I had been watching my sister play hard to get for years, but it'd never been a game I understood or cared to learn. I thought I was lucky to get any kind of attention, healthy or unhealthy, so I let Rodolphus take advantage of me. Of course, I regret nothing. Turning the tables on Rodolphus would prove to be worth the wait, and the Dark Lord's fascination with my individuality didn't hurt my case against his heart. While Rabastan and I wandered back through the Forbidden Forest that night, I kept thinking about that look, that longing I had seen in Rodolphus' eyes. He'd felt slighted by me. Slighted. . . by me. After all that time of me following him around like some lovesick pup, all I needed to do was step back and act as though I didn't care? It almost seemed too easy, but Saturday, while all the others had gone to Hogsmeade, Rabastan and I stayed back in Slytherin Common and conducted our first meeting. We would call ourselves the Knights of Walpurgis, and that small group of students would become the first to call me Daughter of Darkness, for I spoke to them like a direct representative of the Dark Lord, his most faithful disciple making his deals and bidding on his behalf.
Daughter of Darkness. . . I liked the way it sounded, but even more than how it sounded, I loved the way it felt. I knew power without having to lift a finger, a feeling that would guide me for the rest of my days and sustain me when all other hope was lost. . .
"What will we have to do?" Regulus Black, Bella's first cousin, sat on the arm of the sofa, his hands in his lap. Bella liked Regulus because he was young and malleable and knew exactly when to ask how high when she told him to jump. Three years younger than she was, Regulus had always looked up to both Bellatrix and Narcissa, and had followed the girls around Hogwarts like a lost shadow since he'd come to school. Unlike his brother Sirius, Regulus had been sorted into the right house and knew exactly where his loyalties lie.
"Preserve purity, of course," Bella answered, as though this should have been the obvious answer. "From time to time he will call upon you to do tasks in his name."
Bartemius Crouch lifted his head to study her, the tousled locks of his straw toned hair jostling to fall across his high brow. "What kind of tasks?" It was strange to her that Crouch was there, the only Non-Slytherin in the mix, but Rabastan swore that he was trustworthy, and more than just a little interested in their cause. Rabastan had invited the fifth year boy himself, and insisted that if the Sorting Hat had ever made a mistake, it had been with Barty Crouch Jr.
"Does it matter?" she challenged him, offering a menacing scowl to reinforce her authority.
"No," he didn't flinch, but Regulus did. "I was simply curious, is all."
"Well, when you meet with him, you can ask him yourself," she said. She hadn't even realized it, but she had taken up pacing before them, one fist palming the other behind her back as she walked. "I am simply his messenger," she added. "I come to you bearing opportunity. You can choose to take the next step, and come with me tonight to meet with him, or you can walk away today and forget you were ever here."
Ludo Bagman raised his hand and Rabastan reached over and slapped it out of the air, "This isn't Transfigurations you dunce!"
"Sorry," he shrugged his shoulders up around his crimson cheeks. Bellatrix had always intimidated Bagman, which was why she'd chosen him. He was someone she could naturally bully and push around. "I just. . . I wanted to know what happens if we walk away today and forget we were ever here."
She narrowed her treacherous gaze over him, "Are you thinking of walking away wittle scawedy baby?"
"Uh. . . no, I uh. . . well, I just wondered."
"Anyone who walks away from this today will find it difficult to forget they were ever here," she said. "I would advise you keep one eye over your shoulder at all times."
"Let me get this straight," Igor Karkaroff began. "You invite us here to ask us if we would be interested in joining the Dark Lord, and if we aren't interested, we have to watch our back to make sure you don't plunge a dagger into it?"
Bella grinned, "Precisely, Karkaroff. There was a reason you were all asked here. You have obviously demonstrated an interest in his divine work at some point in time. He has asked me to extend his hospitalities to you all, make you an offer you can't refuse."
"What kind of offer?" Crouch asked.
"You need only know that he is planning a major uprising," she said. "When he succeeds there will be positions that need to be filled, positions of power. It would be advisable for us to know where we stand with him now, so when his time of glory comes, our loyalty will place us favorably in his vision."
"His time of glory?" Severus had not taken his eyes of her since their meeting of the minds had begun. "You speak as though you've already seen this, as if it were carved in stone and not a mere probability."
"A mere probability?" she bitterly echoed his words. "Dear Severus, have you so little faith? It is a mighty vision he has seen. I have heard him speak it. Perhaps you need to hear it come directly from his lips, but I have not a grain of doubt that the Dark Lord will rise to power, especially with us in his ranks."
Evan Rosier spoke for the first time, initiating Bella's crooked grin. "When can we meet with him and hear him speak?"
"I can take you to him tonight," she said.
"Tell me, Black," Severus changed the tone again. "What is in it for you, bringing all of us to his service?"
She returned her gaze to him, the grin never wavering as she said, "Wouldn't you like to know?" No one else challenged her after that, and even Severus, who was both stubborn and hard-edged yielded to her supreme position in the Dark Lord's favor. "So, who will come?"
"Do we have a choice," Crouch asked.
She wasn't sure why, but Bella was starting to like him. His wit was only surpassed by the absolute unlikelihood of his interest in the Dark Work. "Of course, Crouch," she focused her attention on him fully. He was a scant young man who looked prone to nervousness. This much she guessed by the gnawed nails and cuticles decorating his delicate hands, but when she looked into his storm-grey eyes, there was definite power within them. "There's always a choice," she said. "Let's just hope you make the right one."
"Where do we meet?" Regulus leaned in enthusiastically.
"At the edge of the Forbidden Forest," Rabastan spoke for the first time since the meeting had started. Bella had actually been pleased that he'd kept quiet, for even though he was a clever executioner, his gift with words was sometimes lacking. She wanted them all to both fear and admire the Dark Lord, while coming into his folds with complete trust and devotion to his vision. "Be there at 11:00 sharp," he added.
"Yes," Bella drawled. "Anyone who does not show up tonight, remember this," she held them suspended with curiosity for nearly a full minute before she finished them of with, "we've got your names, and as the Dark Lord rewards generously those who serve him well, he will not hesitate to punish those who defy him. Are there any questions?"
They all had questions, but none dared to ask, and she was pleased. Her master would be pleased with them. They were a loyal group who she believed would serve him well, and thanks to them, she crawled even higher toward her newfound goal of secondary supremacy—secondary only to the Dark Lord.
Bella never made it to the Hog's Head Inn that afternoon. She left Rodolphus waiting. This only served to madden him in a way she'd never have guessed. That night at dinner an owl swept in over Slytherin table in the Great Hall, dropping a stunning bouquet mixed with lavender and black orchids.
Narcissa reached for them automatically, complaining that she didn't care for orchids as much as she did roses and the flowers she'd been named for, the Bianci Narcissi. As far as she was concerned, orchids were rather dark and dramatic as far as flowers went, and then she smiled thoughtfully, "Why, were there ever a flower that reminded me of you, Bella, it's an orchid. They have a dangerous sort of beauty. Admirable, but so not me."
"A bit odd of Lucius to send them," Bella thought aloud. "Doesn't he usually send you what you like?"
"Indeed he does," Narcissa replied, reaching for the card that had come attached. She peeled off the seal and took out the card, a blush coloring her pale cheeks. "Oh my goodness," she said. "I feel quite a fool."
"Why?" Bella reached for the card curiously. "What's wrong?"
Narcissa let her read the card:
My Beautiful Bella,
I waited for you all day and you never came.
I'll die if we can't be alone together soon. I
miss you.
With Love,
Rodolphus
Suddenly she understood her sister's blushing foolishness, and a warm feeling resonated in her own complexion. Could it really have been as easy as that? Ignore him and play aloof to win him? Was that how it was done? He had signed that little card With Love. . . surely, she thought, he had never done anything for her with love.
Bella was on cloud nine, and rising higher with every moment.