"What?"
It had taken him what seemed like an eternity to get the question out. Had he heard her correctly? Rodolphus Lestrange….dead?
"You heard me." Bellatrix snapped.
Severus looked up and down, taking her in. Upon closer inspection, she looked even worse than her brother-in-law. Bellatrix was…demolished. She didn't look as if she'd been crying like Rabastan did.
No. Bellatrix looked like she was desperately trying to hold it all in. She hadn't cried a single tear. She was far too proud. Far too concerned with not looking like the hopeless widow.
The fact that she hadn't cried and needed to only seemed to make the matter worse.
Her demeanor and posture were colder than ever.
Bellatrix noticed that Snape was watching her and tilted her head so that her curtain of long, black hair masked her face.
Severus slowly looked away. "Rabastan…I…how?" He couldn't construct a coherent thought. Lestrange was dead? So that was what was wrong with the both of them, but how did Lestrange's death concern him?
"Rabastan, I'm sorry," Severus was trying to tread lightly on this subject. "But how does this concern me so much that you and Bellatrix had to show up at my house in the early hours of the morning?"
Rabastan looked around the room and Severus could tell that he didn't want to elaborate.
"Rabastan-"
But the younger Lestrange interrupted him. "Maybe the boy shouldn't hear this…"
Lestrange's eyes were glued to something behind Severus. He turned around to see Draco, momentarily forgotten.
"We'll leave him in here then." He answered with a short nod to Draco. "My study should suffice." Snape crossed the room, heading through a door and down a dark hall. He could hear the other two following him and began to think silently to himself. Just what did Rodolphus' death have to do with him and why couldn't Rabastan and Bellatrix wait till the sun was up for this? Severus had been through enough tonight, he didn't need any more problems.
The door to his study was creaky, squealing loudly as it was opened. Severus led them through the door, closing and locking it behind him.
"Wormtail…" He muttered at Rabastan's questionable expression. "Taken a rather nasty habit of listening around keyholes." Severus crossed the room, leaning against an antique desk that sat in front of a shelf of books. He watched the two of them, waiting for one to speak. He still failed to understand how this concerned him in the least.
Rabastan looked around, fidgeting for several minutes. He seemed unsure on what to say. Severus' eyes wandered to Bellatrix. She, on the other hand, was not looking at the ground, but was staring straight at Snape, himself. It startled him somewhat. How could she be so calm? Her husband had just died. Her lover. Her friend. Dead.
"Out with it Rabastan. I don't have all night." Snape spoke, but his eyes never left Bellatrix.
To his left he heard Rabastan draw a deep breath, and then- "As we've already told you, Rodolphus is….dead." There was a choke in his voice and a slight pause before he went on. "This, therefore, leaves Bellatrix a widow." He paused again. Severus heard movement from Bellatrix and looked up to see her watching her brother-in-law intently.
Severus could not see a light to the end of this tunnel. He looked over at Rabastan, who had taken up looking at the floor and was clearly holding back tears. He studied Lestrange for a moment. Where in hell was he heading with this?
Bellatrix's voice broke the strained silence. "Why are we here, Rabastan?" Her voice was threatening and accusing.
Severus rounded on her, shocked. She had no idea why they were here? How had Rabastan managed to get Bellatrix to his house without telling her why they were calling on him?
The earlier looked up at her, biting his lip. "Er….Bella, please don't overreact, but--"Severus looked over at Bellatrix; she looked like a cauldron about to boil over.
"Why are we here, Rabastan?" She cut across him, teeth gritted.
"To….ah…" He wasn't having much luck. The look that Bellatrix was giving him was murderous and the fact that she was advancing on him as if she'd like to choke the life from him wasn't helping matters.
"Why. Are. We. Here?" She nearly hissed.
"Oh! Bellatrix. After they pronounced Rodolphus…dead at--well. The Dark Lord thought it best that you be placed under the care of someone--Severus….to--to watch you. And he told me to escort you and thought it best that you were left in the dark so you couldn't fight or anything until you were in the house." Rabastan had spilled all.
"WHAT!" Severus and Bellatrix screamed at the same time.
"She can't stay here. I'm not a babysitter. I already have Wormtail on my back and in my business. What's wrong with the Malfoy Manor?" Snape demanded.
Bellatrix had been about to speak when he'd interrupted her. "I don't want to stay here, in any case. Under your roof. Under your eye." She rounded on Rabastan, whom she was only a foot from. "I'm not helpless. I don't need looking after."
"Bella--" He began.
"BELLATRIX!" She shouted over Rabastan, who took a step back from her.
"Bellatrix. The Dark Lord said that you were to stay with Severus. That he trusts Severus with you." His gaze was now on Snape.
"I'm not some…item that you can pass around. Rodolphus Lestrange didn't make me…just because he's--that doesn't mean that I'm an incompetent moron. I'm not staying here. I don't need Snape to watch over me as if I were a child. I'm not staying."
Severus couldn't help but notice that she hadn't said that her husband was dead. She'd paused and restructured what she'd been screaming in order to tip-toe around the truth. Bellatrix had never been one to deal with the truth. Lies were easier for her. Lies didn't hurt.
"To hell if you don't need me.." He muttered.
"What?" Bellatrix demanded, her cold eyes turning on him.
"Nothing. Nothing…"
Snape could well remember a time when she had 'needed' him. When they'd been friends, and after they'd crossed that line. He remembered, alright.
Rabastan emitted an uncomfortable cough.
"I don't want her here." Severus had pushed away from his desk. "I'm not going to play keeper to someone who would murder me in my sleep." He wouldn't put it past the little bitch. He didn't want that…that vulture staying in his house. "Send her to her sister's." He idly waved his hand at the door, wishing they were both gone.
"As I've already stated--"
"You want me to murder you, Severus? That can gladly be arranged." Bellatrix interrupted. She was glaring daggers at him. She'd been hoodwinked into this and didn't like the idea that someone thought she wouldn't be well off enough to be on her own.
Severus advanced on her, only stopping when he was directly in front of her. "Just because we all seem to think you're an….incompetent moron…there's no need to get your knickers in a bundle." He sneered at her, daring Bellatrix to draw her wand.
He could see her right arm twitch out of the corner of his eye. They were so close to each other, hissing in dangerous tones.
"I guess I'll have to get yours in a bundle then."
"Going to stick your hand down my pants….again?" Severus watched her eyes narrow, mouth draw into a tight line.
"No. I was thinking more along the lines of torturing--"
He cut her off. "Go ahead--"
"AS I'VE ALREADY STATED!" Rabastan screamed, before Bellatrix could reply. "The Dark Lord stated that you, Severus, were to have Bellatrix stay with you. Narcissa isn't any match for Bellatrix, anyone could tell you that." It was true. Narcissa didn't stand a chance against her older sister in a duel. "His orders were to place her in your hands and for you to keep her." Rabastan plowed on through his speech, refusing to stop for anyone. Bellatrix's growls of protests were overlooked.
"You wouldn't want to go back on His orders, would you?" He was looking Snape dead in the eye.
Severus hated Rabastan.
He was right. He had no choice but to obey the Dark Lord and do as he commanded. Severus, still standing in front of Bellatrix, looked up at her. She liked the idea no better than he. They hadn't spoken properly since they had shortly gotten out of Hogwarts, and even then the circumstances had been somewhat lurid.
Having received his unclear orders, Severus saw no way out of this.
"Fine. How long shall she be here?" He chose to ignore Bellatrix for now.
"He didn't say. For a while, I suppose."
Severus sighed.
Stuck with Bellatrix for 'a while.'
He didn't want her here. Didn't want to have to live in the same house with her. Why couldn't the Dark Lord's instructions be more clear? Clarity. Severus, wished for once he could have clarity…in anything.
He heard footsteps and looked up. Rabastan had started to the door, carefully walking out of reach from Bellatrix.
"Rabastan?" Severus called out. "Take Draco home, will you? You seem to have no problem in delivering people. Tell Narcissa that everything is alright."
Rabastan nodded, reaching out for the handle.
"Rabastan." Severus had only just thought of something.
"Yes, Severus?" He sounded irritated.
Snape went on, regardless. "What happens if she tires to apparate out?"
"Oh. That." Said Rabastan. "A charm's been placed on the house. She'll be torn to pieces."