Author's note: All rights belong to the incredible J.K Rowling and Warner Brothers. Please, please review? Very AU but hey-ho. set just after the Dark Lord is brought bake to life in the fourth novel/film, the Azkaban breakout has already been accomplished.

Chapter two; Arrogance is only a downfall when not mastered

The Dark Lord sat in deep thought at the throne of the long table that stretched the length of the meeting room, his eyes lost in concentration. Alas this effort was futile; despite his many attempts the mind of his newest deatheater Lolita could not, and would not be opened. He was not shocked by this. The witch had proven herself to contain power of un-measurable strength.
Her arrogance worried him slightly though, normally such rudeness would be gotten rid of but, he couldn't help noticing that her ego was an equal, if not more of, a match to her magical ability. Also, her sharp humour amused him. Surely knocking the confidence of the young woman was not a step forward. No, definitely not. Besides her self-assurance only added to the intimidating aura the witch seemingly oozed, he couldn't help but feel proud of his new recruit. When the aurors heard that the mysterious criminal they'd worked so hard to try and defeat while keeping her chaos from the media was now working for Lord Voldemort, they'd wet their little boy's pants.

As if on cue Lolita strode into the meeting room, perching herself on the seat directly to her Lord's left. Bellatrix's seat. She had changed into a floor length silk black gown that fit her figure nicely without clinging provocatively. His mind passed a quick thought as to why he was taking notice of her dress sense, coming to the conclusion it was because of her inept ability to make muggle clothing wizard world acceptable. Surprisingly this didn't bother the Dark Lord. She quickly turned the seat to face him and began questioning her role and who she would work with. He took notice of how she purred certain words with meaning to, something told him that she may prove more popular than he first thought. He told her all about the inner circle in hushed tones as the people he was discussing began to apparate into the room. The eyes of all the men were fixed on this new intruder; who leaned towards the Dark Lord so intimately, spoke to him so personally, dressed so scantly, all the while sat in Bellatrix's seat.

He was starting to think it was a woman's thing because as if on cue the infamous Miss Lestrange entered the room. Stopping abruptly when she took notice of this whore sat in her seat. She glared and he saw the dark fires of insanity begin to burn behind her eyes. He conjured a seat at the other end of the table directly opposite him, the end where no one sat, and noted at it expectantly before turning back to Lolita's questions. The deatheater seemed to accept this as a good enough position and gracefully sat down, continuing to shoot daggers in the direction of his left. He gave the new witch her last answer just as the last three followers arrived, she turned to face forwards again but he grabbed her arm to pull her back round to him. He thought it fair to warn her, he leaned down to the side of her face and whispered,
"Word of advice Bella is quite the, fanatical devotee. You're in her seat"
"I doubt whispering to me with your face pressed against mine is calming that jealous rage burning in her pupils."
He pulled back and sat straight in his chair, eyes still on her. Lolita winked before turning her chair to the middle. She propped her head onto her hands and leaned forward ever so slightly. Malfoy diverted his gaze to admire the view. The pig.

"How nice of you all to join us." Lord Voldemort stood to address the group as a whole, briefly glaring at Crabbe, Goyle and Yaxley who were late, as per.
"Now I'm sure you'll notice we are joined by another this evening, I would like you all to meet my newest recruit Lolita. I doubt any of you recognise her but you will all have heard of her. The black widow, mort le femme, and so many other names. She has kindly agreed to join our inner circle and will be treated with the respect such a prestigious dark minded genius deserves." He saw the faces of many drop, and watched with silent glee as the emotions of many changed from lust to fear. Bellatrix looked threatened, this seemed to add to the hate.
"The ministry will be terrified when they discover you've joined the ranks." Malfoy's comment broke the shocked quite. Others nodded in agreement. The Dark Lord sat; happy his deatheaters seemed legit with the suddenness of the recruiting. Lolita sat taller in her chair. Proud of her own pride.
"Down to the first order of business." He hissed the S's as he was getting accustomed to now with his snake-like tongue, when in Rome, "Lolita if you could bear me your arm we can officially welcome you to the cause." He turned to her, wand drawn. She faced him looking slightly anxious, the first sign of any nerves he'd detected off her in their brief time together.
"About that…" She deliberately trailed off. He rolled his eyes in disbelief; he had known she would have a thing about tattoos.
"You have issues with the dark mark; does it not fit your credentials?" He asked sarcastically, several sniggered at his comment. The anxiety left her face,
"Yes actually." He saw that coming. "Frankly; tattoos are stupid, the mark is ugly, and I fail to see why you can't just place the response spell on my arm without ruining my skin with that silly little pirate symbol." She stated spitefully as if talking to an inferior, inadvertently he smirked at her response. He'd expected nothing else and prepared himself for what he imagined to be a stubborn counter argument. He actually had no problem with what she was suggesting; it probably lessened her chances of being arrested. And, it wasn't as if she were not loyal. Only problem was that he couldn't very well let the rude newbie have her way with him no problem in front of everyone. He'd thought that out to. Before he could respond Bellatrix had leapt to her feet,
"How dare you speak to the Dark Lord like that, CRUCIO!" The witch screamed manically. Everyone stared as the spell jumped at the younger woman, who shuddered a little on impact before regaining her composure and leaning forward casually to take a sip of water, without so much as a quivering hand. Clearly alarmed Bellatrix forced the spell into her victim, who simply shook her shoulders and turned to Bellatrix with an annoyed face.
"Bella dear would you kindly remove your curse. It's beginning to sting, and if my hands start to shake they won't stop, and then how will I finish my knitting?" The cursers arm dropped to her side and the spell left its unaffected victim who didn't even appear to notice. Bellatrix's face dropped to match her arm, as did everyone else's. The deatheaters turned to their Lord for sort of explanation, Lolita included.

"Bella you needn't look so disappointed in your power or spell, there's a reason both are feared. It is not only you who has been caught off by a certain witch's arrogance and skill." He glared at Lolita, she smirked in return. "We both appeared to have been, tricked." Lestrange's face lit up in pure glee at the use 'we'. She looked as if she'd spent her entire life waiting for him to mutter those words. The Dark Lord didn't know whether to be complimented, amused or just creeped out. He returned his attention to the matter at hand,
"Lolita bear me your arm." This time it was a demand. She did as told. He placed the required spells upon her skin, leaving no visible marking. As he did so he scolded her through legitimacy for trying to embarrass him, promising her if she did so again he would cover her entire right arm in an enlarged dark mark. She telepathically winked at him. He didn't even know that was possible.

The rest of the meeting passed with just the Dark Lord speaking of their progress and plans. They were to begin working on receiving a prophecy of Sybil Trelawney from the department of mysteries, he told them not what the prophecy contained. He wasn't even sure he knew exactly.
The meeting finished and he allowed the deatheaters to head into the sitting room instead of turning in for the night, Bellatrix did not stay behind.

She had never been so overcome with emotion in her entire life, that little bitch! She understood why she'd joined the inner circle immediately, she was clearly very talented. She understood that her master allowed her arrogance as it was matched by her power. She understood perfectly but it was still bloody infuriating! He was the Dark Lord and she spoke to him like an equal? It didn't matter how many she killed it didn't add up to him, but then again, what was it the papers said? Thousands by her own hand that could be more than him…
No! No one was on the same level as her Lord, he was her Lord and he was all powerful. This Lolita was merely his right hand woman. Hold on, she was his right hand woman! Hello people, has everyone suddenly forgotten about Bella? She loved it when he called her Bella, and he called them 'we'. We, us, them, they were a them…
Bellatrix snapped out of her thoughts to go and find Rodolphus, their marriage maybe one of convenience but he had become a great friend to her. Someone to confide in, laugh with, talk to. What was it he had called them when they'd broken into Lucius's fire whisky, oh yes 'best buds'. She supposed they were really. He was among the small number of people who she cared for and had never cursed, there was him, Narcissa and Draco, Cissy's blessed little dragon wasn't old enough yet. She moved towards the drinks cabinet where Rod would un-doubtfully be.

She was right, and he wasn't alone. He stood in conversation with the tolerable and occasionally likeable Lucius plus the very un-likeable Lolita, stupid name. Bellatrix approached head held high, "Roddy, Lucy, Cocky." She nodded at each, raising her eyebrows in a silent dare of re-action to the newbie who simple ignored the comment. Rodolphus gave her a glare of warning before allowing her into the conversation.
"Ahh Bella, Lolita was just telling us about her murder of Belinda Costrout. You know the ministry's top blood traitor until her, recent parting." He looked over to Lolita at this point with a knowing which she meet by raising her hand as if to brush off his compliment of sorts, before proudly straightening herself to her full length. She was quite a bit taller than Bellatrix. Bellatrix didn't like this. She thought of something to say and turned towards the woman she had now deemed her competition.
"If you pride yourself on the demise of blood filth surely you ought to have rid the world of those retched Weasleys by now." All three turned to the younger woman for a reply.
"I would not taint my wand with the dirty blood of a ginger rodent like a Weasley." Good answer, bitch. Bellatrix was bored now, little miss Mexicana was really infuriating her and the worst thing was she could think of no way to punish her. She was going to have to get creative. Nobody overstepped Bella, nobody.