She was dragged up a flight of winding stairs, although Bellatrix was more than happy to trot along behind Voldemort. When they reached the next floor up, Voldemort pulled her down a corridor and opened a door into his chambers. Bellatrix's heart was pounding in her chest and her breath was coming quick and shallow as she followed him inside. What was he going to do to her? She could scarcely think as he yanked her into his sitting room and slammed the door shut. All she could do was look around and take in the space.

It was high-ceilinged, with brown damask wallpaper and elegant wall sconces. There were two plush brown velvet sofas facing one another with a fireplace between them, and there was a painting of gently swaying hay in a field on the wall. It was an abjectly masculine space, and as Bellatrix looked around, she wondered that the Malfoy family had given over a part of the manor for the Dark Lord's residence. They must be very honoured indeed, she thought, that he lived here.

"Bella."

She snapped to attention, looking up at Voldemort, who took her face in his hands and murmured down to her,

"I will try not to hurt you."

Bellatrix frowned a little. Hurt her? Why would he be hurting her? Was he planning on beating her or abusing her in some other way? Her stomach twisted with fear a bit, and she whispered,

"All right, Master."

"I know the first time is never easy," he continued, and realisation washed over Bellatrix. He must have read the shift in her expression, because then his own eyebrows raised, and he dropped his hands from her face. "Not your first time. You've done this before."

Bellatrix felt her cheeks go hot. Was she a whore? He'd wanted a virgin. She cleared her throat and told the truth; he'd always be able to tell a lie from her. She admitted,

"Rodolphus and I were engaged to be married, My Lord. It was just a few times, but we… you know, we were just sort of experimenting. To see what it would be like once we were married."

"Experimenting," Voldemort repeated. He shut his eyes and rolled his neck, and he gulped, his throat visibly bobbing. He cleared his throat roughly then and told her, "I do not care for the thought of you with him."

"I'm so sorry, My Lord," Bellatrix said breathlessly. "If I'd ever had a reason to believe I'd be physical with you, I'd never have touched him. But I didn't - that is, I never thought you would touch me in this way, so… and I thought I'd be marrying him. I didn't think I was doing anything wrong."

"No, of course you didn't."

Voldemort stepped back from Bellatrix and rolled his shoulders. He sighed deeply and studied her. Then he muttered quietly,

"You must be entirely mine."

He kept saying things like that, she thought, almost as though he were operating off of some sort of orders. Some sort of…

No.

Surely not.

Bellatrix scowled and remembered the way he'd called her to his office out of the blue and kissed her, the way he'd so frantically pulled her away from Rodolphus at Abraxas Malfoy's party and had bruised her lips whilst he spoke of needing her to be his. He had his reasons, he'd said. He'd called off her wedding. He'd paid off her father. He had his reasons for keeping her close. Now he had her in his rooms and was upset that she'd been with another man, just days after he'd first kissed her, and he was reciting the same lines about needing her to be entirely his.

Almost as if there were some sort of prophecy he had to obey.

"Master?" Bellatrix stared at him, and he just shook his head a little, his eyes flashing wildly.

"How did you -?" He staggered back a step, and she realised he'd been inside her head with Legilimency. "There is no prophecy."

"Of course not, My Lord. It's a silly idea." Bellatrix shook her head and folded her hands before her. "I beg you to forgive my stray thoughts."

"All that matters is that I have important reasons for keeping you close," said Voldemort very firmly, and a thread of an idea told Bellatrix that perhaps there was a prophecy, perhaps he was keeping it secret from her. She tried to shove that thought away, tried to be obedient and good the way she was meant to be.

"Get in here." Voldemort wrenched at her wrist and pulled her through the open double doors that led to his bedroom. She gasped as she was led into the dark green space, with its black wooden four-poster bed and heavy brocade bedding. She let out an oof as Voldemort shoved her rather roughly up onto the bed, and she staggered backward against his pillows.

"Boots and dress off. Now." He stood and crossed his arms, and Bellatrix eyed him, feeling very self-conscious all of a sudden. She nodded quickly and pulled off her spiky boots, laying them aside on the bed. She peeled off her black socks and lay them with her boots, and then she unbuckled her wide black leather belt around her narrow waist. She wriggled to strip off her black velvet dress. Then she sat there, leaning back against the pillows in just her black cotton bra and knickers. She hadn't worn anything fancy today. She hadn't been expecting to strip down to her undergarments. She gulped and stared up at Voldemort, whose dark eyes glinted madly as he whispered,

"Take off the bra and touch your breasts, Bellatrix."

"Yes, Master." She did as he commanded. She would always do exactly as he commanded; he was her lord and master, and she she would obey him to the ends of the Earth. She unfastened her bra and tossed it aside with her dress. She leaned back and tipped her head a little, locking her eyes onto his as her hands went up to her breasts. They were small but round, and as she began to knead, it felt good. Her flesh was soft beneath her own touch, and as she toyed with her nipples, they hardened and peaked. She swallowed the knot in her throat, playing her hands against her breasts like he'd ordered and quite liking the sensation. He liked it, too. She could tell by the way he was brushing his knuckles over the bulge in his trousers. His mouth had fallen open, and he looked a little drunk as he watched her pinch her pert nipples and squeeze at the pillows of the breast tissue. She moaned softly, which he seemed to enjoy more than anything else, and finally she whispered,

"Oh, Master."

"Knickers off," he huffed, and Bellatrix reluctantly slid her hands down over her flat stomach to slip under the waistband of her knickers, just as he wanted. She stared at him as she wormed them down past her narrow hips, and as she slithered out of them, he sucked in breath hard and looked dizzy. He ordered her, "Touch yourself for me, Bellatrix."

"Yes, Master," she said again, and she spread her legs just a little, knowing he could see everything. She felt like a beast on display as he ogled her, staring at the pink folds of her womanhood that she'd exposed. Bellatrix's heart sped up so much that she thought it would leap right out of her chest, and her breath hitched and caught in her lungs. She slid her fingers down around her clit, toying with her walls, pushing inside of her body. She did just as he'd commanded her, touching herself for him. He gripped at his erection and seemed quite on the verge of losing control as his head fell back for a moment, but then he gathered himself and watched. Bellatrix was enormously aroused by how aroused he was, and she stared at his hardened cock, visible as a lump in the trousers he wore beneath his parted outer robe. She eyed the bulge and craved it, wanted it. She thrust two fingers into herself, curling them, and pumped hard against her clit with the bottom of her palm. Oh, that felt good. That felt very good, she thought. She kept doing that, over and over, until…

She snapped. She lost herself, feeling heat and pressure and bliss all over. She moaned helplessly, her walls clamping around her own fingers. Suddenly Voldemort was stripping off his outer robe and tossing it aside. He was unbuttoning his trousers and shoving them down over his hips, yanking his tunic up. His cock sprang out, long and thick and throbbing, visibly dewy at its tip - anticipation incarnate. He was climbing up onto the bed and aiming his wand at Bellatrix's abdomen, murmuring a contraceptive spell, setting his wand down, and bending to kiss her.

And when he kissed her, something ignited between them, a fire that had not yet been lit in their days of kissing. There had been want. There had been craving, at least on Bellatrix's end. There had been satisfaction and disbelief and sheer happiness. There had been arousal. But there had not yet been this - this feeling of locking up together, meshing up. When he pushed his cock into Bellatrix's body, he stilled, and she knew why. He would come in ten seconds if he moved. So they just lay there, their bodies linked, for a very long moment. He pulled away from the kiss and panted a little, leaning on his elbows, and Bellatrix murmured,

"I do hope you realise, Master, that you are my entire world."

"I know." He kissed her forehead. "You are my very best soldier, and it is time that I craved you back."

Craved her back? Bellatrix's eyes burned at words like that. She stared up at him and held his face in her hands, nodding. He finally started to move his hips a little, but then he hesitated again and shook his head, admitting,

"It feels too good. I don't know why."

"Master…" Bellatrix rotated her hips up against his, thrusting up against him from beneath, grinding herself onto him from the lower position. He growled and hissed,

"No; you're going to make me -"

"If you do, then it will feel good," Bellatrix argued, brushing her thumbs under his eyes. "I want you to feel good, Master."

"Bella." His eyes rolled back in his head a little before fluttering shut. She kept circling her hips on his, pumping up against him, and he grunted a few times to let her know that he was coming. He tensed up above her, and somehow she didn't even mind that he hadn't done the thrusting. She didn't mind that he hadn't lasted. He'd been so turned on by her breasts and her oyster-like womanhood that he'd been desperate for release. She liked that idea. She liked the notion that her body - her body - could make her lord and master lose himself so easily. She waited for him to finish, let him kiss her hard again, and then sighed heavily as he pulled out of her and wrenched himself out and back onto his knees.

"Bella," he huffed, almost indignantly. "I promise I am… well, I would say usually, but it's been more than twenty years for me, so… anyway, I… I am more than a little embarrassed by that underwhelming performance, obviously."

"What? Master?" Bellatrix sat up slowly, shaking her head. She smirked at him, reaching for his jaw, and she promised him, "I am more than satisfied. And, anyway, any attention from you is enough to drive me mad with arousal. You know that, though, I'm sure."

"I do." Voldemort licked his bottom lip and seemed to be considering telling her something, but then he just said softly, "Get dressed, Bella; you mustn't linger here for too long."

She did as he commanded, pulling on her knickers and feeling his come between her legs. She could have cleaned herself up, but for some reason, she didn't want to. She pulled her dress on, and her belt and boots. He watched her, having done himself back up, and when at last she was dressed, he approached her and took her face carefully in his hands.

"I'd like you to attack some Muggles. Time and place is your choice," he said. "It's for intimidation purposes. You are my best soldier, Bella, so I'm entrusting the task to you."

Bellatrix grinned. "Thank you, My Lord."

"I have my reasons for keeping you closer," he said, just like he'd done before. "You must be entirely mine."

Again, a niggling thought worked its way into the back of Bellatrix's mind. A prophecy? But Voldemort shook his head and kissed her cheekbone, whispering,

"Go. Go eat lunch with your mother bearing my stain upon you. Mine. My little witch, hm?"

She nodded very firmly and squeezed his hand. "Yours, Master. Entirely yours."

Author's Note: Yeahhhhhhh writing on Christmas Day! Haha. So Bellatrix has basically put the pieces together that there's a prophecy making Voldemort behave and speak so strangely, but he's trying to convince her otherwise. How long before he admits the truth and reveals the actual prophecy to her? Also, who's in the mood to see Bellatrix destroy some Muggles and see Voldemort's reaction to that? Woo hoo. As always, thank you so much for reading and a MASSIVE thank you for reviewing. I got some fantastic Harry Potter gifts this year - hope you did, too. A very Merry Christmas to those celebrating.