"His whole family has been murdered!" Andromeda shrieked and stamped her foot in the parlour. She clenched her fists together and brought them up to her face, letting out a mournful cry as she sobbed harder than ever. "Ted! My Ted."
"You don't know that they've been murdered," Narcissa said. "Perhaps they've gone on holiday."
"You stupid girl!" Andromeda yelled. "Their beds weren't made. They left their dog unattended. They didn't go on holiday. You little fool!"
"There's no need to be cruel to your sister," said Druella tightly. "If something's happened to the boy, there's every possibility that there were other things at play. For all you know, they owed someone money, and -"
"And so they vanished?" Andromeda scoffed loudly. She pulled out her handkerchief and blew her nose into it. "They just disappeared?"
"Have you seen the Daily Prophet?" Cygnus Black came marching into the parlour. "There was a bus full of Muggles that started on fire, and the Ministry suspects -"
"How could I possibly care about a bus when my Ted is gone?" Andromeda shrieked. Bellatrix glanced at the clock and said,
"I'm working the late shift tonight. I have to go get dressed and ready."
"I'm going to Beatrice's house!" Andromeda yelled. "At least Beatrice will understand why I'm so upset that my Ted has gone missing. None of you care! You're all awful!"
She stamped out towards the foyer of the house, and Bellatrix heard the door slam shut. Once Andromeda had gone, Cygnus looked seriously at Bellatrix and held up his copy of the Daily Prophet.
"Bellatrix, they're saying that the bus accident was… no accident. In fact, the Ministry is saying that Muggles witnessed a well-dressed man holding out a wand and casting spells. You don't suppose… you don't think it was…"
"How would I know?" Bellatrix asked lightly. She fingered her skirts and shrugged. "It isn't as though I -"
"You know him well," Druella interjected. She stared at her husband for a moment and then asked softly, "Cygnus, you think Tom Riddle is behind all of this? The Mudbloods disappearing? The bus accident?"
"He's capable of everything," Bellatrix sniffed, jutting out her chin. "But the Ministry will never prove anything."
"Perhaps," Cygnus said in a low, fearful sort of voice, "We ought to stay in touch with him better, Druella. After all, we were all friends in school."
"I wouldn't call it friendship," Druella said, and her eyes flashed. "He steered you boys like a ship; you did his bidding."
"But he's got aspirations," Cygnus said, "and it would behoove us to be on the right side once those aspirations take flight."
"I don't doubt for a moment that Tom Riddle -"
"Lord Voldemort," Bellatrix corrected, and her mother's face went red. She nodded.
"I don't doubt that Lord Voldemort could do these things. What else has he got planned?"
"I think you ought to let him explain to you what he's got planned for wizarding Britain," Bellatrix said. "Have him over for dinner and let him tell you all about it. Will you?"
"I wouldn't know where to send an owl to invite him," Druella fretted, and Bellatrix smirked.
"21 Bassett Gardens, Isleworth."
Cygnus' eyebrows furrowed deeply. "How do you know that?"
Bellatrix lowered her gaze and muttered, "As you say, I know him well."
"Well, then, perhaps there is no need for an owl," said Druella. "Perhaps you could invite him yourself, Bellatrix."
"I'd be happy to," Bellatrix nodded. "Now, I really must get dressed and go to work."
She made her way out of the sitting room and towards the stairs, and as she started to climb, her mother called after her,
"Bellatrix, stay safe."
Bellatrix gazed at her mother, who gave her a sombre sort of look. She was afraid, Bellatrix realised. She and Cygnus were both terribly afraid of Lord Voldemort. They knew that he was behind these attacks. They'd known him when he'd been the leader of the gang at Hogwarts. They knew what he was capable of doing, and they knew that he was ambitious beyond measure. They wanted back into his inner circle; they wanted to be a part of whatever movement he formed. But they were afraid.
So Bellatrix just smiled at her mother and said lightly, "Don't worry, Mum. All's well."
"Did you hear?" asked Jessamyn at the end of Bellatrix's shift. Bellatrix pulled away from the patient she'd been attending to, a man who had overdosed on Invigoration Draught and was tachycardic with elevated blood pressure.
"Jessamyn will be right with you, Mr Darling," said Bellatrix, and Jessamyn asked furtively,
"He's stable?"
"He's fine," Bellatrix nodded. "He's been given Draught of Peace to counteract the overdose; his vitals have normalised. What were you on about?"
"The Daily Prophet!" Jessamyn exclaimed. "A family of Muggles and their Muggle-born son, called Ted Tonks, have disappeared! It's suspected they've been murdered. And then there's the bus! A wizard was seen casting spells upon it."
"Did the newspapers say what the wizard looked like?" Bellatrix asked, and Jessamyn frowned.
"It said… erm… that he was a red-haired wizard with a thin mustache and glasses. Why?"
"Just thinking who would have done such a thing," Bellatrix said lightly, shrugging. She thought then that Voldemort had been quite clever, Transfiguring his features before he'd attacked the bus. She felt a sudden urge to be near him, to touch him, to kiss him.
"You can go," Jessamyn said. Bellatrix looked at the clock and realised it was six o'clock in the morning. She couldn't go to his house right now, could she?
There was only one way to find out how angry he'd be to see her this early.
Bellatrix Disapparated from the lobby of St Mungo's and came to outside 21 Bassett Gardens. She sighed as she walked up to his wards. She felt a strange thud, and then she realised that she'd passed through the protective enchantments without any trouble. Had he used powerful magic to grant her easy entry? She had asked him to be her master; he had called her his first acolyte. Had he made it easier for her to come see him? She smiled at that thought, her stomach fluttering. She walked up to the door, straightening the woolen skirts of her Mediwitch uniform, and she knocked firmly on the door.
The grey light of a cloudy dawn surrounded her, and she looked around to see that there was no action on the street. Everyone, it seemed, was still sleeping. A Muggle automobile puttered by slowly; someone was probably on their way to an early clock-in.
Suddenly the door to Number 21 opened, and Bellatrix whirled back to see Voldemort standing before her, bleary-eyed and scruffy. His thinning hair was mussed from sleep, and he wore black flannel pyjamas. He stared at Bellatrix, his eyes going up and down her form.
"Erm… good morning, Master," Bellatrix said, and Voldemort's eyes flashed wildly. He huffed a breath and said softly,
"I confess I was not expecting you at this hour. You'll forgive my appearance."
She smirked a little, for she found him ridiculously attractive standing before her in pyjamas, with sleep all over him. She sighed and asked,
"Would you like to come over for dinner, Master?"
"Yes. But first, I'd like for you to come inside." He raised his eyebrows, and Bellatrix nervously followed him into the house. He shut the door behind her and asked lightly, "Breakfast?"
"Erm… I ate a few hours ago at the hospital, My Lord. Thank you."
"So you're rejecting my eggs-on-toast, then?" He curled up half his mouth as he glanced over his shoulder on his way to the kitchen. Bellatrix scoffed and folded her hands as she followed him.
"One egg on one piece of toast wouldn't go amiss, Master."
"How did your sister Andromeda take to the news of the Tonks boy's disappearance?"
"She screamed and ran away from the house, My Lord," Bellatrix said. "She went to a Mudblood friend's house. I don't know when she'll be back. She's very upset. But my parents suspect you're behind both the bus and the Mudbloods."
"Do they?" Voldemort asked lightly. He put a frying pan on his stove and opened a cupboard, pulling out a dozen eggs. He tossed them toward the frying pan, and Bellatrix watched in wonder as the eggs stopped soaring, cracked over the pan, and the shells Vanished. Voldemort extended his hand, and the eggs started sizzling at once. He opened a paper package of bread and pulled out a few slices, then set them on two plates and waved his hand over them. Bellatrix watched them darken, as if they were toasting on command. That was exactly what was happening, she realised. His wandless magic was so powerful that he could whip up food like it was nothing at all. Bellatrix was breathless as Voldemort wandlessly Summoned pumpkin juice and poured it into two glasses. He finally looked a little tired, and he muttered,
"Wand's upstairs. I knew it was you, or I'd have brought it down."
"You are incredible," Bellatrix breathed. "Your magic is so, so strong."
"Tell me more about your parents," Voldemort commanded, swishing his hand and Banishing the plates and of toast and eggs to the table. He picked up the two glasses of juice and walked over to the table, sitting and gesturing for Bellatrix to do the same.
"Well," Bellatrix began, "It's obvious that they're terrified of you. But it's also obvious that they want back into your good graces, because they know what you can do."
"See? My old friends will come groveling back to me," Voldemort smirked. "Dinner, then. When?"
"Oh. Erm. My mother didn't specify. Tonight, I suppose?" Bellatrix suggested.
"You'll need to rest before then," Voldemort pointed out, and Bellatrix nodded.
"I'll go home and sleep, My Lord."
"I was up until half-past three," said Voldemort, and suddenly Bellatrix felt terrible about waking him so early. But Voldemort said to her, "I'd like you to stay here and rest with me."
"Really?" Bellatrix picked up her toast and egg and took a bite. She swigged down some pumpkin juice and felt like a fool as she realised how attracted she was to him.
Fifteen minutes later, they'd finished eating, and Voldemort took Bellatrix's hand, mumbling,
"I'll get the dishes later. Too tired at the moment."
"Allow me, My Lord," Bellatrix took out her wand and aimed it at the dishes. "Tergeo. Scourgify." She Banished the dishes back to the cupboards, and then she felt Voldemort's hand between her shoulder blades.
"I like the sight of you with a wand in your hand," he murmured. "It reminds me of what you've done for me. Multiplying Flobberworms. Murdering Mudbloods. Mmm. What a fine servant you are. Let's go upstairs."
She followed him up the flight of stairs, wondering whether they were going to kiss without clothes like they'd done before. But Voldemort said softly from above Bellatrix,
"Clothes on this time. I'm tired."
He'd said that a few times now, that he was very tired, and Bellatrix wondered whether something had happened to keep him awake. She fretted over him, she thought. She wanted him to be healthy and happy.
"I knew you were at work," he said, reaching the top of the stairs, "and I was… preoccupied."
"Preoccupied," she repeated as they stepped into the peasant's bedroom where he slept. His bed was rumpled; the homespun quilt was peeled back and the sheets were wrinkled. Voldemort gestured to the bed and said quietly,
"Come lie down with me."
Bellatrix wordlessly pulled her matron's cap off her head and set it on the banged-up wooden table beside the bed. She pulled the pins from her hair and shook her curls loose, and she watched Voldemort lick his lips slowly. She untied her apron and folded it, setting it beside her cap. She stepped out of her ankle boots and then climbed into the bed, covering herself with his quilt. Voldemort climbed into the bed beside her and pulled her up against him. She curled one leg over his thighs and tossed an arm across his chest. She nestled her face against his shoulder, and she watched him shut his eyes as he whispered,
"Tell me what you felt when you killed for the first time, Bellatrix."
"Power," she said at once. "I felt powerful."
"Did you enjoy it?" he asked, and she nodded against him.
"Very much."
"Do you want to do it again?"
"I do," she replied. "Over and over. For you."
"Bella." She heard him gulp, saw his throat bob, and he stroked at her hair with shaking fingers. "What you do to me…"
"What have I done, Master?" Bellatrix worried. She pushed herself up on one elbow and stared down at him, and his eyes blinked a few times.
"I remember you talking to me for days," he said gently. "Telling me about your family, about school, about Titus Avery. I feel as though I know you very well now."
"I think you do, My Lord," Bellatrix said. Voldemort let out a quivering breath and added,
"You've killed for me. With delight. You felt joy, murdering on my orders."
"And I'll do it again, as soon as you bid me to," Bellatrix hummed.
"Bella," Voldemort choked out, and she realised then that he wanted her. She reached beneath the blankets and dragged her fingertips over his erection in his pyjama trousers, and she hummed,
"I'll murder anyone you want me to."
"Merlin's beard. Touch me," he ordered her. She slid her hand into his trousers and stroked at his cock with a closed fist. She dragged her thumb over his tip and whispered,
"Master…"
When he came, groaning loudly and arching his back, it made an enormous mess, but neither of them really cared. Bellatrix reached for her wand and Siphoned up the sticky disaster on her hand and in his trousers, and he said softly,
"Do you want me to…?"
"I'm all right, My Lord," Bellatrix insisted, though she was throbbing and soaked between her legs. She curled back up against Voldemort and said to him, "I just want to lie here with you. To be held by you."
"Dinner at your parents' house," he confirmed, "but we'll just sleep for a bit first, shall we?"
She kissed his shoulder and settled back down, drifting off to sleep as she thought to herself that he was the most magnificent wizard on Earth.
"Bellatrix," he whispered, just before she lost herself to sleep. She nodded against him, and she could have sworn he kissed her forehead and said gently, "My Bellatrix. Sleep."
Author's Note: I will be alternating updates between my Victoria story and this one until both are done. Thanks for your patience and for reading and reviewing.