Trigger warning for sexual violence and use of magical torture in this chapter
"I... I..." Bellatrix slowly backed away. Rodolphus ran to stop her, but she was quicker. She ran out the door. Rodolphus pulled his trousers up and ran to find her.
"What have you and your wife been doing in there, m'boy?" Rodolphus heard an older wizard chortle, but he ignored him.
"Bella!" he whisper-shouted, running through the crowd of partying witches and wizards. "Bellatrix!"
Rodolphus spent the next few hours weaving in and out of Malfoy Manor. In the early hours of the morning, the party ended. "I can't find her!" Rodolphus hissed to Lucius as Lucius ushered him out the door.
"Party's over, Rod. I'll tell you if there's any sign of her."
"Prat," Rodolphus muttered. Defeated, he mounted his broom and flew away.
Bellatrix didn't come home the next day. Another day passed, and Rodolphus received a letter from Tom Gaunt.
"I invite you to my humble abode for elf wine," the letter read. "You will find a delightful surprise awaiting you there."
Bella! Rodolphus thought immediately. That dirty old codger... How dare he steal Rodolphus's wife?
But there was no sign of Bellatrix when Rodolphus stepped foot into Gaunt's cold and elegant house. It was filled with exotic souvenirs that Rodolphus figured that Gaunt would have collected throughout his extensive travels--shrunken heads, tribal staffs, ancient talismans and amulets, and even what looked like a mummy's sarcophagus. In the foyer of Gaunt's house, there was a chandelier. An extremely odd chandelier. It was made not out of regular crystals, but instead out of bright red rubies so that it shone like a bloody sun.
"Greetings, Rodolphus," said Tom Gaunt in that suave voice of his. He appeared wearing very finely tailored robes. "I have a surprise waiting for you."
Rodolphus's heart sped up. Bella...
"It's not Bellatrix."
"You can read my mind, sir?" said Rodolphus, swallowing.
"Have you heard of Legilimency?"
"Of course, but—"
"I am of course a very skilled wizard."
"What is the surprise, then, sir?"
Tom Gaunt grinned. "Follow me."
Rodolphus followed Gaunt into a spacious room with walls neatly covered with flickering torches, paintings of witches and wizards of the past, and the mounted heads of animals, most of which were magical. On the floor of the room was a passed-out woman wearing Muggle clothes.
"Bellatrix tells me you know the Cruciatius Curse?"
Rodolphus swallowed anxiously. He knew the curse, as his father had taught it to him for "self-defense"—and in case any "filthy Mudbloods" tried to outdo him. But he had only found use for it once, when an arrogant Mudblood named Creevey had questioned Rodolphus's skills as a wizard, and Rodolphus hadn't exactly enjoyed watching Creevey write in pain, or having to watch his father bribe the headmaster out of expelling Rodolphus using money that should've been spent on Rodolphus's fifteenth birthday party.
"I don't know how she remembers--"
"She remembers everything. Don't underestimate your wife. I'm not one of these newfangled witches and wizards trying to dismantle our social hierarchy, but I still believe that witches are valuable creatures. Your Bella has a unique mind found only in the most...delicious...of witches."
The saccharine way that Gaunt spoke of Bella made Rodolphus's stomach feel sick. She's my wife! he wanted to shout. Mine!
But because he was smart, he said nothing.
"Come follow me, Rodolphus."
Rodolphus didn't know what to do except obey. He let Tom Gaunt lead him right up to the Muggle's body.
"I'm sure you know what to do, my boy," Gaunt hisser.
Rodolphus swallowed his hesitation and reached for his wand. He pointed it at the sleeping Muggle woman and yelled, "Crucio!"
The woman instantly began to writhe. Her eyes opened from their resting position and widened, nearly popped out of her head. She screamed like a banshee; something about her ear-splitting shriek lit a fire in Rodolphus. He lowered himself next to the Muggle woman and reached inside his robes and pulled out his hard, pulsing member. He began to devour the Muggle's neck with his teeth, finding delight in the way she tasted like apples and sugar...
"You deviant!" cried Tom Gaunt.
Rodolphus could hear another voice, too. It was saying, "How could you, how could you?"
Rodolphus quickly covered himself.
"Bella!"