"Breathe."
"I can't." She was hyperventilating, she knew. Voldemort had her cradled close against him in their bed, both of them in pyjamas. Her Draught of Peace had worn off, and he was kissing her neck, trying to soothe her.
"Breathe."
"They're going to take me away," Bellatrix whispered frantically. "They're going to haul me off to Azkaban."
He said nothing to that. He just kissed her lips and murmured,
"We have to get dressed."
She did, wishing distantly that she'd been able to drum up the presence of mind to make love to him one more time. They'd managed to do it the night before, but she'd been crying as he'd moved atop her, and he'd only been half hard when he'd come with a subtle little moan. Now, as Bellatrix tried to button up her simple black velvet dress with shaking fingers, she whispered,
"I c-can't…"
He came over and did up the buttons for her, and he said simply,
"You have to take more Draught of Peace. I'm sorry, but you need a small dose. If you're panicking, it'll only make all of this worse for you."
"Right." Bellatrix nodded and accepted the two drops he administered her out of the little glass bottle. She felt an easy wash of calm come over her then, and she managed to slip on her shoes and pull her hair into a braid down her back. She scrubbed her teeth and clasped on her key necklace, and she held Voldemort's hand very tightly as he led her down to his office. As they walked, they passed Abraxas Malfoy, and they paused. Bellatrix felt her eyes water, but she was still heavily under the influence of the Draught of Peace as she told him,
"Mr Malfoy, I should like to thank you very much indeed for all of your generosity. Regardless of what they decide today, I am very grateful to you."
"I'll be there watching, Madam Black," Abraxas said, giving her a respectful bow, and Bellatrix nodded. The portraits on the walls whispered as Bellatrix and Voldemort passed. He was using his thumb to caress her hand, and when they walked into his office, he swept her into a dancing stance, very unexpectedly. Bellatrix stared up at him as he swayed just a little, and she realised his eyes were rimmed red with unshed tears.
"Your battle dancing is the most wondrous thing I have ever seen in my entire life," he told her, moving to music neither of them could hear. "You are the most beautiful witch in the entire world. I fell so hard into love with you that I think I got a concussion, but I don't care. I will wait for you if they take you. I will make love to you if they let me bring you home. Either way, I am your husband, and I adore you, Bellatrix. You remember that. Promise me."
"I promise, Master." She realised then that he thought they were going to haul her out of the Ministry, but the Draught of Peace wouldn't let her cry. He kissed her then, so deeply that she was lost in him, and she felt his tears on her cheeks. When at last he pulled away, he swiped at his eyes and murmured,
"Blancha. Come, Bella. We have to go."
The shackles they put on her wrists were so heavy that Bellatrix could hardly lift her hands. She was led slowly into the Wizengamot chamber by two Aurors who had their wands aimed at her, and when she looked up, she could see that the chamber was about half full. There were curious members of the public, reporters, friends and foes. And sitting on a bench along the lowest wall was Lord Voldemort, waiting to testify. Bellatrix had requested that she be permitted to hear his testimony, and Dumbledore had been magnanimous enough to grant that request. Now Bellatrix was brought to a stark-looking chair beside the judicial panel, and she looked up to see her parents and Narcisa up in the gallery. They looked profoundly upset. Where was Andromeda? Had she stayed at school?
"All rise."
Bellatrix stayed standing as the three judges filed in - a kindly-looking middle-aged woman, a sour-looking grey-haired man, and Albus Dumbledore. When the judges sat, Barty Crouch said sternly,
"This is the second day of testimony to determine the validity of the sentence given to Miss Bellatrix Black. This hearing is being held due to the filing of a formal complaint alleging that the house arrest was arranged unfairly and is an unsuitable punishment for Miss Black's use of an Unforgivable Curse. Today, we hear from Miss Black herself, along with her legal guardian. We now call Mr Tom Riddle, alias Lord Voldemort."
There were many whispers then as Voldemort rose from where he sat and calmly moved across the chamber, his robes moving elegantly around him.
"Do you swear to tell the truth in its entirety?" Crouch asked, and Voldemort bowed his head and lied,
"I do." Then he sat. Bellatrix stared at him, wanting to touch him, feeling cold iron around her wrists, wondering if she'd ever touch him again. That is my husband! she wanted to scream. I've married him!
"Mr Riddle," said Albus Dumbledore, "many here in this chamber know you far better these days as Lord Voldemort. Is that so?"
"It is a nickname," Voldemort said smoothly. "A nickname among friends."
"Ah." Dumbledore smirked a bit. "Is that all? Very well; we are not here to question your identity. In any case… you worked very hard with members of the Wizengamot to sway their opinion regarding Miss Black's sentencing. Originally, she was meant to have her wand permanently confiscated and destroyed, and she would serve several years in Azkaban upon coming of age. But you worked with many of our colleagues to come up with a different plan."
"It is true that I met with several members of the Wizengamot to help construct what I believed to be a more productive sentence for Miss Black," Voldemort confirmed, and Emmeline Hawkworth asked,
"Why? What stake did you have in her sentencing?"
Voldemort folded his hands. "Her father is an old friend. He and Abraxas Malfoy and I go all the way back to Hogwarts. Cygnus was distraught about his daughter living without magic and potentially serving in Azkaban. I knew that Bellatrix Black was a highly intelligent young witch with great potential, someone who had been bullied relentlessly and cruelly at school, potentially to the point of being pushed to use terrible magic."
"You assert that bullying at school caused her to use the Cruciatus Curse?" Barty Crouch leaned forward and looked sceptical, but Voldemort tipped his head up and said confidently,
"I think, Mr Crouch, that the level of bullying Miss Black endured would push most reasonable people to do awful things. I hoped that a more therapeutic approach - as compared with simple and brutish punishment in Azkaban - might benefit Miss Black so that she could re-enter society. And, as Mrs Stevens has testified, she has made enormous strides in terms of self-control."
"Hm. We have a written testimony from an absent witness asserting that, just a few weeks ago, Miss Black lost her temper at Malfoy Manor and jabbed her wand into her sister's throat, necessitating your Disarming her and scolding her firmly." Crouch held up a parchment.
"Andromeda," Bellatrix hissed softly. Voldemort flicked his eyes to her as if to silence her, and he shrugged.
"The important thing is that she did keep her composure, ultimately. We worked very diligently on self-control exercises following that incident, and I put a moratorium on family visits until Miss Black's skill with restraint improves."
"Our concern, Mr Riddle, is that perhaps Miss Black needs a more… traditional approach," said Emmeline Hawkworth. "A more disciplinary approach. Calls for rehabilitation in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement are all well and good for lesser crimes, like breeding dangerous animals, or theft of a broomstick. But for someone who exhibits a dramatic lack of self-discipline, as Bellatrix Black's school records show, and who has cast an Unforgivable Curse?"
"Do you suppose, Mr Riddle, that there is any chance this young woman could possibly become a productive member of society again?" asked Barty Crouch sharply, and Voldemort said in a quiet voice,
"I think that is a certainty, Mr Crouch, if she is permitted to complete her sentence at Malfoy Manor."
"I have a question for you, Tom," said Dumbledore, and Voldemort frowned deeply. Dumbledore shifted in his chair and said, "The terms of Miss Black's house arrest specify that, even after coming of age, there is to be no untoward relationship between the legal guardian and the ward."
Voldemort just blinked up at him. He was going to make Dumbledore be explicit. Dumbledore shrugged.
"Have you been intimate with her, Mr Riddle?"
There was a very heavy silence in the chamber, which went so quiet that Bellatrix's shackles scraped loudly when she moved a little. Finally, Voldemort said one single word.
"No."
"Very well, Mr Riddle. You may return to your seat." Barty Crouch gestured away and said firmly, "We call Miss Bellatrix Black."
Bellatrix looked up at her mother, at Narcissa, at her father, as the Aurors poked her arms with their wands and dragged her to the chair before the judicial panel. Then she stared at Voldemort, feeling her Draught of Peace starting to wear off. She couldn't cry, she knew. She imagined the vast glassy sea, and he nodded once at her.
"Do you swear to tell the truth in its entirety?" she heard Barty Crouch demand, and Bellatrix nodded.
"I do."
She sat, her shackles clattering as she did. She stared up, trying not to glare at Albus Dumbledore, and she cleared her throat carefully.
"Why did you torture Josephine Glass?" asked Barty Crouch, taking Bellatrix by surprise. She gulped and said simply,
"I lost my temper. She called me a bitch, and I lost my temper. I've explained this, sir, with all due respect."
"Yes. So you have." Barty Crouch scratched at his mustache a little. "Why did you almost attack your sister Andromeda a few weeks ago?"
Bellatrix shut her eyes and whispered, "I lost my temper."
"Sorry? Couldn't hear you." Crouch's voice was like a little dog barking, Bellatrix thought. She looked up and shrugged.
"I lost my temper, sir."
"Again? Goodness. Just like you lost your temper when your sliced open the cheek of another student, James McLaggen?"
"Yes, the same Jamie McLaggen who organised an entire school full of students booing my ballet performance. The same Jamie McLaggen who presented me with a 'certificate' saying I was most likely to -"
"Mr McLaggen is not on trial," Crouch said stiffly. Dumbledore said in a conciliatory voice,
"Let us move on to your house arrest, Miss Black. How do you typically spend your days?"
"I dance," Bellatrix said. "I find ballet to be very soothing to the mind and body. I work on skills I would be learning at Hogwarts. Charms, Transfiguration, Potions. History of Magic, even."
"You study these subjects with Mr Riddle?" Dumbledore asked, and Bellatrix nodded.
"Yes, sir. He has been very kind and attentive."
"I see you have a key round your neck," Dumbledore said. "Would you mind… may I see it? Perhaps if Miss Blaine could remove it."
"What?" Bellatrix flinched as the female Auror came up behind her and unlatched her brass key necklace. "What? Please, no."
"I assure you that I only wish to admire it," Dumbledore said with false kindness in his voice. "I will give it back momentarily."
He took the key, flicked his finger at the compass, and then looked up when it landed on Voldemort. He flicked it again, and Voldemort smirked. Dumbledore handed the necklace to the Auror, Miss Blaine, and said softly,
"Miss Blaine, would you give this to Mr Riddle for safekeeping? Thank you. Miss Black, wherever did you come by such a lovely trinket?"
Bellatrix felt sick now. She sighed. "It was my seventeenth birthday gift. From Mr Riddle."
"Do you often call him that? Mr Riddle? You see, I am a Legilimens, Miss Black, and though you are, I can tell, well skilled in Occlumency, I can see little flickers of another word. Master."
There were whispers then, and Bellatrix shook her head as Crouch pounded his gavel and waited for quiet in the chamber. Dumbledore gave Bellatrix a very serious look, and he said, as if warning her,
"Many of us remember very well a man called Gellert Grindelwald, Miss Black. A man who gathered followers through a variety of means. And sometimes, he would even tell certain people that he cared deeply for them. But certain people, Miss Black can never love. They can only manipulate."
There was a very heavy silence in the chamber then, and Bellatrix had a thick feeling inside her skull, the sensation that something awful was about to happen to her. She looked over to Voldemort and read silent panic in his eyes. She looked up to Dumbledore again and saw him say quietly to Emmeline Hawkworth and Barty Crouch,
"Are we in agreement, friends, on this matter?"
"I believe we are," Emmeline Hawkworth nodded. Crouch cleared his throat firmly, and his voice rang through the chamber then.
"Miss Bellatrix Black. You were found guilty in June of 1968 of use of an Unforgivable Curse as an underage witch. Your age at the time of the crime must be factored into any sentence, original or revised. But this judicial panel finds that your current house arrest situation was finagled through dishonest means and is far from the most appropriate option for you or for wizarding society at large."
"Do not do this, Dumbledore!" Voldemort said, flying to his feet.
"Sit down, Tom, and be silent," Dumbledore said, almost regretfully. Voldemort stayed standing, his fists clenched, and Bellatrix looked up to where her family sat in the bleachers. Her mother appeared to have collapsed against her father, and Narcissa was already sobbing. Crouch continued,
"This panel finds that you are in need of a far more traditional punishment - even if it is more lenient than that usually doled out to those who commit an Unforgivable. Your wand, which was confiscated when you arrived today, will be permanently destroyed. You are hereby sentenced to six months' time in Azkaban Prison, followed by five years' probation with no use of magic allowed. This sentence is final."
"Six months," Bellatrix whispered, feeling numb. She shut her eyes and tried to see the sky, so endless that you could fall forever. Instead she saw an empty hallway, a candle at the end. She saw an ocean with a candle floating above it. She opened her eyes and saw Albus Dumbledore staring down at her, looking like he felt sorry for her. Emmeline Hawkworth looked sorry, too. Well, if they were sorry, why were they doing this?
"You will pay for this, Dumbledore!" Voldemort was shouting. "There is no more Tom Riddle. Lord Voldemort will make you pay for this!"
"Remove this man!" Crouch yelled, banging his gavel. Bellatrix was hauled to her feet by Aurors, and she called over her shoulder,
"Master! Master, I love you!"
"Bella. I will wait for you. Be strong, Bellatrix. Find the blankness there. Stars upon stars, you hear me? You are strong. I will wait for you." Voldemort was being ushered out of the chamber by Yaxley and Abraxas Malfoy. His face was splotched red; he looked distraught.
Bellatrix tipped her chin up, feeling tears stream silently down her cheeks as the Aurors led her from the chaotic room in chains.
Author's Note: Oh, Dumbledore. What have you done? Now Bellatrix has to spend six months in Azkaban, and there's no more Mr. Nice Tom Riddle. How will these two spend the months apart, and what will Bellatrix and Voldemort be like at the end of these six months? Dumbledore may have been trying to stop Voldemort before he really got started, but he also may not realize just what kind of monsters he's created here.
This has actually been an emotional few chapters to write! I probably won't update until tomorrow so I can kind of take some time to just digest all of this. In the meantime, I'd be very grateful for your feedback.