DISCLAIMER: All things Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling.
Dedicated to the usual suspects. (Excessively Complex, Melissa Lianne, kalabangsilver)
-- Snakes and Stones --
We are alone in Malfoy's room. Bella leans against me, nuzzles my neck, and whispers my name. My real name.
I know immediately what it is that she wants. Her use of my real name makes that obvious. I realize that I don't want her to call me by that name after all, and I tell her so.
"What name do you want me to use, then?" she asks softly, looking up at me.
"You may call me Voldemort." I've granted her such permission few enough times in the past that she is surprised by it now.
She holds my gaze as she breathes my name. Her voice is hushed, reverant...
And I feel a sudden intense longing. It is a feeling I know well, but I have never before felt it towards a person.
I cup her face in my hands and bring my mouth to hers, lightly brushing her lips with my own. I make sure to keep my movements slow and tender. I have never kissed her this way before. I have never kissed anyone this way before. I feel her arms slide around my neck as she reciprocates with soft sweet kisses of her own.
There is none of the usual passionate fire behind these kisses, so why is it that I feel such incredible pleasure...?
Although I am tempted to let it continue like this for as long as humanly possible, after a few long moments I break the kiss. She sighs and snuggles against me. I lift her into my arms and carry her to the bed where, slowly, softly, I take her.
Despite my intention not to, I fall asleep after we are finished. When I wake up, Bella has already left the bed. Her clothes are still lying in a heap on the floor and she is standing, naked, in front of the open closet.
"What are you doing?" I ask as I quickly pull my robes on.
"Borrowing my sister's clothes," she answers in a what-does-it-look-like-I'm-doing tone of voice.
I do not point out that the dress she was wearing before is still clean. I have learned that women have very different ideas than men about when clothing is designated 'dirty'.
She does not go for the plain black robes, as I would have expected her to, but rather chooses a dress that is recognizably Narcissa's. It is at this point that I think to ask her what she is planning. An evil grin lights her face as she explains...
When I walk into the dining room (alone), Lucius and Rodolphus are sitting at the table talking to each other in a friendly manner. I suppose Lucius must be a better actor than I gave him credit for if he can just sit there making small talk with his brother-in-law after the things he's learned about him.
Once they notice that I've entered the room, their conversation ceases and Rodolphus asks me where his wife is.
"Why would I know where she is?" I say with a small frown, as if I'm confused as to the reason he would even consult me on the matter.
"Wasn't she with you?" he asks, sounding a bit confused himself.
"It was yesterday evening when she was last in my company," I lie, my tone clearly conveying that I consider him a total idiot. "I know it might take a simpleton like you eighteen hours to report a single piece of information..." I let the insult hang.
I can tell what he is thinking without even peeking into his mind. If she was lying about having been with me, then who the hell was she sleeping with?
Before he has a chance to voice this thought, though, Narcissa bursts into the room with a bundle of silver fabric in her arms, looking absolutely furious. She stalks over to Lucius and demands angrily, "What is this?"
"Isn't that the dress Bellatrix was wearing this morning?" Lucius says. (It is. I recognized it the moment she came into the room.)
"How could you? With my sister of all people, when you won't even sleep with me. All this time I thought you were gay!" Narcissa rants.
Lucius chooses this moment to reveal that he and Narcissa are actually half-siblings (due to an affair), which is the reason he could never bring himself to do anything sexual with her and why he was secretly glad when another man got her pregnant, since most of the wizarding world wasn't in on that little secret. At this point he turns to Rodolphus and says, "By the way, I heard recently that you're the father..."
While the three of them argue amongst themselves, Bella slips quietly into the room. I know something is wrong because she ignores her family and comes straight to me. (Besides that, she is wearing her own clothes again. She must have gone to her room and changed before she came here.)
She lays her hand on my arm and hisses in my ear, "I need to talk to you."
I know she means in private. We exit the dining room (unnoticed by the still-arguing trio), and go back to my room.
She sits on the edge of the bed. I remain standing. She seems hesitant to speak so I take the initiative.
"What happened?" And by that I mean why did she let her little revenge plan go to shit.
"I got sick," she says quietly, looking down at the floor. "I threw up all over Narcissa's dress..." A hint of a smile plays around the corners of her mouth as she says this.
"You were so nervous about your plan that you threw up?" I ask in surprise. That just isn't like her at all.
"I don't think that's it," she whispers, her gaze still rooted firmly on the floor.
"Bella." I kneel in front of her her, forcing her to look at me. "Are you trying to tell me what I think you're trying to tell me?"
She bites her lip and nods.
Well. That certainly explains some things about her recent behavior.
"And, what are the chances that Rodolphus is the father?"
She hesitates. "Um... fifty-fifty?"
"Really?" I say in surprise. "You... with him? That much?"
"You're forgetting... I didn't know that he wasn't in love with me - or that he was getting some on the side." Her eyes are shining with unshed tears. "I hope it's yours," she says softly. I can hear the tenderness and worry in her voice. Of course she doesn't want the baby to be her husband's. Suddenly I feel very possessive.
"It's mine, whether I'm actually the father or not," I say fiercely.
I am not prepared for her reaction. She throws her arms around me and buries her face against my neck. I am caught off-balance and we fall backward onto the floor.
"I love you," she whispers.
When I hear her say it, I have a strong desire to repeat the same words back to her and in that moment I realize that the feelings I have for her are love. I never recognized it as such before. I thought I didn't even know what love was. But I can never tell her how I feel, because she will not believe me if I do. She doesn't want lies. So I tell her the only thing I can tell her.
"I know you do, Bella."
-end-
A/N: And that's the series finale! Seriously, all requests for MOAR will be denied.
The title is a reference to "sticks and stones" and also referring back to the stones from the "glass houses" saying. I changed "sticks" to "snakes" cause it's Voldemort.
Reviews: love.