So, this story will follow Bellatrix in an AU where she and her husband never got arrested for the crimes they committed against the Longbottoms. Leading to them searching for their master and preparing for his return with . . . interesting results. I am literally so excited for this story and already know exactly where I'm going with this (which is a rare blessing). I have two chapters done already and will start the third soon, I'll add the next chapter next week or if I get a few reviews and stuff before then I'll do it sooner.

I'd also like to thank Trixie Black Lestrange for, as always, helping me with my brain storming and helping me with the story title.

So please enjoy my little story, I really hope you enjoy it! Please do leave a review if you have a moment, I love hearing your thoughts. :D

The Purple Black

The woman shivered on the floor, whispering nonsense under her breath as her eyes wildly scanned the room. She didn't even flinch as the tip of the Death Eaters heel nudged her from her side onto the flat of her back onto the floor.

"She's gone, Bellatrix." Rabastan spat, wiping the blood from his split lip. "Yet again it is a dead end . . . They knew nothing."

Bellatrix turned her gaze to her brother in law, her black eyes lit with fury. Rabastan shook his head, looking with disgust to the two quivering Aurors, a once strong pair reduced to a babbling mess on the floor.

"We got rid of them." Bella hissed "He wanted them eliminated and now they are."

"He is not here, Bellatrix!" Rabastan yelled "That is the problem!"

"They know—"

"Knew." Rodolphus corrected, oddly calm as he spoke from his seat on the edge of the remnants of the Longbottom's sofa. "They knew—not 'know', past tense. Whatever they knew is lost in their broken sanity now."

Barty scoffed in amusement, licking his lips as he smirked down at the pair "'Lost in their broken sanity'." He snickered "Sounds poetic."

"Yes." Bella couldn't help the twitch of a smirk on her lips before she looked between the three men "Kill them?"

Barty frowned, stepping forward as the rest of the group readied their wands to perform the deadly curse "Wait, if they know something—"

"Gone." Bellatrix hissed "Rod's right."

"Shame." Rabastan smirked "I was having fun."

"We are not here to have fun!" Bellatrix screeched, reaching her brother-in-law in two long strides as she jabbed her wand into his neck. "We came here to find The Dark Lord! You imbecile! Maybe if you concentrated on the task at hand instead of—"

"Bellatrix get off of him!" Rodolphus roared, grabbing onto his wife and quickly yanking her into himself. He held her tightly as she struggled, trying to curse the pair of them until Rodolphus shook her suddenly, hissing in her ear "Calm down. We need to clean up, we need to get out, we do not need to fight between ourselves."

"Get. Off." Bellatrix growled, spinning from the man at her first opportunity. "You—What is that?" she whispered.

All four of the Death Eaters in the room froze, wands firmly in their grasps as each looked to the source of the noise. A baby was crying. It was not something they had heard that night before, something they had not realised when they had been downstairs torturing the child's parents for information they could never get. The wards placed on the child's room must have lifted as the Longbottoms lost grips with their magic enough to no longer be able to hold such spells in place. Bellatrix and Rodolphus looked to each other as the two other men continued to stare at the source of the noise, as if they had never heard a child crying before in their lives.

"Rod . . ." Bella breathed.

He didn't say a word, merely gave the woman a slight nod as he moved to look from the previously drawn curtains. She didn't have to say what she was thinking, Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange had worked together long enough to know the other's thoughts without asking. If whatever silencing or sleeping wards that were on the child had lifted there could be other spells at work that had also lifted. They were dealing with Aurors, there could be measures in place to alert the ministry. They had defeated the wards surrounding the place to get into the home, ensured they could not use their wands to send for any sorts of help . . . Though, the magic's that could come into effect after a person loses their self so fully . . .

"We need to leave." Rodolphus muttered.

Barty rolled his eyes "Well let's kill them fir—"

"No time." Bellatrix hissed, the sound of apparation clear in the distance.

"You two—" Rodolphus looked to his Rab and Barty, both standing to attention ready to fight "we're splitting up. Run—do not try to apparate until you are sure you're clear."

"But—"

"Just do it!" Bellatrix hissed, already running to the back of the small house. Rodolphus was quick on her trail as she heard the boys running to the front of the house. He quickly moved through the modest kitchen before placing a hand on his wife's hip, the woman already peering through the net curtains on the small back door window.

"I can't see anyone out here." Rodolphus whispered past his wife's shoulder.

"No . . . Maybe we should go fight the ones out front." Bellatrix couldn't help but smirk.

"The boys can handle them." Rodolphus replied "Come on." He turned to face his wife, nodding to the mask he knew she had concealed in her robes before looking out of the backdoor window yet again.

"I don't want to hide." Bellatrix hissed. "I want to fight."

"You won't have the chance to fight if you get caught up in this mess." The man reached within his robes, producing his Death Eater mask and placing it firmly on his face. He looked to his wife, not moving an inch before with a roll of her eyes she did the same, pulling her hood over her head to ensure her hair was covered for good measure.

Rodolphus grabbed her hand as he opened the back door, wincing as he could suddenly hear the sounds of his brother fighting along side Barty. They were too young, he should have taken his brother and left his wife to help Barty. It was too late now, they would be fine. That's all that he kept on telling himself. They crept the corner of the building, sticking as close to the walls as they could. They reached the corner of the building with ease, both restraining themselves from running to join the duel they could hear on the other side of the property. Bellatrix dug her nails into Rod's hand, prompting for him to look to her as she nodded towards the forest at the end of garden.

"We get to cover." Bella whispered. "Then we help the boys."

Rodolphus nodded in reply, raising his finger to his lips before with one last glance around the corner the pair quickly dashed for the treeline. Though it was too late, they were spotted as a hex came flinging their way. Bellatrix soon shielded the both of them rebounding the curse as she threw herself into the cover of the trees, her husband not that far behind her. Soon she was duelling furiously, parrying off the onslaught of spells thrown her way alongside her husband. It wasn't long before the lone Auror was knocked down, dead or unconscious she didn't care. She went to swoop forward, ready to go to help the boys escape as she heard a deafening yell.

"Rab." She whispered, clenching her teeth with renewed fury though the moment she went to step forward she felt an arm around her waist gripping onto her tightly. She went to scream to be let go before she felt the familiar hush in her ear from her husband. He ran, pulling her behind him. They ran and ran until Bellatrix was sure that her heart was about to explode with the exertion of it all. She was about to beg the man to stop when without a moments notice the familiar sense of side along apparation took over her and they were gone. The dark witch quickly took in the surroundings, her eyes wide in shock and fury as she realised her husband had taken them to their summer home in France.

"What are you doing!?" Bellatrix demanded.

"Calm down." Rodolphus took off his mask and death eaters cloak in a rush before throwing it on the bed. "Take it off Bellatrix . . . NOW!"

Bellatrix sneered at the man, unclasping her cloak and mask before throwing it on top of her husbands. He quickly waved his wand across the pile, the witch yelling in fury as she marched up to her husband and grabbed his arm. "What are you doing? Why are we here?"

"We've been here since this morning." Rodolphus spoke with a sense of calm that Bellatrix found both disconcerting and infuriating all at once. "We wanted to come to France to do some last minute Christmas shopping. Take your make-up and clothes off, get into a night dress."

"W—What?" Bellatrix spluttered, shocked by what she was hearing "What about the boys? What about your brother?"

"They are more than capable of looking after themselves."

"Ha! That is a lie! You heard that duel! We had to fight off one man, Rodolphus! One! How many were they holding back!?" Bellatrix screamed in the mans face, disgusted at him as he merely looked away from the woman. "No!" Bellatrix took the mans chin in her hand, forcing him to look at her. "Look at me! We should have stayed! We should have fought and helped those boys! They are our responsibility! That's what he said! We trained them, Rodolphus! It is our fault if they get killed or captured. Do you not care!?"

The speed of Rodolphus took her off guard, a solid slap to her face hitting her away from him before she fell to the floor. She reached her hand to her cheek, it was not the first time her husband had hit her, it was almost expected now. "Do not tell me that I do not care." Rodolphus growled, walking over to his wife and dragging her back to her feet "That is my little brother. Don't you dare! I have to believe that he—that both of them—are smart enough to do as we told them. They'll get away. We will continue to search for our lord, if we cannot find him we will prepare for his return so that when he inevitably returns we can help and serve him as we always have." Rodolphus looked into the dark eyes of his wife, staring up at him as she seemed to calm slightly.

"But Rod . . ." Bella closed her eyes, shaking her head "We need to find him . . . We can't abandon his cause—our cause."

"We won't, Ma Belle." Rodolphus pulled her into his arms, kissing her head as he held her closely. "We'll come back from this, I promise."

After a few moments in each others embrace, Rodolphus slowly caressing her back as she eventually relaxed in his arms. Before long the pair had readied their selves for bed, curling into each others arms under the silk sheets. Though neither couple slept well that night; both worrying on what had happened and what was still to come. The next morning Bellatrix turned to realise that her husband had already left her. She pulled herself up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes a small yawn escaped her as she summoned her dressing gown from the back of the door.

"Rod . . ." Bella sighed, tying her robe around herself as she walked towards the door.

She reached out for the door knob, her breath catching in her throat as her sleeve fell down to reveal her Dark Mark. The once beautiful jet black skull and snake had faded. It was still undoubtedly there but it was not as strong, not as bold as it once had been. Bella shook her head to snap herself out of it, holding her head high in renewed determination as she went to find her husband. The man sat at the dining room table, a plate of food freshly prepared by the elves untouched in front of him as he stared intently at that days copy of The Daily Prophet. Bella almost didn't want to know what it said, though from the look of defeat on her husbands face she could almost guess. She walked up beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder as she gently took the paper from beneath him so she could read it herself. There on the front page was potentially one of the most sickening things she had seen since the blasted paper declared the fall of her beloved master. 'Rabastan Lestrange and Barty Crouch Jr arrested as Death Eaters' she read the rest of the paper in silence, taking in each and every detail before she gently placed it in front of her husband.

"They said they acted alone." Rodolphus murmured. "The Longbottoms can't exactly say otherwise . . . you killed the Auror that saw us—which they also took the blame for, a 'stray spell' . . . No-one's looking for us."

"I can see that . . ." Bella watched her husband, reaching out and stroking the hair from his face. The pair locked eyes, a thousand words said between them without a single sound. It was in a rare moment of silent affection that Rodolphus wrapped an arm around his wife's waist and pulled her onto his lap, she curled into his arms as she nestled her head into his chest. "It will be okay . . . He'll come back. He'll get them out. . ."

Thanks for reading! Please do leave me a review and let me know what you think! The Purple Black x