AN: Thank you to Losille2000 for the beta work! Wonderful as always!

II

After finishing the business with my cousin, leaving him drowning in the street, I returned home. My robes felt dirty after he tried to cough blood all over them. I wanted to change and make myself presentable before going to Malfoy Manor. At the door to my house, I waved my hand and the door opened. Inside, I found all the lights off, just as I left them. Rodolphus had not returned yet. I would have the pleasure of eating his dinner. The house elf was nowhere in sight, as a good elf should be. That was one small thing to be thankful for: the Lestrange family had better elf-stock than my own.

Kreacher, I believe, has never done any sort of cleaning in his pathetic life.

In the kitchen, I looked at the stew in the pot. The toxic smell that greeted me quelled any desire to eat, so I decided to leave it for Rodolphus. If the rotten concoction did not poison him, maybe he would choke on a piece of meat.

Upstairs, I shed my robes in my room. My husband and I have separate sleeping quarters – there was no need for us to share a bed. I was unwilling to let him touch me, for I would be giving in to his desire and subjugating myself to him. If there were to be any such giving in, it would be to my desire. And I had no desire because I knew he was a weak man – completely incapable.

Leaving my robes on the ground, I grabbed a simple set, colored a dark midnight blue, and pulled a black cloak on over them. Not bothering to lock anything, I left for Malfoy Manor.

The squished, roaring feeling of Apparition surrounded me. Nearly as soon as it started, I landed on my feet before my sister's house.

Garish spires reached into the sky from the tiled roof. Gargoyles, rumored to be the transfigured enemies of Mortius Malfoy, decorated the sides of the house. The mansion was made entirely of solid grey stone that seemed to glow under the stars, and it looked like something that should have been from the Middle Ages rather than a modern wizarding home. At the door, I took the snake-shaped knocker in hand and rapped it several times against the heavy oak door. I smoothed the front of my robes as I thought about how I nearly lived here instead of my sister.

So many years ago, I thought.

The door opened and the Malfoy's house elf bowed to me. I walked inside, stepping past him.

"Where is my sister?" I asked it.

"Mistress is in the sitting room with the young master," it replied.

Before I could respond it scampered away.

"Who is it? Who's there, Dobby?" Cissy called out.

"No worries, it's only me, sister," I said.

I came around the corner to the sitting room. A large fire crackled in the grate and one of the extravagant armchairs, tops adorned with arched serpents, was turned towards the door. Cissy stood before the chair, her baby held against her chest. Her long blond hair fell in a single sheet down her back.

"Bellatrix? What are you doing here?"

She patted her son's back. He squirmed and burped – a nauseating sound. And to think that I might have carried the brat instead of my sister. My stomach rebelled at the thought, making me swallow.

"It's about Regulus," I replied. Cissy said nothing, so I kept speaking. "He knows the secret. He was planning to sell us out."

"You and Rodolphus?" she asked, her eyes going wide.

"No, not Rodolphus. May he rot at the lips of the Dementors."

"Bella, why do you hate him–"

"Don't call me that!" I moved towards my sister and she stepped back. She nearly lost her balance; she managed to clumsily sit down in the chair. I took a seat in the chair across from her. I turned it so it faced her. The baby fidgeted, coming to rest his head against his mother's neck.

"Regulus was planning to sell out the Dark Lord and I. By Merlin's beard, motherhood has sapped your faculties."

Cissy simply stared at me, her jaw set.

"I had to kill him. He made me do it."

"So it seems you still have some sense of familial loyalty. Yet you never come to see your sister, your nephew," she accused me.

The words stung with truth. In the years since her marriage and my own, I had stopped by Malfoy Manor so few times I could not even recall seeing her pregnant.

"You're right," I said simply.

"Surely there's something good about Rodolphus. Sometimes you just have to make do."

"Make do? You want me to make do? It's nice and fine for you to say that when you've got everything you wanted!" I hissed.

"Lucius and I had no choice. As did you, Bella."

I let the nickname slide. She was my sister, after all.

Cissy continued, "You know he'll never have you."

"I know, Cissy. I know." I stared into the fire. One of the branches popped and embers went flying, landing in a new spot that would be their last place of existence before they blew out. I glanced back at her, with the baby in her arms. "What am I going to do?"

"You are his favorite."

I opened my mouth to say something when Lucius crashed in through the front door. He slammed it shut; I felt the floor shake beneath my feet.

"What are you doing here?" he thundered when he saw me. His blue eyes penetrated me, as they had many times before.

I stood up. "Nothing that concerns you."

Lucius grunted. I glanced over him – the small package the Dark Lord had given him was vaguely visible under his cloak. I was tempted to ask him what he was doing, but knew better than to provoke him further.

"Good to see you haven't misplaced the Dark Lord's belongings," I muttered just loudly enough for him to hear.

"At least I have better favor with him than your own husband." Lucius stepped close to me, standing just inches from me.

I could smell him – he reeked of power and deceit, a smell that used to make me weak inside. Now I know better and longed only for power itself.

I stared at Lucius. Mentally I dared him to step closer and see what would become of him.

"But now you just want what you can't have. That's always been the case with you, hasn't it?" he said silkily.

My hand flashed out to smack him. He grabbed hold of my wrist. I dared not struggle as his fingers squeezed. My heart pounded as I took several rapid breaths.

"Now get out of this house."

Lucius shoved my arm, nearly sending me to the floor. I stumbled and made my way out the door.

Trust me, you don't have to worry about me coming back, you traitorous dog.

Perhaps, if I'd not been so angry, I would have stopped to wonder what my sister was doing, waiting up with a baby at this time of night. I might have been able to forestall some of the events that would lead to our downfall. Instead, I gathered my robes about me and returned home.