"My friends," Lord Voldemort said to the Death Eaters he had assembled in Malfoy Manor. "I have returned. I'm sure you enjoyed your time with my younger self… most of you had not seen that boy in decades. But he has gone home to his time, and I have returned to mine. Your master is come home."
"Welcome back, My Lord," said Abraxas Malfoy quite firmly, and he applauded. The others round the table clapped, too, and Bellatrix forced her hands together along with the others. But she wanted to cry, for the tenth time in twenty-four hours. All she could think was that young Tom, the man she'd fallen in love with and married, was gone forever. She stared at her aged husband and tried to love him the same way she'd loved the younger Tom Riddle.
"Master," said Rodolphus Lestrange as the applause died down, "Where did you go?"
"Do not concern yourself with the details of my travels," Voldemort commanded, but Rodolphus scowled and insisted,
"The Tom Riddle who came forward in time prevented me from marrying Bellatrix Black. He killed my father-in-law, Amon Avery, one of his own followers. I think the rest of us, myself included, have the right to know just what's happened here."
Voldemort slowly pushed himself to his feet and glared at Rodolphus. "You think you have the right to know something?"
Bellatrix shivered. Voldemort's voice was calm and lethal. It was terrifying. She watched as Voldemort raised his yew wand, aiming it at Rodolphus, and repeated,
"You think you have the right to know something, Lestrange?"
"Dolph, apologise at once!" Rudy Lestrange hissed at his son, but Voldemort said,
"It's too late for that, Rudy. Your son needs a lesson taught to him, right this moment. My younger self denied you Bellatrix because she was meant to be my wife. You are lucky I permitted you Alivia Avery, despite her father's horrid indiscretions. Will I tell you where I have been? No. I will not. It is none of your business. The next one who asks after it will see a flash of green and nothing more. You, Rodolphus Lestrange, will witness my mercy today. You will receive only pain. CRUCIO!"
Rodolphus screamed with a hideous squeal of tortured agony. He flung himself from his chair and landed on the ground as a scarlet web of light wrapped around him. Snared up in the light from Voldemort's wand, Rodolphus writhed and shrieked, convulsing and clawing at the ground. His father and brother looked on in shocked, horrified silence. The other Death Eaters seemed terrified but made no movement. No one dared speak. Bellatrix gazed up at Voldemort, whose face was steady and sure as he tortured Rodolphus. She tingled at the sight of him casting the Cruciatus Curse, at the way his black eyes were cold and his lips were pinched into a line.
Suddenly she found herself remarkably attracted to him, and the longer he held the Cruciatus Curse, the more Bellatrix found herself studying his hardened features and finding him awfully handsome. She breathed rather heavily where she sat, and at last Rodolphus grew hoarse from screaming so frantically. Voldemort broke his curse and stalked over to where Rodolphus Lestrange lay on the ground, and he kicked at the huddled form of his ill-mannered Death Eater.
"I had your wife's father killed for betraying me," Voldemort said in a calm voice as Rodolphus moaned and rolled on his side. "Shall I have you killed for questioning me, Lestrange?"
"No… please… Master…" Rodolphus clawed at the hem of Voldemort's robe, and Voldemort kicked roughly, sending Rodolphus' hand flying. Rodolphus whimpered, and Voldemort declared,
"You have been insubordinate and are undeserving of the mercy I have shown you. And, yet, I have shown it. You owe me the debt of your life. You will serve me properly forevermore. Am I well and distinctly understood?"
"Yes, Master! Yes, yes!" Rodolphus clamored up to his knees and clasped his hands together. "Forgive my transgression, I beg you! You're quite right; it's no business of mine or anyone else's what you do. I know better now than to ever ask such things of you. Please. I beg you to allow me to serve you, and I promise you, I will be your… your loyal servant forever! Please!"
"Get off the floor and sit in your chair like a civilised human being," Voldemort snarled. Rodolphus flailed as he struggled to pull himself back into his chair, and his father and brother reached to haul him up. Voldemort whirled on his foot and stalked back to his seat at the head of the table, and Bellatrix felt her heart racing. Her breath had quickened in her nostrils. Voldemort flicked his eyes to her, and she stared at him for a moment that found them locking gazes rather intensely. Bellatrix gasped, thinking to herself that this man - this grown version of her Tom - was catastrophically desirable. He faced the table full of Death Eaters and barked at them,
"Your master is returned. Are there any more questions regarding that?"
He was met with absolute silence. Voldemort nodded. He turned his face to Mulciber and Yaxley, who were seated beside one another, and they shrank away from him in fear. He narrowed his eyes at them and demanded,
"The two of you. Bring me a fresh Muggle to play with. This time, there will be no betrayal to the Ministry. Of that I am certain. Find me fresh meat, a fresh toy. I do not care if it is a man or a woman, young or old. Find me something… fun. I wish to see my wife make a game of its death to amuse me."
He curled up his lips then and glanced to Bellatrix. So this was how he meant to announce to them that she was still his wife. She sat up straighter and nodded.
"It will be an honour and a privilege to destroy your Muggle toy for you, Master."
"You know how I love watching you cast your curses, Bella. Whether I'm old or young, it's a beautiful sight to behold. And I crave the sight of you bathed in the green light of your Killing Curse. So, Mulciber. Yaxley. Find and bring me a Muggle. Tout de suite. At our next meeting, we shall discuss infiltration of Ministry departments. Rookwood, I want you to prepare dossiers on positions ripe for… penetration. Anything else?"
There was more terrified silence, and Bellatrix felt herself so alive that she could have leaped out of her seat and ripped at her husband's clothes. Instead she folded her hands on the table and blinked, dizzy with want.
"Dismissed," Voldemort snapped. The room cleared out, and Bellatrix slowly rose from her chair. She gulped as she walked behind Voldemort's chair, but he stopped her by reaching for her arm. He brushed his thumb along the inside of her wrist, making her shiver. She turned back toward him, and he shook his head.
"Not you," he said. "You are not dismissed."
Bellatrix felt her lips part. She stood there with him holding onto her, letting the room empty, and when at last the door had shut and the last of the Death Eaters had gone, Voldemort rose to his feet. He still did not release Bellatrix's hand. He smirked down at her, and he murmured,
"You look pretty today."
"That was… something," Bellatrix mused. She glanced to the spot where Voldemort had tortured Rodolphus, and she shut her eyes. She let out a little sound, feeling damp between her legs, and she heard Voldemort's low rumble of laughter in response. She moved closer to him, and he massaged the inside of her wrist as he asked,
"You liked that, didn't you? You enjoyed watching me be the master at work, hm?"
"Yes." Bellatrix nodded, feeling breathless. She looked up at him, and then she sucked in air hard, for he'd bent to kiss her. She moaned a little when he pushed his tongue between her lips and dragged it against the roof of her mouth. She backed up, for he was pushing her, and when she reached the table, he pulled his mouth from hers and grunted.
"I'll be quick," he promised, and he shoved up Bellatrix's skirts. She gasped in surprise and wondered just how naked he intended on getting them in this meeting room.
"Not excessively naked," he replied, and she realised he'd been using Legilimency. She scowled at him and reminded him,
"You promised to stay out of my head."
"Perhaps I shall teach you Occlumency to hold me to that promise a little better." He raised his eyebrows and shoved the crotch of her knickers aside. Bellatrix sank her teeth into her lip and whimpered as his fingers pressed against her wet entrance. He breathed quite deeply, his chest heaving and his cheeks going pink. He wanted her, she thought. He licked his lip and told her, "I think I shall teach you Occlumency for a lot of reasons."
"All right. Master." Bellatrix threw her head back and gripped the edge of the table, shoving her hips forward and whispering, "Please be inside me now."
"Yes." He sighed and pulled his hand from her, his fingers moving to the buttons of his trousers. She smirked up at him, thinking of the way he'd looked in the midst of casting a Cruciatus Curse, and she found herself reaching to race his fingers at the task of opening his trousers. He laughed a little and asked softly, "Do you want my cock?"
Her mouth fell open, and she felt drunk all of a sudden. She nodded, frantic with need. "I want to feel your come running down the inside of my -"
She gasped then, turning toward the door where someone was knocking firmly. Voldemort coughed in surprise and buttoned his trousers back up, and he called,
"One moment."
He wrenched his eyes shut in frustration and growled, and he hoisted Bellatrix off the table. She panted, irritated and alarmed, and yanked at her skirts. She licked her lip and stepped away from Voldemort, who cleared his throat and wiped his right hand on his trouser leg under his robe. His fingers were still damp from touching her, Bellatrix thought. He called out,
"Enter!"
The door opened, and Bellatrix felt her eyes go round as her father walked into the meeting room. Cygnus froze as he seemed to immediately realise he had interrupted something between Bellatrix and Lord Voldemort. But their master gestured for Cygnus to enter, and when he did, Voldemort wandlessly shut the door. Cygnus coughed a little and said,
"My Lord. I was just hoping to give you an update on your financial situation, taking into account your absence, as well as the presence of your… younger self… in this time."
"Of course," Voldemort said lightly. "Do come and sit."
He pulled out his chair at the head of the table, and Cygnus anxiously pulled out the next chair over. Bellatrix bowed her head and said,
"I shall leave you two to talk, then."
"No," Voldemort said, and Bellatrix looked at him in surprise. He raised his brows, speaking softly then. "These are our finances, Bella; this concerns you, too. Sit."
She obeyed in silence, sitting opposite her father. Cygnus eyed her with a heavy dose of suspicion, and she knew why. He was wondering whether she minded this, whether she was all right with the fact that the young boy she'd married had disappeared and given way to the forty-something master. Bellatrix flashed her father a reassuring little smile and scooted her chair up to the table.
"Well?" Voldemort prompted. "You wanted to tell me about my money, Cygnus. Have at it."
"Ah. Yes, sir." Cygnus opened his leather folio and pulled out a parchment, which he handed to Voldemort. The Dark Lord studied the parchment as Cygnus spoke. "Throughout the few months that it was Tom Riddle here, My Lord, your financial health grew stronger than ever. In part, that is because we gained two new monthly donors, Icarus Selwyn and Hyacinth Greengrass. Also, your spending was, to be plain, exceedingly modest. So, as you can see on the ledger there, the balances of your accounts all swelled substantially."
"And, if I remember correctly," said Voldemort, handing the parchment back to Cygnus, "you paid for my wedding."
Cygnus' cheeks went scarlet, and he glanced at Bellatrix before assuring Voldemort, "I did so with pleasure, My Lord. I was more than happy to fund the occasion."
"Would you care to be compensated for your trouble, now that your daughter is married to a man more than twice her age? Now that I am wealthier than ever before?" Voldemort narrowed his eyes at his father-in-law, his servant, and Cygnus shook his head.
"No, sir. That is not at all necessary. It was my joy to pay for the wedding. It is a greater joy still to see that, despite the absence of your younger self, my daughter is not left without her husband."
Voldemort drummed his left hand on the table, and suddenly Cygnus was staring at Voldemort's finger. He pointed, rather rudely, and he gasped,
"Your ring. We always wondered… now it makes sense. People talked. There were rumours. Perhaps you'd married someone during your time on the Continent. We never knew why you wore a wedding band but never spoke of any wife. Now I know. It was her all along."
He had gone white in the face, and he stared at his daughter as he repeated in a hoarse whisper, his eyes welling,
"It was her all along."
"I have waited twenty-five years for her," Voldemort said, a tinge of pride in his voice. He tipped up his chin and scoffed a little as he said to Cygnus, "That night I pulled her from the frozen pond at Castle Rosier, when you'd invited me to dinner to discuss my fledgling movement? I knew that night that she would fall through the ice. I knew that I would have to drag her out and use magic to save her, to warm her blood. I knew that night that eventually she would grow up and marry Tom Riddle. You're right, Cygnus. It has been her all along. And that is why I have worn my wedding band all this time."
Cygnus slowly put the parchment he was holding back in his folio, which he shut and clasped. He seemed on the verge of tears then, and he whispered,
"Master, have you any other questions about your finances?"
"Not right now, no." Voldemort huffed a breath and licked his bottom lip. He glanced at Bellatrix and then said to Cygnus, "Actually… the Ministry is going to do everything they can to interrogate both Bellatrix and me. She and I will probably need to relocate homes; I do not feel that my current flat is sufficiently secure. I will probably need a large sum of Muggle currency to purchase a wholly unregistered property in secret. Arrange that for me. I should think… seventy-five thousand Muggle pounds or so. I'll purchase the new property in cash using a pseudonym. Get those funds for me as quickly as possible so that I have a safe place for Bellatrix to sleep at night."
Cygnus blinked quickly and nodded. He opened his folio back up and pulled out the self-inking quill from the centre. He jotted down a few lines of notes on a parchment and shut the folio again, and he said,
"I shall have the Muggle money for you tomorrow, My Lord."
"Very good. Dismissed, then," Voldemort said. Bellatrix's mind whirled as she realised how much was happening. Voldemort had tortured Rodolphus Lestrange today, right in front of everybody. He'd ordered the capture of another Muggle, whom Bellatrix was to execute for his amusement. And they were going to move homes to somewhere more discreet - and expensive, by the sounds of it - to avoid the Ministry's prying gaze.
And young Tom was gone, lost forever to his own time, replaced by the confident and authoritative wizard who now watched his father-in-law rise on shaking legs. Cygnus tucked his folio under his arm and pushed his chair back in. He bowed low to Voldemort, quite respectfully, and he murmured a single word. Master. Then he flicked his eyes to Bellatrix and turned to go. He was at the door, about to open it, when Voldemort said,
"Cygnus."
Bellatrix's father turned round again, looking expectantly at his lord come home. Voldemort drummed the fingers of his left hand on the table again and tipped his head.
"I am in love with your daughter," he said. Cygnus's eyes rimmed red and looked damp, and his bottom lip trembled a little as he looked to Bellatrix. He smiled weakly and nodded. Bellatrix just sighed, her lips curling up of their own accord. She couldn't quite find the words to reassure her father that she did indeed want to be married to this version of her Tom, this older and more sophisticated iteration of him. So she just reached for Voldemort's right hand and squeezed it, and Voldemort dragged his thumb over her knuckles. Cygnus' throat bobbed with emotion where he stood, and Voldemort finally said,
"I appreciate the report. Get me that Muggle money tomorrow. Dismissed."
Author's Note: Oh, Bellamort. The good ship that sails through seas where Voldemort tells his father-in-law that he loves Bellatrix in the same chapter that he orders up a fresh Muggle for Bellatrix to torture and kill. Gotta love these two, right? So it seems like Bellatrix is actually attracted to older!Voldemort's confidence and authority, but will there come a point where she really, genuinely misses the young him that she loved and married? And who's in the mood for some drunken storytelling/gut-spilling by this Voldemort who has seen Bellatrix's whole life, years on the Continent, and 1981? Hmm.
Oh, and let me know in the comments where you think he'll buy a new property! Will it be a) the isolated Georgian house in the Cotswolds, b) the Gothic mansion outside Edinburgh, or c) the luxe terraced house in London?
Thanks as always for reading!