"Mrs Malfoy! I wasn't expecting you in person. Happy Christmas!" Bellatrix dashed across the ballroom, where Lucius was happily opening gifts beneath the enormous silvery tree with Abraxas. Aeta smiled at Bellatrix and shrugged, pushing her stylish glasses up her nose.
"Well. I always let Lucius open his boy gifts from Abraxas in the morning, and then he gets the good stuff from Mummy." She winked. "I positively raided Honeydukes this year, and, let's be honest… thirteen-year-olds just want to eat, right? I did have to give Lucius ten Galleons to buy Narcissa a present. He's so in love. It's disgusting."
She laughed then, and Bellatrix couldn't help but giggle. She pulled out her wand and Summoned the parcel she'd wrapped in bright white paper where she'd set it on the table, and she handed it to Aeta.
"I hadn't intended on being able to give this to you in person. You inspired me," Bellatrix said. "I learnt the spells with some books in the library; I assume they were yours. Please forgive my inexperience."
Aeta unwrapped the parcel and pulled out the mint green mittens that Bellatrix had knitted using her newfound skills. They weren't perfect, but Aeta squealed with delight as she pulled them on and let the box fall to the ground. Dobby hurried to get the wrapping away, and Aeta exclaimed,
"Lucius! Abraxas! Look what Bellatrix made me! What a lamb you are, you sweet child! Oh. Come here."
She planted a kiss on each of Bellatrix's cheeks, making Bellatrix laugh harder than ever, and Voldemort called from where he sat in an armchair,
"Aeta, stop kissing my ward!"
"Oh, come off it, Tom!" Aeta teased. "You get her all the time."
Bellatrix smiled over her shoulder at Voldemort, who quirked up his lips and said,
"Yes, well. I'm rather fond of her. And rather possessive of her."
Aeta pulled off the mittens and said quietly to Bellatrix,
"You've got him, Bellatrix. In a way I never thought anyone would have him. I've known Tom Riddle since he was eleven years old, and he's always been able to have any girl he wanted. But he never lingered long, because he couldn't be bothered. But you…" She clucked her tongue and shook her head. "You, Bellatrix, have made that man tumble head over heels in love. And I think he's going to stay there. Abraxas told me what you bought for Tom for Christmas. That's the sort of thing a witch buys for a man with whom she's already very domestic. Has he asked you yet?"
"Asked me?" Bellatrix was confused, and Aeta looked like she thought she'd said too much. She shrugged and waved her hand dismissively.
"You let me know if you get bored here, dear," she said, her tone abruptly more maternal than before. "I'll send you anything you need. Lucius! If you've finished opening, we're off to Wales! Come along, dear! Yes, yes… that's a wondrous chess set, Abraxas. Let's go, Lucius."
An hour later, Bellatrix had settled into Voldemort's rooms with him, both of them delighting in warm, soft Christmas biscuits with mugs of thick drinking chocolate. The Wizarding Wireless was playing carols softly in the corner.
"Mmph." Bellatrix set her mug down and dragged her thumb over her lip. She shut her eyes and said, "That is so delicious."
"I want to show you your first gift," Voldemort said suddenly, and he rose from his sofa. He moved to the little table beside the sofa and pulled off the purple velvet cover he'd placed on something there. Bellatrix was very curious when she saw a crystal ball there, and she asked,
"Are we going to do Divination, Master?"
"No. Come here." He gestured to her, and he added, "Bring the chocolate."
She frowned, but she brought her mug with her. She walked over to the little table, and Voldemort instructed her,
"Sip some chocolate and concentrate on how it makes you feel. Tell me how it makes you feel."
She did, imbibing the thick, sweet drink and then murmuring, "Satisfied. Full. Warm."
She opened her eyes as Voldemort took the mug away, and he said,
"Put your palms on the glass."
Bellatrix did, and the smoke inside flushed at once to a very deep, marine blue. Voldemort nodded.
"Contentment," he murmured. "Satisfaction."
Bellatrix looked up at him, then glanced down again when she saw the smoke had gone bright yellow.
"Curiosity," Voldemort said, and suddenly she understood. She nodded, and the smoke went white. Voldemort smiled beside her and whispered, "Clarity. Understanding."
Bellatrix took her hands off the crystal ball and asked, "Is this for Occlumency work? To help me understand my emotions so that I might better conquer them?"
"Yes." Voldemort drummed his fingers on the glass and said, "I want you to memorise the colour coding, and we'll use it when I pull a particularly difficult memory during training. But, of course, this is more a tool than a gift. I did get you an actual gift."
"I think it's a wondrous gift, Master," Bellatrix breathed. She put her palms on the glass again, and the smoke inside swirled into a little storm of sparkling gold mixed with green. Voldemort scoffed gently and interpreted,
"Gratitude."
Bellatrix pulled her hands away and smiled. "Thank you."
"Well. As I said, I have a real gift for you," he said, but she interjected,
"Oh, please, may I give you mine first? I'm very insecure about it."
He laughed but nodded, and Bellatrix hurried to fetch his plaid-wrapped box from the table where their biscuits and chocolate were. They sat on the sofa again, and as he began to unfurl the ribbons and unwrap the paper, she said hurriedly,
"Mr Malfoy helped me choose a particular model from a catalog, and then he was kind enough to take my money and go buy it in Diagon Alley. I hope it isn't too… I don't know; I just…"
"Bella." He cocked up an eyebrow and then pulled out the box, which he opened to reveal the luxury shaving kit that Bellatrix had bought for him. Her heart raced as she watched his reaction. She liked to watch him shave in the mornings. She liked to watch him spread foam over his cheeks and then use a razor to drag it away. It was oddly erotic, supremely masculine, and it was something she liked to watch him do. So she'd bought him a kit made of rubbed bronze, a set with a weighted razor, including replacement blades, along with a shaving dish and special foaming soap, and a silver tip badger brush. She'd spent all she could on it, for her father only gave her a limited allowance per month. Voldemort smiled as he fingered the brush and base, and he said sincerely,
"Thank you, Bellatrix. This is… very kind. Thank you."
"Are you certain, Master?" she asked, and when he raised his eyes, they looked a little wet. He nodded and whispered,
"Yes. Thank you."
She felt relief wash over her then, and she wondered distantly what colour that would be in the glass ball. She watched Voldemort carefully Banish the shaving set to his bathroom, and he murmured,
"Perhaps I'll use it tomorrow morning whilst you lean voyeuristically on the door jamb like you're wont to do."
He was teasing her, but her cheeks went hot, and they both laughed a little. He reached into the chest pocket of his robes then, pulling out a carefully wrapped rectangle. Bellatrix frowned at the beautiful silver wrapping, for it seemed so expertly done. She whispered her thanks as she took it and opened it, and as she pulled the lid off the box, she gasped.
Inside, sitting atop some cotton wool, were six of the most beautiful hairpins Bellatrix had ever seen. They were obviously antiques, blue-green opal surrounded by little diamonds set in silver. She held one up and moved it a little, and the shimmer and sparkle was breathtaking.
"Master," she said, feeling helpless all of a sudden. She looked at him, shaking her head, and she whispered, "I can't…"
"I love you," he said, quite firmly, nodding his head. "You have very beautiful hair."
Bellatrix felt like she was going to cry then. Suddenly she remembered all the times people had made fun of her hair. A lion's mane, the girls had called it on the Hogwarts Express. A rat's nest, her mother had exasperatedly said dozens of times. In desperate need of Sleekeazy's. A kinky disaster. But Voldemort was the one who woke in the morning gently touching her there, who had just gifted her pins to stick into her curls, and so Bellatrix could not help but let a few tears bubble over her eyelids. She hurried to Conjure herself a velvet ribbon, and she rushed to twist her hair up into a dance bun. After she tied the ribbon, she poked the pins in one by one in a circle around the bun, and then Voldemort Conjured her two small mirrors. She turned her back to him, and she held one mirror in front whilst he held one behind. She gasped at how beautiful the pins looked, shimmering there in her hair, diamond and opal and silver against her dark curls. Voldemort Vanished the mirrors, and Bellatrix slowly stood.
He stood with her, and somehow both of their instinct was to move into a dancing stance. No one was here now to judge them for standing too closely, so they stood with their bodies pressed together and swayed to the Christmas music on the Wireless.
"Thank you for the hairpins, Master," Bellatrix said very sincerely, and he nodded.
"Thank you for the shaving set."
"Thank you for the crystal ball," she laughed, and finally he just shrugged and said,
"Happy Christmas, Bellatrix."
She let her head rest against his chest, holding his hand and feeling very comfortable with him. She murmured after a moment,
"What colour is comfortable?"
"A very deep red. Burgundy," he answered, and she knew he must have memorised the colour code like she'd have to do. She smiled a little and asked,
"What colour is impressed?"
He laughed a little and said, "Vibrantly pale blue, like a cloudless summer sky."
Bellatrix shut her eyes and breathed him in, and as they moved, she asked, "What colour is it if I love you so much that the thought of leaving this house arrest makes my bones hurt?"
He was quiet for a moment, but then he said, "I do not intend on separating myself from you when your house arrest ends, Bellatrix."
"Oh." She pulled back from him then, a little amazed, and she stared up at him. He pinched his lips and cleared his throat, still not having released her hand.
"I can't put the Dark Mark on you until after your final Ministry reassessment. I'm sorry. But they might inspect your body, and if they find the Dark Mark tattooed on you, they'll throw you into Azkaban."
"I understand, My Lord," she said, feeling a spike of disappointment. What colour was disappointment? Black, probably.
"That does not mean that I do not intend on making you mine," Voldemort said. "I fully intend on making you a Death Eater, Dark Mark or not. And I… I…"
He seemed to freeze then, as if some sort of shock had taken him over. His face went a little pale, and Bellatrix worriedly squeezed his hand.
"Master?"
His throat bobbed, and he finally said in a very cautious voice,
"Not now, and not next year, but… sometime. Eventually. I should like there to be some sort of… some degree of formality. Between you and I."
He looked like he was going to be sick on the ground, and Bellatrix furrowed her brow, utterly baffled. Formality? Then she remembered what Aeta had said. Has he asked you yet? Asked her what? This? Formality? Bellatrix's mouth fell open. What exactly was he asking for?
He blinked quickly a few times and said,
"I actually have quite a lot of work to do today."
"It's Christmas," Bellatrix whispered, but he nodded and said,
"I shall be in my office if you need me. Thank you again very kindly for the shaving kit, Bella. I appreciate it very much indeed. Let's head out, shall we?"
Bellatrix followed him, numb with shock and dizzy with confusion, and before she split off from him, she said,
"Thank you for the gifts, My Lord. I shall cherish them always."
"And I you," he nodded, which seemed an oddly incongruous answer to what Bellatrix had said. His cheeks reddened, and he walked briskly away, mumbling, "Happy Christmas, Bellatrix."
Author's Note: Oh, dear. What color is "Tripping All Over Yourself"? But at least they had a cute, romantic Christmas, no? And we got another little glimpse of Aeta. Sorry for the crazy rapid updates today. Thank you sooooo much to those who have reviewed despite the super fast update speed. Love to all. Up next… Occlumency lessons with the new crystal ball, as well as a spat with Andromeda that very nearly lands Bellatrix a coveted spot in Azkaban. Oh, my.