A / N : For a lot of people this time! Let me see . . . . . . The Shattered Star, X Vamp Witch Cat X , Daring D, and x BELLATRIXtheSTRANGE x – because I just noticed you changed your pen name! Also for everyone else who reviewed, I treasure them!

Warning Sign

"Looks like you're out of luck."

Bellatrix looked up from the pile of Boomslang skin she was slicing and frowned at her cousin.

"What do you mean, I'm out of luck?" she asked icily. Rosier sounded a little too pleased about it for her liking. "Well?" she demanded, brandishing the knife at him. He balked at that.

"Remind me again," he said warily, "why I'm at your beck and call, when you won't even tell me what happened to Lucius?"

Bella rolled her eyes. "Because you're desperate to please me?" she suggested. "Or because you're in l-"

"Okay, okay! Forget I said anything!"

Bella smirked, returning her attention to the potion. It really was too easy to wind her cousin up.

"So why exactly am I out of luck?"

Rosier smirked right back at her. "Because, Bellatrix, you need something and you can't get it. I went to Diagon Alley," he elaborated, "and pretty much every apothecary I could think of. And not one of them has ripe Mandrake for your potion. Or any kind of Mandrake at all, now that you mention it. So it looks like you're stuck."

Bella frowned. "That's impossible. Did you try Knockturn Alley?"

Rosier laughed. "You'd put black market ingredients in Lucius' potion? I'll be sure to mention it to him, when he wakes up." Noting her scowl, he continued. "That was the first place I tried, actually. And no, nothing."

Bella threw the knife she was holding at the cauldron. It hit the side and bounced off it with a clang that made Rosier jump.

"Well why the hell not?" she cried, furious.

Rosier edged out of her target range. "I asked," he said delicately. "Apparently, the Mandrake is currently considered a Class A dangerous plant, and our esteemed Ministry" - his lip curled - "deems it prudent to restrict the availibilty of such plants, and penalize those who grow them without a permit."

Bella had to fight to control her temper. "What sort of place would have a permit?" she asked carefully.

Rosier shrugged. "I'm not sure," he said slowly. "I think there's a garden at St. Mungo's, but it's not open to the public."

Bella nodded. "I see. So my only option is to steal one from Hogwarts."

"Er . . ." Rosier hesitated, making sure he really was out of Bellatrix's throwing range before he pointed out the obvious. "But you told everyone you went to France. With Malfoy. You can't just swan into the school without him, and then waltz back out again."

Bella waved a hand impatiently, brushing away his concerns. "It doesn't matter," she said defiantly. "I'll find a way. I'll -" She was interrupted at that moment by a knock on the door. "Come in," she snapped.

"Miss – Miss Black?" It was a house-elf. Bella couldn't be entirely sure, but it looked like the one from the library, the one that had been avoiding her ever since.

"What do you want?" she demanded, watching it closely. Sure enough, it seemed to be avoiding her gaze, with more than the usual deference.

"There – there is a visitor," it stammered, keeping its eyes trained on the carpet. "A visitor for Miss Black. A man."

"What man?" Bella asked curiously. Of course, it was unlikely her master would ever wait to see her – well, laughable really – but nonetheless, she was intruiged. After all, no-one else knew she was here. Did they?

The elf twisted the edge of the tattered pillowcase it wore as a toga. "Dobby doesn't know, miss," he said nervously. "Dobby got a clout for asking."

Bella smirked. "Fine. Send him up."

"Yes Miss Black."

"Oh, and Dobby?"

"Y-yes miss?"

"When he leaves, come and see me."

The elf gulped. "Yes miss. Dobby will do that, miss." He all but fled the room.

"You've got random men coming to see you?" Rosier seemed hugely affronted by the very idea.

Bella giggled. What an odd way to put it. "I'm not complaining. And you can go, if it bothers you."

Rosier spluttered some rather incoherent curses, but he fell silent as Dolohov strolled into the room.

Bella stared at him in surprise. "Dolohov? What are you . . . . . ? Never mind. Come in." She got to her feet, burning with curiousity. What could Dolohov possibly want with her? She had no idea, but she intended to find out. "Rosier, you can go now," she said lightly.

Her cousin scowled but she shot him a quelling look and he obeyed her, glaring at Dolohov as he backed out of the room. He slammed the door behind him but she could still hear him cursing loudly as he clattered down the stairs. She turned to Dolohov as soon as he was out of earshot.

"Why did you come to see me?" she probed.

He shifted uncomfortably on the spot, and she noticed that he had declined to remove his coat, though the room he had just entered was quite warm, probably owing to the potion brewing on the floor. Dolohov frowned at the sight of it. "You don't waste much time, do you?" he asked.

Bella shook her head. "Not if it's important," she said, watching him carefully. "And pleasing our master is important to me . . . ." She trailed off, feeling she had made her point.

Dolohov's expression flickered at her words. "Don't put it like that," he snapped.

Bella frowned. "What do you mean?" she asked, bemused. "Don't put it like what?"

"Like you want to. . . . oh forget it." Avoiding her eye, he bent down instead to examine the potion. "Do you have everything you need?" he asked.

Ignoring this, Bella pushed ahead with a new question. "How did you know I was here?" she enquired. "Did our master tell you?" Another thought struck her. "Did he send you here?"

Dolohov grimaced. "No," he said at last, "he didn't send me here."

Bella felt her pulse quicken. "But he told you I was here?"

"Yes." Catching her hungry, expectant expression, he elaborated a little. "I was supposed to finish a . . . task . . . with Lucius. When I asked where he was, our master explained what had happened."

Bella sucked in her breath in surprise. "He told you everything?"

Dolohov nodded in affirmation. "I don't know if you're aware of this," he said slowly, "but I'm one of the oldest followers. I was one of the first to get the Mark. And I suppose, as much as anyone could honestly claim to know him, I know our master. I went to school with him."

Bella felt a frustrating combination of jealousy and awe, hearing that. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked, confused.

He shrugged. "I'm not sure . . . ."

Bella scowled, annoyed that he was dodging the question. "Why did you come to see me?" she asked again. "Let me guess," she scoffed, "you were checking up on me."

"I . ." He opened his mouth, then shut it again, suddenly becoming very interested in a phial of armadillo bile. Bella stared.

"You are," she accused, as soon as she found her voice. "You're checking up on me!"

Dolohov didn't confirm her suspicions, but he didn't deny the charge either.

"Why? Did our master ask you to?"

He sighed. "No," he said at last. "He doesn't know I'm here."

"Why are you here?" she challenged.

"Well, first off, I recruited Lucius. And I think he has potential. So I suppose you could say I have a vested interest in keeping him alive – it reflects well on me if he goes on to reach that potential."

Bella crossed her arms and stared at him in silence, waiting for him to go on. It was a trick she had picked up from her master, and although she was usually too impatient to apply it well, there was no denying it worked.

Eventually he groaned. "Can we just drop this?"

Bella shook her head. "Not until you explain your bizarre need to check up on me."

Dolohov stood up abruptly. "Fine," he snapped. "I will if you tell me exactly what you're doing."

Bella hesitated, mulling over the suggestion for a moment. Eventually she decided that it couldn't do any harm to be honest.

"Alright. Fine." She took a deep breath. "If you know what happened to Lucius, then you must also know that it isn't that easy to cure him. He needs a potion – Mandrake Draught. I can make it, but it needs ripe Mandrake, and I don't have that. This close to the summer, they're bound to be in season, but I can't buy one. Nowhere's selling. It's ridiculous, isn't it? You'd think that a Black could buy almost anything they wanted – but apparently not. So when you asked me if I had everything I needed . . . . . . the answer is no."

Dolohov nodded. "I see," he said slowly. "You need Mandrake root."

Bella smiled. "No," she answered with a laugh. "Actually I need Polyjuice Potion."

"What?" Dolohov stared at her in disbelief. "You must be mad."

"No," Bella snapped, "I'm not. I need a way to sneak in and out of Hogwarts, without anyone realizing I'm not really in France. And I have it." She smiled at his bewildered expression. "My sister," she explained. "Narcissa. She's an idiot, but right now, she's right where I need to be. Safe, and utterly oblivious, in Hogwarts. All I need to do," she smirked, "is steal an hour of her time. She won't miss it. After all, the Hospital Wing is her favourite part of the school. She'd probably even thank me for it."

Dolohov stared at her, dumbstruck. "Well, I'm glad you have a plan, at least," he muttered at last.

"Why do you say that? And why are you so interested in my welfare all of a sudden?"

He pulled a face. "Because I like you, Black. I think you have potential. But sometimes, I see Lucius' point of view. I think you might be getting in over your head."

"What?!" Bella glared at him, incensed. "When," she fumed, "is everyone going to stop treating me like some stupid child who has no idea what she's doing? I know exactly what I'm getting myself into, thank you very much."

"Oh do you?" Dolohov raised an eyebrow. "I don't think you do. Do you know," he spat, "that you amuse him?"

Bella frowned. "I what?"

"Amuse him," Dolohov said savagely. "He thinks you're entertaining, Black."

Bellatrix leapt to her feet, about to challenge him, but then she hesistated, tilting her head to the side as she considered his statement.

"What do you mean by "entertaining"?" she asked casually, twining a strand of hair around her finger and trying to look as if she didn't care very much about the answer.

Dolohov groaned and ran a hand over his face. He sighed heavily.

"I'm trying to help you, Bellatrix, believe it or not. You'd be doing yourself a favour if you let me."

"I . ." Bella started to refute this, and then she stopped. He had called her "Bellatrix". That was what Lucius did, whenever he was worried. Dolohov, it seemed, was trying to warn her. But about what? None of what he was saying made any sense. "What is it you want me to do then?" she asked, abandoning her attempts to understand. "Because I won't fail Him-" The thought made her heart skip.

"Nothing. That's what you'd do, if you had any sense. Just obey orders, and fade into the background."

"I don't think so." Bella felt her hands curl into angry fists, and she had to struggle to control her temper. Shouting at someone so close to her master was probably not a good idea. And it would only make her look childish, the very opposite of the point she was trying to make. "I'm not going to stay stuck in some low-ranking position forever," she continued calmly. "I asked to prove myself and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

Dolohov shook his head ruefully. "You don't get it, I can tell. Why do you have to be so ridiculously vain? Why can't you see that not all attention is good attention?"

Bellatrix couldn't help herself. She scowled at him, affronted. "All attention from our master is good attention," she insisted. And suddenly Dolohov's face was inches from her own, and he was furious.

"Do you really think so?" he growled. His fingers clamped like iron fetters around her upper arms, and he half lifted her off her feet, apparently without realizing it.

"Do you really think so?" he repeated. "Shall I tell you what I think? I think you don't know the first thing about it. I don't think you have any idea what you're getting yourself into. But I do." He gave a strange, bitter sort of laugh. "And the further in you get, the worse it becomes. You're sixteen, for crying out loud! You've got your whole life ahead of you! Why would you want to just throw it all away?"

Bella struggled out of his grip and pulled out her wand. "What life?" she retorted, furious.

Dolohov clenched his fists, but he did not attempt to touch her again. When he next spoke, it sounded as if he were struggling to calm his voice. "Your life," he said. "A normal life. Do you know how lucky you are? You could believe in the cause, but not have to fight for it. You could fall in love, and get married, and have kids, and never have to worry about what might happen to them if the Aurors catch up with you."

Bella scowled. "I don't care," she said defiantly. "I don't want that. I don't want to be like everyone else. Where's the fun in that? I want to be different, I want to be . . . special. Respected. Feared. Admired. Anything but somebody else's wife," she finished disgustedly. Her heart was racing, but she glared at Dolohov, because she wanted him to think that she was angry, more than anything else. She couldn't let him see the painful, unreasonable panic that filled her at the thought of a life without her master in it. She didn't know why he affected her this deeply, why her heart iced over at the thought of failing him. But it did, and that was an uncomfortable fact she knew she might one day have to examine more closely. But not today. Not yet.

Dolohov sighed. He looked . . . defeated, now. "You're sure?" he said quietly. "I won't ask again."

Bella nodded. She didn't trust herself to speak.

"Fine." The ghost of a smile flitted across his face. "Just checking," he said wryly. And then he turned on his heel and marched out of the room, leaving Bellatrix staring after him, fighting the tide of confusion and anger that was rising in her chest, and looking for something to kick.