It was nearing eleven when Bellatrix Lestrange entered the Room of Requirement. For such a prestigious school, getting in was pretty easy. To think that she thought more of the school that had acted as her home for many years and taught her everything she ever wanted to know – the school that helped her to become the woman that she was today. She was rather disappointed to tell the truth, she expected a struggle. A challenge. Those were her favorites. With all the buzz about Dumbledore and how great of a wizard he was, he certainly wasn't good enough to catch a Death Eater in his own school on more than one account. Although she knew that she was going to face quite a challenge in the castle dungeons in only a few moments. She was ready. She could handle it. She had spent a week preparing herself. Whenever she had spare time she was going through the conversation in her head while standing in front of the mirror in attempts to turn her belittling sneers into softer, kinder looking emotions. She was getting quite good at that. Whether she was willing to acknowledge it or not, she had the girl to thank.
Upon exiting the Room of Requirement, all was dark and silent in the castle. The students had gone to bed, lights were not, not a single sound could be heard in the hall on the seventh floor. Bellatrix was underneath her invisible cloak and was light on her feet as she glided down the staircase, each second getting closer to her destination in the dungeons and to the moment she had been dreading for the past seven days. But she had no place else to go. She didn't have anyone else to turn to. Her sister could no longer be trusted. Narcissa's only interest at the moment was to keep her precious son alive after the mess he had gotten himself into with the Dark Lord. Draco... he was such a foolish boy, too filled with pride and blinded by hatred for the Potter boy for him to see that he was in way over his head. It was such a shame, too. He had shown great potential, but in joining the Death Eaters out of spite instead of loyalty and love for their Lord he had signed himself up for his own death. ...Not that she was one to talk.
It wasn't the fact that she didn't love her master. She still felt the same way about him, about what he did, about everything she stood for. But nobody understood unrequited love better than Bellatrix Lestrange. Her mother had never showed her any love when she was a little girl. That's how it all got started. She went to her sister for comfort and for a while, things were better. But things changed and people grew up, her sister got married to Lucius and her priorities shifted. Bellatrix was no longer first on her list. Rodolphus... his very name made her skin crawl. He was a horrid creature. This wasn't a matter of love, it was more of a matter of what could have been. But he treated her like shit from the very start. Like a mere possession. She had foolishly gone into that marriage with an open heart, but he fixed that quickly. She spent fourteen long years in Azkaban – quite possibly the worst place there ever was – all for her Lord. She had never given up hope, the thoughts of his return were the sole thing that kept her alive in that place. She was his most loyal servant but she never received the recognition that she deserved. She had seen the depths of Hell for him but nothing ever changed. She had done everything that she could for him. She did whatever he told her to do. She put her life on the line in doing his bidding. All she would ever be to him was a servant. She knew that now. She had known that for a long time. There was always that flicker of hope deep within her that someday things would be different between the two of them. That she would experience what it felt to be appreciated and loved by him. Even the smallest amount of it would do. Just one time. That's all she wanted. Until that day came she would stick by his side. That's what she had planned. Until now.
Now? Now she knew what it was to be loved by another person. She knew what it was to be wanted, needed. Her heart had been warmed by another. The years of hatred, pain, suffering, all of the bad feelings had been swept away by just one kiss that had shown her what she had been waiting for all these years. The touch of a person that she absolutely detested. It's funny how things work out, really.
It seemed to take forever and a day to reach the dungeons from the seventh floor. She had forgotten how big the castle actually was. It was still as dark and familiar as ever down there in the bowels of the school. She traveled down the long hallway until she reached the door to the room she was looking for and she entered without the slightest warning. Immediately, Severus Snape shot up from where he had been seated at a desk against the wall across from the door. In a quick flash he turned around and had his wand pointing to the door that had just opened and slammed shut.
"Reveal yourself," he said warily with his wand pointed straight at where Bella was standing, but his voice was calm and no fear could be detected.
"Calm down you fool," she whispered and slid the cloak off, dropping it on the floor.
There she stood, Bellatrix Lestrange, leaning against the door with a pleased look on her face as if this was an every day occurrence. Severus slowly lowered his wand but kept it clutched in his hand.
"What are you doing here, Bellatrix? Are you not aware of the severity of the consequences you will receive if you're caught?" His voice was hushed but forceful.
Bellatrix could not help but snicker at his question. Old Severus Snape, a constant source of enjoyment for her.
"Of course I'm aware, you git." She was just as hushed as he was, but she had not lost the intensity that was always present in her tone, nor the snappiness that appeared whenever she spoke to him. This wasn't going to be as easy as she had thought. Apparently the weeks worth of preparation had not paid off. "I came here to speak with you," she hurriedly continued before he had the chance to speak. What she was about to say was quite possibly the most difficult thing she ever had to bring herself to do. She sighed loudly, having an internal battle with herself as she mulled it over in her head. "...I need your help."
In all honesty, Bellatrix could not remember the last time she had said something like that. Especially to Severus Snape. In fact... had she ever said that to anyone? She couldn't remember. But that wasn't the pressing matter on her hands.
When she saw the sneer that slowly grew on his face she almost turned around and left the room without second thought. You have come too far to give in now, she told herself, furiously staring at him and becoming angrier by the second. And he was enjoying every moment of it.
"What could be so utterly important that you could not have waited until a more suitable time, Bellatrix?" The way he said her name was choppy and dripping with disgust. He knew exactly what it was taking for her to stand before him and say those words – to lower herself and bare a side of her that was almost human. "What task have you been confronted with that you cannot handle? What can I possibly do that the Dark Lord's most loyal servant... cannot?"
"I have come to understand what you are doing, Severus. More importantly is how."
He stared at her for a moment. She looked right back at him. She knew what he was doing. She would not shy away. She would let him see everything. Maybe then he'd understand. Maybe then he'd help her.
"I haven't a clue as to what you are referring to," he said curtly, now avoiding her stare.
"Oh don't try and play stupid!" She rushed towards him in a sudden burst of emotion. "How you stand before him acting as a servant, doing everything exactly as he tells you. How you go and risk your life for him when it has nothing to do with loyalty. After all these years it's finally clear to me exactly what has been going on. We have lost you a long time ago. That, I knew," she hissed through her hushed words, slowly closing in on him as she spoke. "But what I had not known until very recently is how Severus. It is no secret that I have always thought of you as a weakling. By assuming your post as a Professor I had thrown this action aside as an act of cowardice and nothing more. Hiding behind Dumbledore, working as a double agent and in turn being granted safety by one of the greatest wizards of all time." Speaking of Dumbledore with such high esteem burnt her tongue. "However, I was wrong." This would be the first and last time she would ever say such a thing. "You are actually quite brave in doing what you have been doing, mingling with the enemy in such close quarters. But as the saying goes..."
"Is there a point you're moving towards or have you come to visit for simple merriment?" The way Severus spoke was different – it was much colder and more guarded. He wasn't enjoying this as much as he was a few seconds ago. Bellatrix had hit a nerve. He knew exactly what she was talking about. She could read it all over his face.
"You love him, Severus. He is the kindest heart you have ever known and you love him so much you are willing to go and put your life on the line in his name, and his name only." She was standing on his side now, her head hovering dangerously close to his shoulder, the snakelike hiss she had been attempting to repress with all her might emphasizing her words as they left her lips.
"I think," he began after a few moments of hesitation, "that it is time for you to leave." He spoke slowly and stared straight ahead at the door giving Bellatrix no sign of acknowledgment.
"No, Severus," she shot back angrily. Her hands slammed down on the wooden desk he had been sitting at moments ago with so much force it hurt her palms. "Not until I am heard. I, too, have felt it. A power stronger than anything I have ever encountered. It has... it has changed me." Every bit of her features softened as she continued to speak. Images of her last encounter with the girl flashed in pieces through her mind. She felt something in the pit of her stomach that couldn't be described with words.
"You, changed?" he asked with a snort, turning to face the Death Eater huddled over the desk behind him. "Bella, I am not sure that you know who you are speaking to. I will believe no such thing coming from a woman with a soul as dark as her name."
"You saw it!" she exclaimed, her voice louder than the hushed noises they had been making in their conversation. Her eyes were focused upon the desk, she couldn't bring herself to look him in the eyes. "Do you think that I would come here tonight and ask you to help me if I wasn't being serious? Honest? Have I not proven myself just by coming into this school knowing that Potter is mere floors above me, leaving him unharmed in his bed? We are both no stranger to the Dark Lord's agenda, Severus." Her black orbs now rose and caught his. Her stare was still as dark as ever, but had a hint of innocence that he had never noticed before. Until now. "I could have just as easily snatched him up from his pretty little bed and taken him to the Dark Lord. Instead I came to you. I do not know how to make it any more clear that I have changed. And although I would love nothing more than to watch the life leave from his eyes at the hands of the Dark Lord, that is not the most pressing matter on my hands."
"What do you expect from me?" he asked in an angry tone. "Do you expect me to throw everything that I've worked towards for years away, for a foolish love affair? Do you think I've been putting everything on the line for matters of the heart? Your heart?" His voice was now growing louder and his slick black hair hugging the sides of his face shook as he spoke. "What do you want me to do, Bellatrix? How do you expect me to help you?"
An outburst from him under any other circumstances and she would be standing there, smugly smiling, her wand weaving in and out between her fingers.
She straightened herself up and stood there with her back close against the wall, her left hand strumming her fingernails against the wood of the desk. "I... I don't know," she said honestly. She hadn't thought of what she could do, how to play her way out of this safely and get the outcome that she wanted. Her eyes faltered to the floor for a moment but she forced herself to look him in the eyes once more. "I trust you, Severus. I know that you can help me and I will do whatever it takes..." she paused for a moment and when she spoke, her voice was hushed and soft, "...to be with her."
Snape stood there speechless for a moment. He was left defenseless. Bellatrix had stood in front of him and finally coerced herself to bare it all – throw everything out in the open for him to see. She had shown the most delicate and private parts of her to him. They were the parts that were deeper and darker than her ice cold stare or the cackling laugh she left ringing in her victims ears moments before she killed them.
He stared at her with the look of defeat. It wasn't masked with hatred and loathing as it usually was. His features were now softer and kinder than she had ever been familiar with. One look and she knew that she had broken him down. She had finally gotten him to understand what she had been battling with – what she was battling with. This was no Death Eater's trick. She was not doing the Dark Lord's bidding. She would no longer be his little puppet. Her heart now belonged to another.
"You are aware," he began, his voice was proper and steady as if nothing had happened, "that in doing this you will be associating, interacting, and working alongside the Order, Bellatrix. The very people you loathe. I can trust... that you will be on your best behavior?"
The look on her face likened her to a teenage girl getting lectured by her parents.
Her famous smirk had found it's way onto her face again. "Only if you promise to keep your big trap sh-"
"Bella!"
"Now, now, Severus. It is not the time to be losing one's temper."
The voice that had spoken wasn't one belonging to either one of the Death Eater's standing on the far side of the room, but from the soft, caring man standing in the doorway. He stood there contently, staring from one face to the other with a calm expression. Dumbledore stepped into the room far enough for him to close the door with a quiet click. Snape was the first one to make a move, stepping towards him with his mouth open to speak. Dumbledore simply raised his hand and motioned for him to stop.
"There will be no need for explanations, Severus and please forgive me for barging in. I am quite aware of what brings our visitor here," he said, nodding his head to Bellatrix with a kind smile. In the sudden surprise of his presence she had instinctively reached for her wand and was now slowly sliding it back to safekeeping underneath the waistband of her dress. "And although I cannot say that I am pleased with the actions that have lead up to this moment," he continued, now addressing Bellatrix, "I am very glad to have you here tonight, Bellatrix."
With a flourish of his wand a small table and three chairs appeared in the space between him and the two he had unexpectedly dropped in on. He pulled the chair nearest to him out and motioned for the other two to do the same.
"Sit, sit. We have much to discuss."
