"Coming!" Bellatrix spit out her toothpaste and rinsed her mouth. She shut off the tap and dashed out of the bathroom, running across the sitting room as the knocking on the door sounded again. She reached the door, barefoot in leggings and a black tunic, and she flung the door open. She grinned when she saw Mr Riddle, and she beckoned for him to enter. "Hello, My Lord!"

"Morning," he said lightly. Bellatrix shut the door behind him and prompted him,

"Tea?"

"Yes. Thank you." He took off his traveling cloak and hung it on the rack near the door as Bellatrix made her way into the kitchen. She pulled two white teacups out of the cupboard and used her wand to cast twin Aguamenti charms, filling them with water. She heated the water with a Calidaqua Charm in each cup, and she reached for her crockery container of tea bags. She plopped one in each cup and asked,

"Milk or sugar, sir?"

"Neither. Thank you."

She looked up as the tea steeped, and she flashed him a little smile. He gulped, and his lips twitched a little. He scratched at his hair and asked,

"Have I come too early for you?"

"No. I was just starting my day." Bellatrix turned back to the cups, and, satisfied that the tea had steeped, she Vanished the bags. She carried the cups on a tray into the sitting room, and Mr Riddle followed her lead in sitting in one of the wingback chairs. He sank down and gratefully accepted the cup of tea that Bellatrix handed him. He sipped at it, sighing and staring at her for a moment. She asked rather playfully,

"Did you just come for tea?"

"No. I…" He held his tea cup in his left hand and used his right to reach into the breast of his robe. He pulled out a folded newspaper - The Daily Prophet. He handed it over to Bellatrix and said, "This came by owl an hour ago to Malfoy Manor. Thought you might like to see."

Bellatrix raised her brows and set down her tea. She unfolded the newspaper and read the blaring headline that was sprawled across the front page, accompanied by a photograph of a rather familiar-looking plump witch.

MINISTRY OFFICIAL SABLE ROWLAND MISSING, FEARED DEAD

Bellatrix looked up at Mr Riddle and grinned. He smirked a bit and sipped from his tea as he urged her,

"Read the story."

Ministry of Magic employee Sable Rowland was declared missing by her parents late Sunday, with the missing persons file issued first to Muggle police, owing to Ms Rowland's Muggle-born status. Muggle police and Aurors eventually searched Ms Rowland's home, which was locked from the inside and empty, and found no trace of Ms Rowland. However, the keys to her car (a Muggle transport device), her broomstick, her identification, and money (both Muggle and magical) was found. Additionally, Ms Rowland's pet cat was found inside the home. Ms Rowland's parents assert that she would never have deliberately left her cat. No suicide message, nor any warning of suicidal behaviour to family or friends, was indicated. Therefore, the Auror force has concluded that Ms Rowland's disappearance is highly suspicious. She is feared dead, after several days missing.

'Our greatest fear is the so-called Blood Purity Movement,' said Alice Silverman, an Auror spokeswitch. 'Those who operate under the idea that Muggle-born witches and wizards are somehow lesser are gaining momentum and getting bolder. Sable Rowland was Muggle-born. We fear that extremists are connected with her disappearance.'

When asked whether the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had concrete evidence tying any suspect to Ms Rowland's disappearance, Ms Silverman demurred.

'The public will know as soon as we have more information to share about this case,' she said.

For now, the disappearance of Sable Rowland remains a tragic mystery.

Bellatrix laughed almost uproariously as she folded the newspaper again and set it on the table before her. She clasped her hands together and exclaimed,

"Oh, but it's marvelous."

"Yes, it is," said Mr Riddle. Bellatrix clapped happily and asked,

"The others? When they heard, were they excited?"

"Most everyone I've told has been terribly impressed," said Mr Riddle, "including your father."

Bellatrix's grin faltered. "My father. You told my father?"

"I did." Mr Riddle licked his bottom lip. "I wanted him to know that his daughter is working for me, doing good work for me, and that she is responsible for our greatest triumph yet."

"And what did he say?" Bellatrix's lips felt numb. Mr Riddle hesitated, but then he said,

"He said the words, I suppose she's trying."

Bellatrix's eyes watered. She nodded and whispered, "Thank you, My Lord."

"You have made me very happy," he said seriously. She met his eyes, and he held the arms of the chair, having set down his tea, as he said again, "I am very happy."

"Good." Bellatrix dragged her teeth over her lip. "I can't wait to work for you again."

"Soon," he affirmed. "But first… another owl came this morning. This one was an invitation."

Bellatrix frowned, then realised what time of year it was. She gave him a knowing look and said, "The Grand Christmas Celebration. Of course. Whose turn is it to host this year?"

The ultra-formal, extravagant Christmas celebration Purebloods relished attending every year was hosted in turns by members of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Hosting was a chance to show off one's manor and the magical skill of one's House-Elf.

"It's Yeoman Yaxley's turn," said Mr Riddle. Bellatrix scoffed. She'd had sex with Yeoman Yaxley when he'd been a customer of hers.

"Poor Quella Yaxley; this will send that awful anxiety of hers through the roof. They've only just barely got the space for all those people."

"Hm. Just the same," said Mr Riddle, drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair, "I shall require a date."

Bellatrix just stared for a moment. Then she shook her head, stammering, "M-My Lord. First my cousin's wedding, then dinner at the Leaky Cauldron, now the Christmas Party? People will think -"

"That we're together, you and I? Good. I hope they do think that." Mr Riddle nodded. Bellatrix's lips parted, and she rose slowly to her feet. She breathed quickly as she walked over to Mr Riddle. So he really did want her to be his? He really did want her for his own? Bellatrix gulped and had a sudden thought. She was going to embarrass him again. She was going to have to wear the same dress she'd worn to her cousin's wedding, for it was the only formal gown she had. She had a little money from The Dancing Doxy, but not enough for a proper gown befitting the formality of the Purebloods' Christmas extravaganza. Bellatrix stood before Mr Riddle's chair and slowly shook her head.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "I can't come."

He scowled. "Because of the dress?"

She realised he'd been in her mind with Legilimency, and she puffed a breath as she declared,

"I won't make a fool of myself, wearing the same thing I wore to Freya and Saturn's wedding. And I didn't earn the sort of money to -"

"There is quite a simple solution to this problem," said Mr Riddle, and he reached into his robes. He pulled out a heavy-looking drawstring bag, and when he opened it and reached in, it was obvious it was Expanded. He pulled out a fistful of coins, but Bellatrix grasped his wrist and shook her head wildly.

"Mr Riddle," she said in a sharp voice, "I could not possibly allow you to pay for something as silly as a gown."

"So I'm meant to go without you, then?" Mr Riddle snapped, and he looked rather offended. He gripped his Galleons more tightly and insisted, "I would much rather buy you a new gown and have you with me, if you please."

"Are we really going to argue about buying clothing?" Bellatrix demanded incredulously, releasing Mr Riddle's wrist. He swallowed visibly, stared down at the Galleons in his hand, and whispered,

"Apparently not."

He was quiet for a long moment, dragging his thumb over one of the Galleons, and then he raised his eyes to Bellatrix and said in an angry voice,

"I like to give you things."

Bellatrix blinked. She shook her head and said quietly, "I can buy my own clothes, My Lord."

"For goodness' sake, Bellatrix. Set aside your pride. You've just said that you haven't the money. I will not have you miss the Christmas party over something like a dress. Please. Accept a few Galleons so that you have something nice to wear."

Bellatrix nodded at last. "So that I don't embarrass you."

He sighed. "So that you have something nice to wear. This is the part where you say thank you."

Bellatrix finally quirked up her lips a little and nodded.

"Thank you, My Lord."

Bellatrix felt eyes upon her as she walked down Diagon Alley. She ignored the gazes and pulled her hood more tightly round her face. It was busy today; people were Christmas shopping. But when she went into Twillfit and Tattings, she was the only one in the shop. The bell above the door prompted the voluptuous and haughty seamstress, Madam Lynnen, to come walking out from behind a curtain. She'd made most of Bellatrix's clothes for years before the expulsion. Madam Lynnen was a pretty witch of about fifty, with greying auburn hair and a face that she kept smooth with creams and powders. Now Madam Lynnen gaped as Bellatrix lowered her hood, and she clapped her hands together in surprise.

"Bellatrix Black!" she exclaimed. "How good to see you. We'd heard… well… we were worried about you."

"No need to worry, Madam Lynnen," said Bellatrix. "I am quite well."

She had considered going to the Dancing Doxy to visit the girls who worked there, to check on Clare and Veronique and all the others. But she realised it would ruin everything if she were seen walking in there. So she'd stayed in Diagon Alley and had come straight to Twillfit and Tattings. She took off her cloak now and Banished it to the hooks by the door.

"I am in need of a gown," she told Madam Lynnen. "For the Christmas party."

Madam Lynnen's brows went up. Bellatrix knew why. Madam Lynnen had not been expecting Bellatrix to be attending the Christmas party. In all likelihood, nobody at that party would be expecting Bellatrix to come. But she pinched her lips into a line and asked,

"Have you got something different enough from what the others are wearing? I'm sure you've dressed quite a few already for the event."

"Indeed!" Madam Lynnen went to the racks on one wall and looked Bellatrix up and down. "So thin. You've always had such a fine figure. But short; we'll have to hem it. You've preferred black for ages… how about this?"

She held up a black velvet gown, long-sleeved with a very high neckline. It had a wispy black cape that appeared to reach the floor. There was a heavy silver belt slung low around the hips of the gown.

"It's… regal," Bellatrix declared, and Madam Lynnen said,

"It's a weighty gown. I wouldn't put it on most witches, but I think you've got the presence to wear it. Shall we give it a try?"

Bellatrix liked the gown, very much indeed. She liked the way it fit her form and fell heavily to the ground. As Madam Lynnen used her wand to server and hem, Bellatrix stared at her reflection and thought to herself that perhaps, just perhaps, she would not embarrass Mr Riddle wearing this. Perhaps she might even make him proud. And that, she thought, was all she wanted to do these days - to make him proud and happy. She smiled a little into the mirror, deciding at once that she would make him happy if it were the last thing she ever did.

"Coming!"

Bellatrix stalked like a wraith through her flat and cleared her throat at the door. She took a steadying breath and then opened it, and she tipped her chin up.

"Good evening, My Lord."

"Bella." His mouth had dropped open, and he gaped at her over the threshold. She had tried very hard to look pretty tonight. She had put on shiny scarlet lipstick that she'd Enchanted to stay. She'd lined her eyes darkly. She had braided her hair into a crown wending its way atop her head. She was wearing her incredible new caped gown of black velvet and wispy tulle. She studied Mr Riddle in his tuxedo robes, deciding he was almost criminally handsome, and she smiled at him as he followed her into the flat. She shut the door and told him,

"You're so handsome."

"Bella, you look…" He licked his lip and seemed almost nervous. He coughed into a fist and finally said, "Beautiful. You look beautiful."

"Thank you." Bellatrix felt rather powerful, if she was honest with herself. "Shall we go?"

"Yes. Yes, of course. Yaxley House in Peterborough," he said. "Do we need to go by Side-Along?"

Bellatrix almost told him that she could do it herself, that she was perfectly capable of Apparating there without him. But she sensed that he wanted to help her, so she snaked her hand through his arm and murmured,

"I am not going to let any of them humiliate me tonight. I have decided."

"I think that is a magnificent idea," said Mr Riddle.

"And I am going to speak to my father," Bellatrix added. She looked up at Mr Riddle, and he nodded down to her.

"What a night it shall be," he said. "And away we go."

The vanished from her sitting room in a pinching black whirl, and they came to at the bottom of the steps of a large Georgian manor. Bellatrix quickly ascended the stairs with Mr Riddle, and she mumbled,

"I forgot my traveling cloak. Silly me."

"You can have mine on the way out," he told her. She smiled a little. He was protective of her. She liked that. Why did she like that so much?

Inside the manor house, they took a left and entered a sweeping ballroom with crystal chandeliers and sunny, pastoral paintings on the panels between the mirrors. This was a much brighter setting than Malfoy Manor. There was a tall, thin Christmas tree exploding with glistening, Enchanted ornaments and garlands that twinkled to the cue of magic. There was more garland strung through the hall. A bewitched string quartet was playing Christmas carols, and people were dancing already. Others were mingling, snacking, or getting drinks. Bellatrix started to pull her hand from Mr Riddle's arm, but he touched at her fingers and asked,

"Shall we dance?"

"What, right now?" she giggled, and he was rather serious as he said,

"Set the tone for the evening."

Bellatrix could not help but roll her eyes a little as he guided her out to the dance floor. She let him pull her into a close dancing stance, and she stared up at him as she murmured, not for the first time tonight,

"You are so handsome."

He scoffed. "How easily you appear to overlook the most obvious problem in all of this."

"What do you mean?" Bellatrix furrowed her brow, and she watched his throat bob as they swayed. He reminded her,

"I am twenty-five years older than you."

"And?" Bellatrix shrugged. "I don't mind."

"You might mind someday." He drew his thumb over hers and said, "When you're thirty and I'm fifty-five, you might mind. When you're forty-five and I'm seventy, you might mind."

Bellatrix carefully licked at her lip, focusing on the feel of dancing with him, and said, "I don't mind now, and I wouldn't mind then. I don't mind."

"You don't find me to be an old man?" Mr Riddle asked, and in his eyes she saw a flash of doubt. She shook her head and assured him,

"I find you to be a powerful, ascending, intelligent, skilled, handsome man. My Lord."

"I want to kiss you," he said, "but if I make a habit of doing that at parties, people might think we're a bit odd."

She giggled, and she tipped her head against his chest. Suddenly someone was very close, and when Bellatrix looked up, she stopped dancing. Quella Yaxley, the tall, thin witch who was hosting this party, had walked right up to Bellatrix and Mr Riddle, and she did not seem happy.

"You. What are you doing here?" Quella hissed. Bellatrix gulped.

"Madam Yaxley," Mr Riddle began, but Quella whispered with venom in her tone,

"Yeoman came home very late a few nights. He finally admitted to me where he'd been. We worked with a counsellor to heal our marriage, and part of it was learning the truth. Well, I learnt the truth, you little slut. I learnt that my husband went to the Dancing Doxy and fucked a little girl named Bellatrix Black a few times. Whore! Get out of my house."

"Madam Yaxley," Bellatrix said, her voice shaking under the weight of Quella's rage, "Yeoman came to the Doxy of his own volition, and I was only doing my job - a job, which, by the way, I had no choice but to do. I'd been kicked out of my parents' home and had nowhere to go."

"I don't need your sob story, you wretched little whore," said Quella Yaxley. "Get out of my house right now, or I shall have you removed by force. And don't you try Confounding me, Tom Riddle; Yeoman knows to have the slut booted out."

Bellatrix glanced beyond Quella to see her parents and her sisters standing with the Malfoys, chatting animatedly. They were paying her absolutely no attention. They didn't care that she was being kicked out of the party. Bellatrix studied the other faces in the room. People were drinking, eating, talking, dancing. But nobody seemed concerned with Quella's outburst. Bellatrix felt like crying. Did no one care that she'd bought a magnificent gown with Mr Riddle's money just for this party?

"Please, Madam Yaxley. I won't make trouble." Bellatrix's voice was thick as she turned back to Quella.

Mr Riddle cleared his throat. "Madam Yaxley, I think you and Yeoman should -"

"Oh, that's quite enough out of you," spat Quella at Mr Riddle. "Debasing yourself with a slut like this. Kissing her. Taking her to the Leaky Cauldron. Heard about that. You like your witches good and broken in, do you?"

"How dare you?" seethed Mr Riddle. He laced his fingers through Bellatrix's fingers. "Come on, Bella; we're leaving."

"Yes. You are. You are not welcome here," spat Quella Yaxley. "Get out of this house, the both of you. What a disgusting pair. I'll have to Scour the room once you've gone."

Bellatrix's eyes welled so badly then that she couldn't see, so she let Mr Riddle guide her as they strode briskly out of the ballroom. She followed him and choked out a shaking breath as he Disapparated. Once they landed inside her sitting room, she collapsed onto his chest, shaking with sobs as he wrapped an arm around her.

Author's Note: Welp, we have a new villain - Quella Yaxley! (Boo! Hiss!) So how will Bellatrix and Mr Riddle comfort each other through the fact that they collectively just got kicked out of the biggest Pureblood social event of the year? Hmm. *rubs hands together* Thanks so much for reading and reviewing.