what I'm sure was an enthralling conversation." Bellatrix shot Jugson a disdainful look over her shoulder. "You know what to do." She finished with a grin, watching Rodolphus bite his lip as their eyes connected before she slipped out of the room, knowing that his eyes were following her.
Bellatrix went straight upstairs to Yaxley's library, having explored the upper floors of the house earlier. There was nobody up here apart from the occasional person using the bathroom, it was the perfect place to escape the forced and false nature of the party downstairs. The room wasn't as big as the library back home, it was closer to the size of their potions supply cupboard, but it was covered in floor to ceiling bookshelves. The only wall that wasn't contained a window that looked out onto the front drive. Bellatrix pulled the curtains closed.
After searching the room for any hidden bottles or decanters of alcohol, Bellatrix took to studying the shelves while she waited. Time seemed to slow down as she examined the worn spines of the books that adorned Yaxley's shelves, making a note of each title she didn't recognise. She'd barely made it halfway along the first wall of books when the door creaked open and Rodolphus walked in.
"Was this the first room you checked?" asked Bellatrix without even turning around, her eyes still drawn to leather spines.
"Yes," answered Rodolphus. Bellatrix finally turned around.
"How did you know?"
"Your obsession with libraries," Rodolphus replied, amusement lacing his voice. Bellatrix watched his eyes roam around the room, landing on the black leather couch parallel to the window. This was a well rehearsed routine of theirs, and since he didn't see large bottle of wine or whiskey sat on the small table in the middle of the room, he knew what she had planned.
"Interesting choice," said Rodolphus, making two steps closer to Bellatrix. She let out a low laugh.
"I thought it might look suspicious, me sneaking in and out of bedrooms," she answered, tilting her head slightly. "The idiots downstairs with their speculative little minds may not have been able to contain themselves." Rodolphus laughed. They both knew that the nature of their relationship was a frequent topic of gossip amongst the other Death Eaters, which was one of the reasons neither of them liked the others much at all. Their whispers and invasive questions had often resulted in them getting themselves tortured, sometimes by the both of them. In situations like this one, where neither of them wanted to be there surrounded by false acquaintances, they were each other's only ally.
"Were you aware that the door doesn't lock when you chose this room?"
"Nothing the usual trick won't fix," grinned Bellatrix, pulling her wand from the pockets of her dress and charming the doorknob to heat up if touched. Afterwards she set her wand down on the table.
"There," she said slowly, biting her lip as she looked him up and down. The sleeves of his khaki robes were pushed up to his elbows, and the light material was tight around his chest and shoulders. She walked over to him slowly, grabbing the front of his robes as she kissed him.
The same thing had happened at Evan's party three days later, and the party after that, and when Rodolphus had decided to forgo wearing anything that covered his top half around the house.
"Okay, I'll admit partial guilt here," replied Rodolphus, and Bellatrix could sense that his point wasn't finished. She could feel further frustration fuse with the heat in her chest over words he hadn't even said yet. "But you can't deny the disproportionate influence."
"Disproportionate?" spat Bellatrix, her frustration doubling. She sat up, her outrage propelling her into movement. Looking down at Rodolphus, she felt her hands itch, like they were aching to slap his face. The tension around his mouth where he was trying not to laugh only added to her desire, so she looked away, making the mistake of looking away from his face and focusing on his upper body.
She looked at his arms, big and tanned and littered with scars, many of them from her. They were tucked arrogantly behind his head as he looked up at her, staring like he could hear every thought in her head, his eyes filled with smug satisfaction. The sheets had also moved when she sat up, exposing his stomach. Bellatrix pulled her eyes away, adrenaline simmering in her blood.
"No, I'm not arguing with you on this," she continued, as calmly as she could manage, refusing to look at him. "Just move."
"Make me," he replied, the tone of his voice making Bellatrix contemplate smothering him with a pillow. She squeezed her eyes shut in exasperation before shooting him a glare. He looked very amused.
"You're not helping," hissed Bellatrix, irritation making her feel even hotter in the muggy air. Rodolphus let the satisfaction disappear from his face, but kept a glimmer of it in his eyes as he leaned up on his elbows.
"You move," he countered, watching Bellatrix's eyes widen like he'd just insulted her. "This was my room long before it was yours. Why should I be the one to leave?" He tried not to smile as he watched her lips fall into a thin line, knowing that he was right but refusing to give in. She was about to change the subject, he knew she was. Her pride made her very predictable during arguments.
Her eyes stayed on his, tearing away as the silence got longer and no rebuttal came. Rodolphus watched her gaze briefly trail over the upper half of his body, lingering on his shoulder and upper arms, before she sighed loudly and abruptly got out of bed.
"I'm not leaving," insisted Bellatrix as she walked around the front of their massive four poster bed. Rodolphus lay back down against the pillows, positioning his arms back behind his head.
"Then where are you going?" he asked, anticipating a stormy response.
"For a cold shower," she answered, surprisingly calmly. Rodolphus would've almost been impressed, if she hadn't just handed the perfect tool to destroy her act of composure.
"Want me to join you?" he asked teasingly, enjoying the sight of her eyes widening and her jaw clenching in frustration. The emotional intimacy had all but disappeared from their relationship ever since they joined the Death Eaters, but Rodolphus had grown to understand why she enjoyed toying with people so much, especially him. There was something to be said for watching the person in front of you lose all composure while you remain perfectly calm.
Bellatrix stormed over to the dresser on the other side of the room, grabbed her wand from the top of it, and cast a non verbal water conjuring spell directly at his chest.
"There," she said, false sweetness lacing her voice as she watched him recoil at the spell's impact. "Now you've had one too."
Rodolphus simply laughed as Bellatrix left the room, the jet of water an unexpected relief against the sticky heat of the room. He shook his head, feeling the water already drying over his skin. The others sometimes looked at him like he was mad for willingly arguing with Bellatrix, but he knew her well enough to know when it was safe. The others didn't have that skill.
He laughed to himself once more, picturing the looks on their faces if they could see them now and realise that this was her on a good day. Not only a good day, but the best running streak of good days that they'd had in years.