Ashington, Northumberland
Bellatrix gazed up at the plain house, even simpler than the one Lord Voldemort lived in. The red brick was slightly crumbling, and the white paint on the front door was chipped. The door led directly out to the walk, and Bellatrix stood near enough to Number Thirteen that she could tell it had no protective wards about it. Of course it didn't; Ted Tonks wasn't old enough to cast them him for his Muggle family.
Bellatrix smirked and aimed her wand at the front door.
"Alohomora," she whispered, and the door clicked. She turned the knob and pushed the door open, stepping inside as silently as a cat. She left the door open to avoid making more noise, and then she headed for the carpeted stairs. She padded up them, walking on her toes. She hit a squeaky step and pursed her lips, adjusting her grip on her wand. A dog appeared at the top of the stairs all of a sudden, and Bellatrix could see the rap scrabble mutt open its mouth to bark. She jabbed her wand forward and hissed,
"Stupefy!"
The dog flew backward with a flash of blue light, landing unconscious on the ground. Bellatrix dashed up to the top of the stairs then, and she encountered three bedrooms. She suddenly realised that she wasn't sure what Ted Tonks looked like, and then a thought occurred to her - she'd kill them all.
She went running into one bedroom, and a teenager-sized figure grumbled and rolled in a small bed. Bellatrix felt her eyes go wide and her heart race as she aimed her wand at the figure and said with all the confidence she'd never known herself to possess,
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
There was a blinding flash of jade green light, and the figure in the bed jolted and then went very still. Bellatrix considered that she had just committed murder, and she laughed just a little. Then her laugh grew and grew until she was cackling.
"Davey?" called a voice, and Bellatrix whirled around. She snarled and walked back out onto the first floor landing. A Muggle woman in a nightgown was coming out of a bedroom, and she demanded,
"Who the blazes are you?"
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Bellatrix yelled. A man appeared in the bedroom door and screamed,
"Susan!"
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Bellatrix was breathless now, and when she shut her eyes for a moment, all she could see was the green light of her Killing Curses blazing in the air. She sighed and smiled, and then she heard a voice crackle,
"Stupefy!"
Bellatrix whirled and ducked, and the spell intended for her smacked into the wall behind her. She laughed maliciously at the wand-wielding Ted Tonks, who had come onto the dark landing and was staring right at Bellatrix with fear in his wide eyes. Bellatrix giggled,
"Expelliarmus."
Ted's wand came soaring through the air, flipping end over end until Bellatrix caught it in one hand. She used both hands to snap it, and she tossed the pieces to the ground. Ted made a move toward the stairs, but just as he approached them, Bellatrix pointed her wand at her back and said firmly,
"And you'll never see Andromeda again, Mr Tonks. Avada Kedavra."
There was another telltale blinding green light, and then Ted went tumbling down the stairs. He lay at the bottom in an ungraceful heap. Bellatrix took a shaking breath to steady herself, her wand still aimed ahead of her. She finally lowered her wand and surveyed the damage. Ted Tonks was dead at the bottom of the stairs. His brother was dead in his bed. His parents were dead on the floor near their bedroom. And the dog was Stunned.
One by one, Bellatrix Vanished the bodies. She left their beds unmade, and she Obliviated the dog. She wasn't very skilled at wiping animal memories, so she figured the dog would probably never walk straight again. But the dog was truly innocent, unlike the Muggles and the Mudblood she'd murdered. The poor little creature didn't deserve death the way the Tonkses had.
She made her way down the stairs and Scoured her footprints behind her as she went. She Vanished Ted Tonks' body and then Scoured her footprints and her fingerprints from the doorway. Then she whirled hard to her right and Disapparated, and when she came to in her bedroom, she burrowed her face in the pillows on her bed and laughed uproariously, her wicked amusement muted by the fabric.
"Bellatrix, Jessamyn will be here in five minutes to take over for you. I want you to finish bandaging Mr Herringbone's burns before you leave."
"Yes, Madam Carte," Bellatrix said. She nodded and made her way to Bed Three, where Mr Herringbone was lying on his back and had his eyes shut. His arms were already bandaged; he'd been badly burned when his cauldron had exploded.
"Mr Herringbone," called Bellatrix, and the wizened old man opened his eyes to look at Bellatrix.
"Here to torture me by changing my dressings?"
"Well, I'll try not to torture you," Bellatrix laughed softly. She went into the cupboard beside Mr Herringbone's bed and pulled out Burn Salve and bandages and clips. She spent five minutes unwrapping the bandages on his arms, Scouring the burn tissue, gently daubing on Burn Salve, and re-wrapping the wounds. She clipped the bandages shut and murmured,
"There we are, Mr Herringbone, all better."
"Bellatrix, I'm here," said Jessamyn from behind Bellatrix. She nodded and said,
"Can I get you anything else, Mr Herringbone?"
"No. Thank you."
Bellatrix turned around and smoothed her apron. She smiled a little at Jessamyn and said, "He's all yours. Freshly bandaged. Surgical patient is still sleeping."
"Got it. Thanks." Jessamyn gave Bellatrix a broad grin. "See you."
"See you." Bellatrix took the lift downstairs and Disapparated from the lobby of St Mungo's. When she came to, she was at 21 Bassett Gardens, Isleworth, and she took down the wards around the outside of the house. She walked up to the front door and knocked a few times, and a moment later, the door opened. It happened so quickly that Bellatrix suspected the inhabitant inside had been waiting for her.
"Hello," she said quietly, "Master."
"Bella." He stepped back from the door, and she followed him into the house. He shut the door behind her and asked, "Is it done?"
"Mr and Mrs Tonks and both of their sons are dead, My Lord," Bellatrix affirmed. His dark eyes flashed.
"You killed the whole family."
"Of course; the others would have woken, and -"
He cut her off by snatching at her jaw and crushing his mouth down onto hers. She moaned helplessly at the feel of his lips on hers, and she opened up to him. She backed up a few steps until he had her pressed against the wall in the corridor. She flattened her palms and pressed them to the ugly wallpaper, and then his lips moved to her ear and he hissed,
"Kayanosss sssiateth nossssoss."
"What?" Bellatrix breathlessly tipped her head back and let her eyes flutter shut. Then she remembered something her father had told her about Tom Riddle. He was a Parselmouth - he could talk to snakes. Was this Parseltongue coming out of him in excitement, Bellatrix wondered? She let him kiss her square on the mouth again, and when he pulled away a little, she met his eyes and reached up to stroke at his close-cropped beard.
"And you, Master?" she hummed. His eyes glittered like black diamonds then, and he whispered,
"Today a bus filled with Muggles made too sharp a right turn and tipped. In the crash, the bus started on fire. Twenty-two perished."
"Your work," Bellatrix murmured. "Your beautiful work, My Lord."
He put one hand to her waist and used the other to hold her cheek. "Our work," he said, "is very important. I mean to contact all my old friends with newspaper coverage of the bus and of the disappearance of the Tonkses. People will get the hint that I'm responsible. I won't, of course, confess to anything; I'm not entirely certain who can still be trusted. But the right ones will come running back to me. And it's largely thanks to you, Bella."
"I've already come running to you, Master," she told him, and he bowed down until their foreheads touched.
"You," he said gently, "are my first, best acolyte. In school, the others followed me like a dog follows its owner, but now they'll be useful. They'll fight for me. Still, I know you'll fight harder than the others put together. You, Bellatrix Black, are my most treasured weapon. Beautiful, intelligent, wicked, obedient creature that you are."
He kissed her again, more slowly this time, his hands coursing around her body and his breath mingling with hers. For a long time, they just stood there kissing, until at last he pulled away and Bellatrix's lips felt bruised. She blinked slowly, feeling dizzy, and he tucked a stray curl behind her ear.
"Go home," he told her. "We don't want your sister to suspect anything."
"Yes, Master," Bellatrix said, and she pulled back a few steps and Disapparated.