Written For:

- Day 43 of 366 Days of Writing Challenge: Shout

- The Emotion Challenge: Hopeless

- Potions Club/Ingredients: Mistletoe Berries - Write about a couple wanting to get pregnant.

- Gringotts Prompt Bank/Poems Porn: "Just because it isn't happening right now, doesn't mean it never will."

Pairings/Characters: Bellatrix/Rodolphus

Word Count: 417


Lost Hopes

You're the one that I need, I'm the one that you loathe.

Rodolphus clutched his wife's hand as they waited for the Healer at the Family Planning Clinic to return to them. This was their fifth time here, and Rodolphus knew that Bellatrix was becoming impatient.

Andromeda had managed to concieve a child with the Mudblood, and it had recently become common knowledge that Narcissa was expecting a baby. It wasn't fair. Bellatrix was the eldest, and her biological clock was slowly ticking. Before long, she would be too old to have a baby.

Rodolphus glanced at her face as they waited. Her lips were set in a thin line, and her forehead was wrinkled. She made it look as though she was impatient that she was waiting so long—and she probably was, but Rodolphus knew that she was worried more than anything.

When the Healer came out of the back room, she didn't even need to say anything to Bellatrix and Rodolphus. The disdainful look on her face as she looked down at her clipboard said it all. Bellatrix jumped up from her orange plastic seat immediately, and stormed out of the clinic. Rodolphus followed after her, catching up with her once they were out on the street. He grabbed her arm, and she snatched it back angrily.

"Get away from me!" she shouted, glaring at him. "Just leave me alone."

"Just because it isn't happening right now, doesn't mean it never will," Rodolphus replied, trying to calm her down. She sank down onto a bench, putting her face in her hands.

"Why can't I have a baby?" she whispered hopelessly. "I'll never be able to give him a baby..."

Rodolphus reeled back, narrowing his eyes. Him?

Of course. Rodolphus didn't know why he hadn't noticed it before, but it was obvious. Bellatrix didn't want to have a baby for them, and because she wanted to bring a child into the world. She wanted to have a baby to give to Voldemort. A child that would grow up alongside the child of the prophecy, a child who he could use to his advantage.

That was why she felt so hopeless.

Rodolphus looked down at his hands, unsure of what to say. He had been so desperate to get his wife pregnant, to be able to bring a baby into this world with the woman he loved, but he had a sudden change of heart.

Deep down, he was thankful that they were having problems.