Candied Tongue
"Beware the candied tongue that laps at royal boots, and through its sugary slime conceals the black heart."
That night in the Great Hall, Bellatrix slid into her usual place beside Rodolphus near the end of the Slytherin table. She took a piece of chicken and toyed with it apathetically before speaking.
"I went to the Hog's Head this afternoon," she said.
Rodolphus paused, his fork hovering in the air over his plate. "Oh?"
She lowered her voice. "It will definitely be at Christmas." She looked up at him, unable to contain her smile. Her skin tingled.
He grinned slowly, running a hand through his messy hair. "That's perfect. Mum's letting you stay over for the holidays; we'll be right there with Rabastan." Pressing a kiss to her cheek, he swiftly continued eating.
Bellatrix slowly let her spoon fall and folded her hands in her lap. She appeared calm, but there was a warning note in her voice. "Aren't you excited?" she inquired, biting each word.
"Of course I am." He looked up at her and saw that her eyes were dark, focused sharply on him. "Bellatrix…" He stopped eating and took both her hands in his, running his thumb over her wrist. "Bellatrix, love, you know I'm looking forward to it."
"This is what I've waited my whole life for," she said coldly.
"As have I."
She remained unconvinced. "Are you really ready for this kind of responsibility, Rodolphus? This kind of loyalty?"
"Do you really think you need to question me on this?" His eyes hardened. "I am devoted. Who told you that the Dark Lord was looking for followers? I did."
"Stop trying to argue, Rodolphus. It isn't becoming."
He shifted on the bench so that he was facing her directly and reached his hand towards her face, running a finger down her pale cheek. She remained motionless, fixing her glare on him. There was a moment of silence, of tension thicker than blood, and then Rodolphus licked his lips and looked down. Bellatrix exhaled slowly and with satisfaction. Caught in their own world, the two were separate from the rest of the table in that pivotal instant. None of the other Slytherins seemed to realize the shifting tides of power that had swept over them.
Rodolphus seemed to be waiting for Bellatrix to speak, but she merely picked up her spoon and calmly resumed eating. "We're both anxious about the Marks," he finally said in a low voice. "But by next year we'll have them."
"Yes."
"And just think how it'll be when we graduate, and we can ally ourselves completely with him."
"Indeed."
"Please don't give me one-word answers, Bellatrix."
"I'm not."
He sighed and turned back towards the table, but something caught his eye. As Bellatrix reached across the table, her right arm touched the rough, splintered edge. She winced and grabbed her forearm, hissing softly in pain. Noticing his curious stare, she snapped, "I hurt myself."
But by now Lucius, across the table from them, had seen it, too. "Couldn't have hurt that much," he sneered. "Practicing for your Mark?"
She narrowed her eyes and growled at him. Losing interest, Rodolphus tossed his napkin down and stood, plucking at his cuffs. "Well, I've got a Charms essay to finish," he announced. He glanced at Bellatrix, as though half-heartedly expecting something; she met his gaze with raised eyebrows and remained in her seat, her face impassive. He coughed, straightened his tie, and bent to press a kiss to her cool cheek. Besides slightly inclining her neck to receive him, she gave no indication that she had noticed.
When Rodolphus left, Narcissa leaned towards her sister conspiratorially and asked, "What's going on with you and Rodolphus?"
Bellatrix tucked her hair behind her ear. "He's simply being difficult," she replied coolly. "It's not a problem."
"What's he being difficult about? You seemed really angry with him."
"He isn't showing the proper appreciation for the opportunity that the Dark Lord is giving us." Her low voice held no hesitation.
Narcissa's dark eyes widened. "Bellatrix, should you really be talking about—"
"Oh, not you, too!" her sister spat. "It is a privilege to speak of the Dark Lord as one of his followers. The honour he has bestowed upon us by allowing us to get our Marks as students should be respected." She gave Lucius a pointed look. "Rodolphus doesn't quite understand the devotion that is expected, and it seems that Cissy doesn't, either."
The blonde bit her lip. "I want to follow what you and Lucius do, you know that." Her boyfriend wound his fingers through hers. "But aren't you—we—a bit young to be taking this so seriously?"
"You have to take this seriously," Lucius warned. "He won't accept anything but pure allegiance." He looked down at his watch. "I've got to get some work done. Are either of you coming?"
Narcissa shook her head, but Bellatrix folded her napkin and nodded. "I've got the same essay as Rodolphus," she said. She straightened her tie in an odd imitation of Rodolphus and beckoned to Lucius.
Once out of the Great Hall, she led the way down towards the dungeons. Bellatrix swept down the corridor and onto the stairs. Lucius was barely onto the top step when the staircase groaned, lurched, and shuddered to life. It began to slide from its place and swing towards another wall. Bellatrix rolled her eyes and heaved an exasperated sigh, turning towards Lucius, but before she could speak, the staircase gave a sudden creaking shift. She threw out her hand to the railing to steady herself. As she did, her sleeve slid up her wrist to reveal a web of crisscrossing lines, bruises and burn scars of all colours, snaking across her right forearm.
Lucius, always perceptive, didn't miss it. "What the hell is that, Black? What happened?"
"Nothing," she said icily, covering her injured arm with her sleeve and cradling it against her stomach.
"Did you let someone do that to you?" he asked almost derisively as the staircase locked into place on the wall.
Bellatrix looked at him with disdain over her shoulder before continuing her descent. "Do you really think I'd let someone get away with it?" She laughed mirthlessly and tossed her head. "I did this to myself, Malfoy."
Lucius put a heavy hand on her shoulder and stopped her. When their eyes met, his held no pity or concern, only cold curiosity. "What would you do that for?"
Bellatrix pushed his hand away and leaned back against the cold stone wall. "If you must know—" she lowered her voice, "…I was practicing the Cruciatus Curse." Her black eyes glittered with pride, mirroring the flickering candlelight.
Lucius raised a poised eyebrow. "On yourself?"
"Well, I'm not going to use it on someone else until I know I can manage it, am I?" She glanced down at her wrist and traced a red fingernail softly along one of the scars.
"But on yourself?"
The revelation that she was learning an Unforgivable Curse did not seem to faze him as much as the idea that she had purposefully injured herself. Bellatrix surveyed him silently, trying to gauge his expression. More than anything, he appeared to be hiding the fact that he was impressed. Satisfied, she said, "I didn't want to practice on someone else. I want to know that I can handle it myself."
They had reached a flat expanse of dripping, rough stone. Lucius frowned and said, "But why does that matter, Black?" He reached for the wall, beginning to speak the password, but Bellatrix put out a hand to stop him.
"If I'm going to use this on people," she said softly, her words like ice, "—and believe me, I intend to—then I need to be strong. You know the Dark Lord won't tolerate weakness. I have to have the strength, the control, the pure power to cast this curse." She wrapped her fingers around his wrist like talons, locking it in a surprisingly sharp grip. "And to have that power, I must be immune to it myself. I'll never have the strength to use the Cruciatus Curse if I'm too fragile to be on the receiving end."
She smiled, and Lucius shivered. Her hand on his wrist seemed to burn with tongues of flame. "Besides," she added casually, turning her other arm and offering the scars for inspection, "it's actually rather exhilarating." She examined the darkest scarlet mark with interest. "Being able to use that kind of raw magic on a human being? On myself?" She bit her lip. "You can't imagine how it feels, Lucius."
*~*~*
Days went by, and then weeks, and finally a month had passed. By the middle of November, Bellatrix was on edge at every moment of the day, waiting anxiously for some word of confirmation from Antonin, Rabastan, anyone. She snapped at her friends; only Rodolphus could handle being with her for any extended period of time.
Even her relationship with Rodolphus was beginning to crack beneath the tension. She had forgiven him for appearing to lack devotion to the Dark Lord, but she had not forgotten the incident. A nagging voice at the back of her mind constantly warned her that he might have lost the faith, and it took all of his willpower and most of hers to convince her that the voice was wrong. Everyone else who knew about their plans to join the Dark Lord was positive that Rodolphus was sincere, but that voice still whined at the edge of her consciousness.
Despite his reassurances, Bellatrix began to shift into her old ways. She toyed with men in ways she hadn't since her parents had begun hinting that Rodolphus would eventually marry her. Evan Rosier, shared grandparents be damned, developed a habit of following Bellatrix after each class in the hopes that she would pull him into an empty classroom (which she often did). Still needing more, she began commanding Daniel Avery to meet her in the Astronomy Tower late at night. She had discovered that, without complete confidence in Rodolphus' loyalty to their cause, he could not satisfy her desire. Being with him, touching the skin and the lips of a man whose allegiance was uncertain, felt dirty.
Rodolphus, strangely, seemed oblivious. Whether it was from sheer ignorance or intentional blindness, she didn't know, but he never spoke of it or appeared upset.
"Doesn't it bother you?" Alecto remarked to Bellatrix one day as they were leaving their Ancient Runes class. "Cheating on Rodolphus?"
Bellatrix cocked an eyebrow and smiled. "I'm waiting for him to learn his lesson, that's all. If I can't trust him to be devoted, then he can't trust me to be faithful to him."
Alecto glanced around to make sure they were alone before replying, "For Merlin's sake, Bellatrix, he was a little slow on enthusiasm when you mentioned getting your Marks, that's all." Her voice hardened. "You're lucky enough to be getting them early… I don't think you have to be so hard on him."
"Right now it's a lack of enthusiasm. What will it be in a year? A lack of concern? Of allegiance? Will he betray us one day?"
"You're being irrational," Alecto sighed.
"Don't tell me I'm being irrational!" Bellatrix snapped. "This is the most important thing any of us will ever do! We can't afford risks. I can't afford to have Rodolphus bring me down."
"But cheating on him just to prove a point?"
Bellatrix shouldered her bag and stared at the other girl. Her dark eyes were cold and glimmering. "Carrow. You are stepping over some very heavy boundaries."
Alecto bit her lip and looked down at the ground. "I just think you're burning a bridge that you shouldn't."
"Your concern is duly noted," Bellatrix said acidly. "I'll be sure to bear that warning in mind the next time I—"
"Bellatrix?"
The two girls looked up sharply to find Evan Rosier leaning against the doorway, running a hand through his hair and clearly trying to appear suave. Alecto crossed her arms over her chest, but Bellatrix smirked and gave the boy a wink.
"Yes, Rosier?"
"Are you busy right now?"
She laughed softly, a low sound in the back of her throat, and beckoned to him with a slender finger. He moved across the classroom obediently, ignoring Alecto, and balanced elegantly on the edge of a desk. Bellatrix twisted her hand absentmindedly through his curls. She leaned forward, giving him a provocative view of her chest, and put her lips next to his ear. In a stage whisper, she said, "You know… if you're a good boy and do what I say, I'll be able to get you your Mark soon, too."
Rosier closed his eyes and nodded eagerly. He opened his mouth to reply, but Alecto cut him off. "So now you're promising favours, too?" she exclaimed. "You don't even have your own Mark yet!"
Bellatrix whipped around and glared at Alecto, fire burning in her eyes. "Shut up!" she spat. "You're just jealous!"
"Jealous of what? The fact that you're a bitch? You can't act like this. You're a disgrace to purebloods!"
Bellatrix's hand flew through the air and collided with Alecto's cheek with a satisfyingly loud smack. Alecto cradled her bruised cheek with her hand and stared up at Bellatrix with a shocked look. Breathing hard, the dark-haired girl smoothly pulled her wand from her pocket and pointed it at the blonde. Her eyes were wild.
"If you ever," she hissed, "if you ever dare to speak to me that way again, I'll make sure they're the last words you ever speak." She drove the tip of her wand into the red mark that was blossoming across Alecto's cheek, and the other girl winced. "I will not tolerate this kind of attitude, from you or from anyone else." She gave Rosier a pointed look, and he nodded vigourously. "This is why I can't trust people like you and Rodolphus." She removed the wand but kept it at the ready. "Get out of my sight, Carrow. I don't want to see you again today." From the depths of her fury, she pulled forth a condescending smile. "Do you understand?"
Alecto gave her a sour look and picked up her books, pushing past Rosier to exit the classroom. Bellatrix placed her wand carefully back into her robes and looked at him. He was beginning to get over her shock and was now looking up at her expectantly. She considered the possibility briefly, and then decided that her altercation with Alecto had left her on edge, too much so to be interested in the boy's lips at the moment.
"Not now, Rosier," she said impatiently. "Can't you see I've got other things to think about?"
With that, she pushed him aside and swept out of the classroom, her elegant black robes billowing out behind her.
-(Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry that this took so long. I had midterms, and then my mother's wedding, and then the flu. Between that and the writer's block, I only just finished this. I tried to make it a little longer to make it up to you guys, but there's only so much I could do since I had it and the next few chapters planned out. Anyway, hopefully the next installment will not take so long. In other news, props to Jacalyn Hyde for googling the repeated quotation. I'll give you all one more chapter to figure it out, and then I'll let you know. Anyway, thanks to all my reviewers and the people who have favourited the story (from whom reviews would be greatly appreciated), and keep on reviewing. Thanks for reading!)-
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