A/N: Apologies for the length - or lack there of - of this chapter. Now it's pretty slow, but hopefully you can start to see just how dark the House of Black can become!
Warnings: Dark Themes, Insinuation of Abuse, Incest, Rape.
Sirius walked over to a grassed area and took off his shoes and socks, sitting down next to Narcissa. They didn't often look alike, but as Narcissa and Sirius sat back on their hands, letting their bare toes wiggle in the grass, the resemblance was uncanny. Her platinum blonde hair curled and kinked as she had foregone the straightening charms that morning and it mirrored the bends of Sirius' jet black mane. Sirius' eyes were closed lightly in his relaxation and although his eyes were larger and more heavily lidded than hers, and hers more pinched toward the corners in a mesmerising slant, their expressions were identical: content.
"This is brilliant." Regulus said as he sat down next to them, starting to mindlessly tear the grass from the soil.
Andromeda sat on the grass too, closer to the water, wetting her toes. She smiled, soaking in the peace that the lake brought.
Sirius sat up, looking around at everyone's stillness. It was far too peaceful. He looked over to where Bellatrix was sat in Rodolphus' lap. The ginger man was whispering to Bellatrix, perched between his legs, and she giggled conspiratorially at whatever it was that Rodolphus was saying.
Sirius got up quietly from where he was sat and moved closer to the water. Andromeda noticed him moving and could already see what he was going to do. She inwardly sighed but made absolutely no move to stop him. Rolling up his trouser legs, Sirius stepped into the water, put his hands into the greenish pools and swung upward, showering both Bellatrix and Rodolphus with an almighty splash.
Regulus, Narcissa and Andromeda looked over with their mouths hanging open. Regulus burst into a fit of laughter at the look of Bellatrix's wild curls soaked and sticking to her face and Rodolphus' eye liner starting to clump in the corners, eyelashes sticking together in a terrifying parody of a raccoon.
"SIRIUS YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Bellatrix sprung up from the ground and leapt at him, pushing him completely under the water.
He spluttered when he came back up and Bellatrix was laughing. He splashed her again, harder this time and ended up getting water on Andromeda.
"Watch it, Sirius!" She yelled, abhorring at the soaked silk of her áo dài but Sirius just winked at her. She smirked a devious smirk and got up to join in the fight. Before long, all of them were splashing in the shallow sides of the lake, sending water over each others heads.
Bellatrix was easily winning, having dried off in the sun from where Sirius had splashed her before, she was pushing Sirius under and sending water into Cissy's hair, making the strands coil and curl in the wetness. "'Course you deserve this, you arse." He shouted, laughing at Sirius. He scrunched his nose up and, with a lot of concentration, aimed another handful of water at Bella. It caught the side of her trousers and she decided to make her escape.
Bellatrix climbed out of the water and up onto a higher bank where she stood, safe.
Rodolphus chased his way up the bank and trapped her between him and the lake behind her.
"Don't you dare, Rod." She said, backing away from him and toward the drop of the steep bank behind her.
"Don't dare to what?" Rodolphus said, feigning innocence.
"I know. I know what you're going to do and let me tell you: if you're smart, you're not going to do it." She said, holding a hand out in front of her to stop him.
The others, who were thoroughly drenched, were cheering Rodolphus on. "Take her out, Rod." Cissy cheered, a satisfied smirk on her face.
Rodolphus' smirk widened. "Don't be scared, Trixie. Come here. Give me a hug."
"Come any closer and I'll- I'll-"
He let out a loud laugh, his chiselled jaw accentuated with dazzling white teeth. "You'll what, Trixie?"
Before she could think of a sufficient threat, he moved forward, grabbed her by the waist and lifted her, Bellatrix immediately clinging to him. He ran and jumped of the bank, expecting her to fall into the water, but he landed with Bellatrix's legs wrapped around his waist and her arms around his neck.
His laugh sounded loudly through the clearing. "Oh come on, Trix. Let. Go." He punctuated the last words with a jump, trying to shake her off.
Whilst the others started to wade back to the banks to dry off in the sun, Rodolphus stayed standing in the water with Bellatrix in his arms.
After keeping his hands under her thighs, she relaxed into him somewhat. Her arms releasing their vice-like grip on his shoulders and moved to caress the back of his neck. "Are you staying tonight?" She looked up to him, the hope in her eyes only visible if you knew her like he did.
"Yeah, I thought I would if that's alright." He spoke softly to her.
She nodded into his chest, pressing her cheek into his waist coat. "Good, Daddy's been…" She paused for thought. "... angry." She said finally.
"In what way?" He chose his words carefully, knowing that some things shouldn't be said aloud.
"Well, he's been irritable, obviously, but-" she paused again. "Mother's staying up with me late at night and when she thinks I've gone to sleep, she stays at the door." She gave a heavy sigh and tightened her arms around his neck. "She knows."
"I'd find it hard to believe if she didn't. She's been married to him for years." He hugged her small frame to him tighter.
Bellatrix hastily looked to change the subject. "He hit her." Even if the subject change was small. "She didn't agree with something he said at dinner so..." She left the sentence hanging in the air.
Bellatrix thought back to a few nights ago, she had sat on the chaise in the drawing room, reading through the Prophet. And then she'd heard shouting. It was Father again, always Father. "A man's wife will respect him! You have no right to speak to me like that!" She had heard him say. She listened to how her mother had argued back about how he'd been disrespecting her. She'd heard a slap, a gasp, and silence. She didn't do anything, or think anything. She just continued to read, letting the background noises of the house stomp their way upstairs, slamming doors. Bellatrix tried not to think of the thumping of her mother's skull against the wall she had heard later that night, and she had all but blocked her mother's weakened gait the next morning from her mind.
The two stayed quiet for a while, letting the mumbling and laughter from the younger four fill the silence. The breeze off the lake washed over them, soothed them. Rodolphus looked down at her, "After the wedding, you'll be living with me." He stroked her long dark curls as he spoke. "You'll be my property, if the old laws still stand. And I can sue him if he so much as looks at you the wrong way."
She gave a laughter that carried no humour. "That's a nice sentiment, Rod."
