Sorry guys, but I've only got one more chapter before I've posted everything that I wrote on Tuesday morning, so after that it's prolly gonna be a few days before the next update. Don't hold me to that though, I have a break tomorrow that's several hours long, so I might be able to crank something out! I'm really sorry,I know how much it sucks when a story doesn't get updated as often as you'd like. Merci beaucoup pour les...reviews. :)

Chapter Seven

I sat in Transfiguration, staring absently at the table in front of me.

"Miss Black! Kindly put aside your day dreams and pay attention!" Professor McGonagall scolded from the front of the room. I nodded clumsily and lifted my gaze back to where she stood. She continued on with the lesson, and I tried to pay attention despite my boredom.

Three weeks had passed since I had joined the Death Eaters. I was still supposed to marry Rodolphus, and Severus still treated me much the same as before...except now he avoided me at almost all costs. He wouldn't even talk to me. I sighed heavily and at the end of class moved quickly to the common room. I saw Severus sitting alone on a couch, and I walked over to him. He glanced up briefly before returning to his potions book.

"Severus," I said quietly, sitting beside him. He looked at me, and I smiled gently.

"Bella, I'm a touch preoccupied at the moment, could you get to the point quickly?" He snapped. The door opened and Narcissa walked in. I watched his eyes move immediately to my sister...and stay there.

Rage boiled into me. I stared at him for a moment before I exploded in anger.

"She isn't interested in you!" I shouted in a tone that was almost hysterical. "She wants Lucius! Everyone seems to understand that except you. Don't you understand? I love you, Severus." I placed my hands on either side of his face and kissed him harshly.

"Bellatrix, I know exactly what you joined the Death Eaters for, and I'm not going to take anyone's left overs, not even my master's." Severus sneered, shoving me away from him.

"What?" I asked stupidly.

"Don't try to toy with me, Bellatrix," he snarled.

"Narcissa is never going to love you!" I shouted after him, my eyes a little wild.

I stomped up to my room to find Narcissa sitting on my bed, waiting for me. She looked up as I walked in. Her face was very grave, and shelooked as if she were upset about something. She silently as I put things away, angrily and with little regard for whether I was causing them damage or not. Finally, I couldn't stand her sitting there silently anymore.

"What do you want?" I snapped, crossing my arms and staring at her.

"Bella, you should be nicer to Severus," she said quietly. "It is true that I will never love him, but you are so cruel about it. Is that really necessary?"

"You are so spineless," I spat, staring at her in disbelief. "Why do you blatantly disregard the fact that he can't seem to take subtle hints? I thought that you were my sister and you were on my side."

"Oh Bella," she said quietly, taking one of my hands in hers. "I am on your side, I always am. I'm sorry, let's forget that I even mentioned Severus, all right?" she was practically sniveling at my feet. I stared at her in mild disgust.

"Fine, we'll forget about it. Don't worry, I forgive you. Was there anything else you wanted to speak with me about?" I asked coldly.

"Bella, where did you go on that Saturday three weeks ago?" she asked me with a perfectly expressionless face. I stared at her for a moment and began to laugh.

"What makes you think that I went anywhere, Cissy?" I replied evasively. She stared at me for a moment and sighed.

"Because I came down to speak with you and you were gone. Where did you go, Bella?" she pressed.

"I didn't go anywhere," I snapped dangerously.

"What did they do to you there?" she whispered in curiosity. "You've been so different. I don't understand what happened to you." She stood and walked out, closing my door carefully behind her.

It wasn't really that I didn't want to tell Narcissa, it was the fact that I couldn't tell her. I couldn't let her become a part of this group. I couldn't let her be used as I was that first night. I had to try to protect Narcissa, because despite the fact that she was what seemed to keep Severus from me, she was my sister.

I sat in that room for several hours, trying to think through the circumstances that had led to my current situation. I stared at the ceiling, trying to pinpoint when exactly I had fallen into such a desperate state. Why had I allowed this to happen?

My steps were slow and almost hindered as I walked to dinner that evening. I walked into the Great Hall and moved to sit beside McNair and Lucius. Narcissa was sitting across the table, flirting outrageously and I almost wanted to smack her. Lucius smiled at me reassuringly, and shifted to give me a little more room. I stared at the plate in front of me, pushing the food around irritably.

"Hey, hey Bella!" Shouted someone from across the hall. I turned just in time to receive a face full of rice pudding.

It was too much. I shrieked in anger, and wiped off my face, wheeling and rising to my feet shouting obscenities at Sirius as Lucius grabbed me around the waist. Sirius looked at me gleefully, laughing and dancing about tauntingly. I managed to break free of Lucius finally.

"Densuageo!" I screamed, a bolt of light hitting Sirius squarely in the face. His teeth immediately began to expand at an alarming rate.

"Tarantallegra!" He shouted back just before his teeth grew too much to permit him to speak.. He was led from the Great Hall at that point and Professors Slughorn and McGonagall came up to speak with me very loudly and very angrily.

I stood silently as I received lectures from both professors. My silence finally proved to be too much for either professor to handle, and I was marched out of the Great Hall and to the Head master's office, where Professor Dumbledore was presumably going to get more information out of me. My face remained impassive as I found myself standing before the headmaster's desk.

"Professors, would you mind leaving Miss Black and I alone for a few moments?" The headmaster requested, gazing over the tops of his spectacles at the other two professors.

Muttering under her breath, Professor McGonagall swept from the room, looking pointedly at Professor Slughorn, who followed reluctantly.

"Is there anything you want to tell me about the recent changes in your personality, Miss Black?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes meeting mine.

"No," I replied in a cold and slightly sullen tone. He stared at me for a few moments, clearly expecting something more. I lifted one of my eyebrows in challenge and he sighed heavily.

"You may return to your common room then," he said, gesturing to the door. "House points will be taken, and you will receive detention. Professor Slughorn will give you the time and place."

I turned and strode purposefully from the office, my fists clenched. They thought that I would crumple under the pressure of that old man? They thought that he was any kind of a match for me and those I served and worked with?

Lucius met me halfway to the common room with a secretive smile playing around his lips. I looked at him, knowing full well that he had something he felt was of the utmost importance to tell me. He looked so damn smug that I had to fight a sudden almost irresistible urge to claw that look off of his face. My eyes must have revealed some of what I was feeling, because he glanced up and down the corridor before leaning close to whisper in my ear.

"Ah, darling Bella, our master wants to see you, Rodolphus, Severus, and myself immediately."