I met Rodolphus in Slytherin during our third year. He was the only acquaintance I made in my own year that was actually worth keeping in touch with after we had taken our N.E.W.T.s. In our seventh year we had been introduced to the Dark Lord by the same contact, an older woman who had finished school two years ahead of us named Yasmine Deluth. We had both been romantically involved with Yasmine before she left school, Rodolphus and I constantly rivaling against one another for her affections, and when we realized how skillfully she had played us, how she had tuned us to her passion like violins, our only other recourse was to ally our forces against her. The result was a meeting with the Dark Lord.
Before Rodolphus and I had come into his service, he had accepted no children, as he called us, and with good reason. Children were inexperienced, underdeveloped, weak, but there was one thing he had overlooked in his rejection of youth- we were malleable as putty in his hands. He need only speak to capture our attention, and I can recall, in my adolescent awe of him, feeling that all of the wisdom and cunning I had devised in my seventeen years was no rival for his complete mastery of self. He exuded darkness the way others radiate with light and beauty, and often hid in the shadows to intensify the mystery of his intrigue. I stood in his wake that first night in absolute awe of his intensity. I wanted that darkness, that self-certainty and confidence. I wanted to rule and this amused him.
"Tell me, young Lucius," the way he spoke my name inspired service in me almost instantly. It was the way I had always hoped my father might speak to me, with admiration and appreciation. "Were I to accept you into my service, what limits are you willing to break within yourself to obtain my goals?"
I didn't hesitate," All of them, my lord."
"Would you kill for me?"
"Most definitely, my lord."
"Anyone I asked you to?"
"Without hesitation, my lord."
"Your own father?"
I peered into the shadow that was his visage and confidently replied, "Especially my own father."
I like to think that he was impressed with my dedication, but little did he know I'd always despised my own father. The man had no sense of family loyalty and had spent the better part of fifteen years humiliating my mother by sleeping with half her friends. In retrospect, perhaps this is why it is expected of me to dishonor my marriage vows with Narcissa, but alas, that disloyalty was my father's greatest failing, and the thing that made him less than worthy in my eyes. "Very good," the Dark Lord leaned into the flickering orange glow of torchlight that lit his chamber so that I might peer into his enigmatic, glowing eyes. "You need not kill him lest he stand in the way of our cause, but in my service you will kill for me."
His pause in speech had been left open so that I might praise him in reply. My intuition was on the mark, and I lifted my head with pride to announce, "I will do it gladly in your name."
We both received the Dark Mark that night, and because we were young, an experiment in loyalty, the Dark Lord paired me with Rodolphus and assigned us our first muggle execution in his name. Ever since that night we had been paired, and I have no shame in admitting we were his most adept team of exterminators. Rodolphus excelled in the art of administering abject torment, and I was the Dark Lord's Angel of Death. He called me thus because I took great joy in toying with my victims minds by offering them false mercy. I often engaged them intellectually, bartering with them the cost of their lives, and though I've heard them say that human life is priceless, you would be surprised how quickly a man will offer up his property, even the life of those around him to spare himself from suffering and death.
"How pathetic," I shook my head, looking down at the crumpled heap at our feet that had once been human life. "Imagine putting your own progeny up in bargain to spare yourself."
Rodolphus was tying the flowing, black locks of his hair at the nape of his neck with a ribbon, "'Tis why I feel no pity for them." He finished his trifle deed before kicking at the body of the government official who had been our target. "Climbing the political and social latter with so little regard for your own offspring. . . imagine it. It's absolutely disgusting."
"Indeed," I was unfolding the sleeves of my robes, the soft fabric caressing my wrists as it dropped into place. I smoothed away the wrinkles, and became contemplative, "What would you do, Rodolphus?"
"What do you mean?"
"If you were in this position."
"Bite your tongue," he sneered, his cold, green eyes biting at me in the semi-darkness. "I would never be in this position and I would rather not contemplate it."
"I was only speaking hypothetically, not even this specific situation, but say your life were at stake and someone offered to spare you if you sacrificed your own children," I asked.
He took out his wand and sent up the Morsemorde and together we disapparated from the scene of the crime. When we apparated again in the antechamber of the Dark Lord, he answered, "Assuming I find myself in such a position, which will never happen, I would most definitely not barter with the life of my offspring."
"Neither would I." I agreed.
"And speaking of offspring, I hear your little date with Narcissa Black went off without a hitch."
"Whatever are you talking about?" Had she been talking about me? It had been three days since I had taken her out and I had heard nothing from her. I had been inwardly debating whether or not I should return the handkerchief in person just so I could see her again, or send it by owl to maintain a certain aloof distance that suggested my interest in her was genuine but not dominating my thought. However, that was a lie. All I'd been able to think about was Narcissa.
"I hear she had a very nice time. She's been waiting to hear from you."
"Surely, you jest, Lestrange." I astounded.
"Would I toy with you, Malfoy?"
"You might," I replied. "If you thought you could get under my skin."
A wicked grin sliced across his face, "Well, in that case, you're correct, but in this matter, I'm absolutely serious."
"Really?" I felt my brow crease with curiosity. How on earth would he know whether or not Narcissa was waiting to hear from me?
"Indeed," he nodded. "I've been making myself comfortable at Black Mansion since last we spoke. I figured if you weren't interested in Bella, I might take her for a bit of a whirl myself."
"Good Gods, Rodolphus, she'll turn you inside out and leave you spinning on your head."
An appreciative chuckle shook him, "That's half the beauty of it." The chamber door rattled open and Yasmine came out, squinting in agony. We both ignored her, as we'd become prone to doing in the last three years, and surged forward to meet with our master and assure him that his latest execution had been expertly performed. "She's quite adept in the art of torment," he went on.
"Do tell," I would have expected no less from Bellatrix.
"What, and spoil the secret of my delicious reverie? Oh, no, Lucius. I'm having far too much fun with her to ruin it by letting on to the delight I've discovered in detail."
"I see, and what did Narcissa say?"
"Nothing to me," he shrugged, "but Bella said she's quite smitten with you. She's beside herself with worry that she was too standoffish with you on your date. Really, you should get in touch with her."
"Perhaps I will tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" he astounded.
"Yes, tomorrow."
"Oh, I wouldn't wait another night if I were you, Malfoy. At the very least send her an owl when you get home, asking her out again."
"Hmm," I pondered his suggestion and wondered how much of what he was saying was conjecture on the part of his new love interest. Bellatrix would have given anything to disrupt my relations with her sister after having rejected her so blatantly. It would have been her subtle way of exacting vengeance on me. "Well, I'm sure it can wait until tomorrow." Then we were in the presence of our master and could speak of it no more.
I wondered after we parted ways and I was home in my bedchamber, if Rodolphus had given any thought to introducing Bellatrix to the Dark Lord. Narcissa had spoken of the younger girl's interest in his cause, but I wasn't sure Rodolphus would have wanted one of his toys getting to close to the business side of him. On the other hand, were I to bring the girl to my master's attention, it could act two ways in my favor. On Bella's behalf, it would ease some of the tension my rejection was obviously causing so that I might more properly court her sister without intervention, and on the Dark Lord's behalf, he would come in contact with who I believed would become one of his most treasured assets. There was no doubt in my mind that Bellatrix was cunning and powerful enough to win her way into the Dark Lord's grace and favor, so instead of writing to Narcissa that night, I sat down and wrote to her sister, asking her to meet me for lunch so that we might discuss her interference in my relations with her sister. If she denied me, it would be her loss and I would have to work around her, but in no way was I going to have some snotty, sixteen year old girl making waves in my affairs.