Chapter Nine

"Stay," the Dark Lord told Bellatrix as soon as the meeting ended. Everybody else was filing out of the room. Bellatrix's stomach knotted, but she obeyed. The Dark Lord indicated for her to sit in the chair next to his.

"So," he said, a faint smile on his lips. "You fulfilled your duty, your 'curse,' as you called it."

Bellatrix hadn't realized that he remembered her words from Knockturn Alley. Of course he did, stupid girl, she thought fiercely.

"I suppose I did." She shrugged. "Mother threw us together. It was too easy. Really, I'm lucky."

"Lucky?" Bellatrix's hands shook as she detected a faint note of passion in her Master's voice. "Lucky, to be marrying a man you don't care for?"

"Well, yes," Bellatrix explained. "I could do far worse. He isn't terribly smart, and his breath is like a troll's, and he's rather immature. But he won't be cruel to me. He won't order me around, he's far too timid for that. And-" she hesitated. "And he won't try to dictate the company I keep."

"What does that mean?"

Bellatrix sighed. "Well, I don't think that most husbands would fancy the idea of their wife meeting up with a bunch of men to commit crimes."

Her Master laughed unpleasantly. Bellatrix pressed on. She was afraid of silence between them. "He doesn't have any parents to bother me, either. He's only got a brother who's as stupid as he is, but more thuggish. I can handle both of them quite easily."

"I want to meet him. His brother, too."

"What?" Bellatrix could not conceal her surprise. "Why? There's not much to the pair of them. I fear you'll find them terribly dull."

"All the same, I wish to meet the man who- I wish to meet Lestrange." Her Master's voice was impatient. "Bring them to our next meeting."

Bellatrix's curiosity fought her innate desire to do whatever the Dark Lord asked. "Very well," she responded. "I'll bring him, and I'll bring the brother for good measure."

*Short chapter, but the next one should be longer! I don't want to bore anybody with super long chapters. Thanks for reading!