Bellatrix had turned out to be a surprisingly good cook: she had managed to get dinner on the table that night at a decent time, and it was wonderful. Even Voldemort found himself eating with the rest of the Death Eaters, resulting in a bit of staring and a few awkward silences. Bellatrix alone seemed to have no problem with Voldemort eating with them: she had promptly sat down next to him and ate her own meal like she was eating by herself. Several more awkward silences ensued throughout the evening; at least, until the end of the meal, when Bellatrix insisted someone stay and help her clean up.

"Somebody's gotta help me," she whined, sitting back and looking imploringly around the table. Everyone coughed a bit, and turned away, as if avoiding eye contact would get them out of it. "Come on! You all actually made me act like a prissy, domesticated, proper little girl! You owe me!"

"Doesn't that just kill you," Lucius muttered, standing up and setting his napkin down next to his plate. "If you'll excuse me-"

"Malfoy!" Bellatrix hissed and spit like an angry cat, her demeanor completely changing in a second. "Don't you dare-!"

"Lucius, you may help Bellatrix clean up," Voldemort said smoothly, cutting right in as Lucius opened his mouth to fire back at Bellatrix. At his lord's words, Lucius's mouth simply fell open and hung there for a moment.

"I-I-my lord-?"

"Do it."

The authority in Voldemort's voice left no room for arguments. Lucius hastily snapped his mouth shut, and nodded. Narcissa rose as well, and laid a hand on Lucius's arm. Draco ducked out the door closest to the table, several other Death Eaters following him. Voldemort swept out of the kitchen in a flurry of black robes, leaving behind a smirking Bellatrix and a still-flabbergasted Lucius. Narcissa began habitually gathering up dishes.

"Cissy, you're too good," Bellatrix crooned, smirking at Lucius. "Take a night off."

Narcissa didn't slow. "I shouldn't," she said. "I doubt either you or Lucius know how to properly-ugh…" Narcissa whipped out her wand and began enchanting the dishes to pile themselves in the sink, and then she proceeded to clean the table. "Anyway-"

"Cissy, go," Bellatrix said firmly. Narcissa finally hesitated, and Bellatrix took her sister's wand. With a flick of her wrist, Bellatrix had settled all currently-floating dishes, ended the spell, and then handed Narcissa her wand back. "Go," she repeated firmly. "Lucius is a big, strong, semi-intelligent man. He can handle a messy kitchen. Unless mussing his hair will kill him."

"It might," someone snickered from the next room over. A red flash ensued from Lucius's suddenly-drawn wand; a harsh yelp followed, and Lucius sighed and stowed his wand in his robes again.

"Narcissa, go," he sighed. "For tonight, I'll do it…go rest. I'll do it."

Narcissa's face was overcome with relief. "Thank you," she said, smiling gratefully up at her husband. "I-I'm going to find Draco-"

"Upstairs, Regulus's room."

Narcissa yelped slightly at the disembodied voice that echoed through the room; Bellatrix giggled, and pushed Narcissa out of the kitchen as Voldemort appeared out of a cloud of black gooey smoke. Lucius busied himself with cleaning the table. Voldemort glared after Narcissa, who scampered from the room like a scared little mouse, and then at Lucius; who hastily averted his eyes and redoubled his efforts. Bellatrix was having no shortage of fun: she was laughing behind her hand, lounging against the wall and watching Lucius borderline twitch under Voldemort's watchful eye. Occasionally, he would risk a glare at her; Voldemort would then clear his throat, and Lucius would shamefully revert to the task at hand.

I will climb the rope you tied for me;
Beat me up while I'm still alive…

OOOOOOOOO

Over the course of the next few days, people came and went. Death Eaters appeared and left as the dark lord called upon them, doing his bidding and occasionally reporting back. Bellatrix, however, was simply left to her own devices. She usually went out and killed Muggles and Muggle-borns, as Voldemort soon discovered, but sometimes she would skulk around the house like a slippery little shadow. Voldemort was quite amused by this, and took no shortage of pleasure in trying to find Bellatrix whenever he got bored. They had turned it into an unspoken game: she would try as hard as she could not to be found, while he would try equally as hard to find her. Having random advantages each, the two managed to drag this game out sometimes for hours, Bellatrix ducking down secret passageways and shortcuts and Voldemort drifting lazily through walls and doors. Bellatrix eventually grabbed a key and ran around the entire house outside, climbed up the back wall, and into a window she had left unlocked as of five minutes earlier. Voldemort forfeited that game, giving up and relocating to the kitchen. Bellatrix, catching on after a little while, came back downstairs.

"Were you looking for me?"

The coy innocence in her eyes and on those pouting, yet smirking lips made Voldemort want to slap her and commend her at the same time. Still, he refrained from doing anything except taking a sip of the coffee someone had made and telling Bella, "Yes."

Bellatrix's smirk faded, and became a full-on pout. Voldemort still couldn't decide if it was cute or obnoxious. "Anyway, Miss Lestrange, what were you doing-dare may I ask?"

"Looking for a book," Bellatrix replied. "Once I snuck out of Sirius's old room, I went into my uncle's study and passed the time looking for an old volume on the ancient dark arts. I couldn't find it."

"Your uncle's study spanned all three stories and nearly a third of the house," Voldemort snickered. "It doesn't shock me."

Bellatrix's eyebrows rose slightly. "And you think you could find it, my lord?" Her voice was hopeful.

"I do."

Her smirk was back, and Bellatrix giggled slightly with the sound of a fresh challenge. "By all means, then," she purred, "show me up."

Voldemort handed her his cup of coffee, and poofed away into a cloud of blackness. Bellatrix pouted momentarily, but then set the coffee down and chased after Voldemort. Were they racing now? she briefly wondered as she jogged through the halls towards the library/study. Or would this turn into another game of hide-and-seek? She could feel that tingle go down her spine when she knew he was getting closer: or she was getting closer to him. Bellatrix quickened her pace, down long hallways lined with portraits all craning their necks after her to see where she was going. Several portraits inquired as to her destination; others merely returned to sleep. Her bare feet fell on the hardwood floor with soft pats, her black skirts swishing around her legs in an ironic mimicry of the dark lord's own cloud of blackness. Bellatrix tossed her curly locks over her shoulder as she ran, ignoring a portrait's complaint about dropping hair on the floor. Bellatrix turned a corner, and under her feet was then the soft carpeting leading into her uncle's study. Bellatrix set both hands on the two double-door handles, yanking open the doors to the library-

Just in time to see Voldemort touching down and reforming out of a swirl of black.

She had lost. Disappointed though she was, Bellatrix still proceeded into the study, letting the doors shut behind her. "My lord," she greeted, inclining her head as soon as Voldemort caught her gaze and sinking into a deep curtsy when she got within several feet of him. Voldemort nodded once to her, and then swept away to examine the many shelves lining the walls. Bellatrix felt her heart fall at the lack of attention, but then got over it and moved on. She began to search the walls of books as well, looking for the lost volume. She had scoured the shelves already, but a second check never hurt.

"Bella?"

Bellatrix turned slightly at the sound of Narcissa's voice. Cissy was really the only one who referred to and addressed her as Bella; everyone else was really too afraid of her to address her as anything less than Bellatrix. Except the dark lord, of course. Come to think of it, though, Snape had called her Bella from time to time. Mockingly, yes, but he had still used the nickname. Bella felt an odd pang in her chest when she remembered Snape hadn't reported yet to Voldemort. And Voldemort hadn't seemed overly concerned: what had happened to Snape? Bellatrix had rather enjoyed tormenting him on a regular basis, particularly rubbing her loyalty in his face.

"My lord?" Bellatrix suddenly blurted out. "What became of Snape?"

For a moment, Voldemort froze; then, he slowly turned around, glowering at Bellatrix with a fury she had only ever seen before when Voldemort looked upon Harry Potter. Voldemort seemed to run through a variety of emotions: anger, hatred, regret, remorse, and finally, he settled on a stone-cold emotionless mask; and Bellatrix's own emotions settled as the fear abated.

"He perished in the battle."

Bellatrix, sensing that she ought not to press the issue, nodded quickly and returned to searching the shelves for the volume of spells.

"Bella!"

Bellatrix glanced down at Narcissa, lifting a single perfectly-shaped brow and reaching for a dusty old book. "Yes, Cissy?" she said, as sweetly as she could, with a disparaging, tired look on her face. Narcissa blushed slightly, and looked away.

"I-I just wanted to talk to you…but, if you're busy-"

Bellatrix glanced over at Voldemort. "My lord, may I be excused?"

"By all means," Voldemort deadpanned, running his finger down the spine of a book to wipe the dust off of it. Bellatrix curtsied, and then left the study with Narcissa in tow.

"What, Cissy?"

"I wanted to ask you a favor," Narcissa said, dropping her voice to a whisper. "Bella, I…I'm worried about Draco. Now that he bears the Mark, he is in graver danger than ever. I worry about him…all the time. I want you-no, I need you-to protect him."

Bellatrix crossed her arms over her chest, knocking her hair back with a toss of her head. "So you want me to keep him out of the dark lord's hands, mm?" A sharp snort of laughter issued from Bellatrix's throat. "Impossible."

"Not so much keep him out of his hands," Narcissa said quickly. "I know that's impossible. But just shield him from…the worst of it, won't you? I know that what the dark lord does to his followers sometimes is…beyond comprehension. Lucius has come home in the middle of the night shaking and ready to put an end to it all-I can't let that happen to my son as well. Please, Bella, you must help me-!"

"Fine."

The wave of relief that crossed Narcissa's face was evident in every aspect of her features. "Oh, thank you, Bella!" she cried, throwing her arms around her sister and hugging her tightly. "Please, if there's anything I can do to repay you, don't hesitate to ask!"

Bellatrix hastily nodded, trying to gently pry Narcissa off of her. "Alright, Cissy, thank you," she hissed, and Narcissa finally let go. "I'll do my best, okay? Now, go, I need to get back to-"

"Oh, Bellatrix, there you are."

"Go away, Lucius. Oh, better yet? Here, take Narcissa and then go away. For whatever reason, you make her happy."

Lucius just snickered at Bellatrix's less-than-friendly welcome. "Well, lovely to see you, too," he muttered, shaking his head. "Narcissa, darling, I was looking for you, as a matter of fact."

"Quick question before you go, though," Bellatrix said slowly, effortlessly leaning back against the wall and crossing her arms again. Lucius looked like he could hardly wait to hear Bellatrix's question, or he could wait forever. Half curious, half about to walk away, Lucius put his arm around Narcissa and gave Bellatrix a rather condescending, impatient stare.

"What'd he do to you?"

Lucius's face frosted over like glass, and Bellatrix suddenly knew she'd struck a nerve. A huge Cheshire Cat-like grin spread over her features, and Bellatrix's high-pitched laugh began to echo down the hallway. Glee welled up in her chest; she had won this round! Lucius just stared at her for a moment, shoulders heaving with his heavy breaths. And then, he simply turned on his heel, and walked away. Bellatrix's cackling laughter hastened his and Narcissa's walk down the hallway and out of view; and it chased them halfway across the entire house.

Dear diary, had I known what I told you last night
I would've never walked there to start another fight

OOOOOOOO

Voldemort was fascinated with this one. What could she be viciously cackling about if she was just talking to Narcissa? Poor Narcissa: the woman was far too delicate to be involved with the Death Eaters, let alone her own family. The Blacks were ruthless, and so were the Death Eaters. And now her beloved husband and only child were Death Eaters? Voldemort had to give Narcissa some credit, she was a steel magnolia.

Bellatrix re-entered the library, singing what Voldemort recognized as one of the metal songs she had blasted yesterday: in a death growl. Voldemort found it strangely attractive.

"I am having trouble figuring out how that sound is issuing from a human throat."

Bellatrix just smiled. "Nothing too complicated: just using false vocal chords. I don't recommend using the bottom ones, though, they do positively awful things to one's speaking voice-"

"You fascinate me."

Bellatrix looked like she had just been told that Voldemort loved her. Glee overcame her face, and Voldemort briefly wondered whether he should even keep her around, let alone pay attention to her. Bellatrix staggered away looking high as a kite, and Voldemort simply returned, dumbfounded, to searching for books. If charming all women was this easy, Voldemort would be surprised if there was a single male left on earth that was single. But then again, there were some fairly stupid men out there…

"I found it."

Voldemort flicked his wand once, and the book flew towards Bellatrix. With the skill of a Quidditch Seeker, Bellatrix reached out with one hand plucked the book right out of the air, smirking as the heavy, leather-bound volume smacked firmly into her palm. "Thank you very much, my lord," she said softly, opening the huge cover and hastily flipping through the yellowed pages. "Yes, this is it. Thank you."

"I'm assembling the Death Eaters tonight," Voldemort hissed, floating past Bellatrix on his way out of the library. "Make sure you are there."

"I will be," Bellatrix said swiftly. And then, Voldemort was gone.

A/N: Just so all of you readers know, I only update a story with one review per chapter. With all the views I get, it shouldn't be too hard. ^_^ Please, just take the few seconds to drop a line and tell me what you think. Thanks!!