Bellatrix stared out the window of her room.
A single tear stained her face, but she did not allow any more to fall.
Instead she just stared out the window.
She did not think.
She stood there for such a long time that when she finally looked away the sun hung low over the treetops.
Only then did she allow herself to move.
Only then did she allow herself to reflect on the events of the morning.
It had started off as nothing.
Draco just had some questions about the last war. She had consented. It was nothing. And then it digressed into something else, and she had found herself talking about The Dark Lord.
How it used to be.
And it used to be so different. Now he was cold and distant. Now he no longer asked her to be by his side. Now he never told her his secrets.
But Bellatrix couldn't help but still love him.
Love him as much as she ever had and maybe even more.
But now he no longer seemed to care about her.
Such a far cry from the man she knew.
Such a far cry from the man she had met so long ago.
And Bellatrix remembered that man perfectly.
She was a young girl when she had met him. Young and impressionable and talented beyond the teachings at Hogwarts.
He was older and handsome and charming. Interested in her, for reasons she could not comprehend.
He understood. He was too smart for Hogwarts as well. She wanted a challenge and he gave it to her. Taught her about the Dark Arts and everything he knew.
And Bellatrix remember how lucky she had felt to have him as her tutor. How lucky she was to know someone so brilliant.
It was his brilliantness which had originally drawn Bellatrix to him. He was as intelligent as she was.
Even more so.
He was the first.
The first person Bellatrix had met with as must talent and intelligence as she had.
He must have taken the same liking to her or else he would not have taken much, or for that matter, any interest in such a young child.
They grew closer over her last 4 years at Hogwarts. At first his behavior towards her was as calm, cool, and distant as it was with everyone else. But gradually he warmed to her. He told her his plans and his secrets and his desires. He trusted her, with knowledge no one else knew.
And Bellatrix fell in love with him.
She loved his power, his looks, his voice.
He was the reason she turned down Lucius Malfoy. Well beside the fact she hated him. But he was a pureblood. It would have been as respectable a match as any but she didn't what him.
The Dark Lord didn't want her to be married off you Lucius either.
When she had come crying to him, completely at a loss of what to do, The Dark Lord had held her. He comforted her.
But he would not take her.
Bellatrix knew that it was foolish to think such a thing. But she could help wishing, hoping he would ask her, and she was heartbroken when he didn't.
Looking back on it now, Bellatrix realized just how stupid she had been. It didn't matter now though.
Soon afterwards, the Dark Lord had suggested she marry Rodolphus Lestrange.
That tall, dark hair boy, who had graduated a few years ahead of Bellatrix. He couldn't have been much older that twenty. He was from a respectable pure blood family all of whom where Death Eaters. It was a perfect match.
And yet, the prospect of actually marrying him was not appealing to Bellatrix.
But she did anyway.
Partly because it was respectable and partly because The Dark Lord told her too.
She would do anything for him, even if it was marry another man.
Even if it was marrying an idiot like Rodolphus.
He had loved her but she did not return the feelings, and Rodolphus wasn't dumb enough not to realize it. They hardly spent anything together.
She spent all her time with her Dark Lord.
And he watched sadly from the shadows.
But she never noticed.
Bellatrix only had eyes for another man.