III
At home, I sank down in one of the chairs in the sitting room. I stared at the empty fireplace.
"Elf!" I shouted.
The sorry creature appeared before me.
"Mistress?" it bowed.
"Get a fire going. Master will be home soon." I moved to kick it, but it jumped out of my way. "You should know better than to leave the grate cold on such a night."
Which didn't make any sense as it was nearing summer.
Maybe I longed for a fire because it seemed so normal that my sister should have the simple and perfect life, making a fire absolutely necessary to one's familial wellbeing.
"Yes, Mistress," the elf responded. It squeaked as it moved out of the path of my foot once more.
Furious, I stood and kicked the leg of the chair. That insufferable Malfoy; it was his fault that I was married to this ridiculous joke of a man, Rodolphus. His marriage to my sister no longer bothered me; poor Cissy had merely been caught in the middle of pureblood games. Malfoy caved to his desire, then dared to accuse me of infidelity. It is not a secret about Rodolphus's shortcomings.
I wondered why I couldn't just dispose of my useless husband and pursue the greatest achievement for a wizard with him, the Dark Lord.
Purity. It's all about purity. You know the Dark Lord would never accept something foul. This is his way of preserving you.
Another truth: the Dark Lord advised me to marry Rodolphus because of his incapableness. Plus, I would be respectfully provided for in a pureblood home.
I kicked the chair again.
"Temper, temper."
I whirled around, whipping out my wand. Rodolphus stood in the doorway. Realizing it was only him, I stopped.
"You have enough galleons to buy another chair," I retorted. My wand got tucked back into my robes.
He shrugged as he sank down in one of the other chairs. His wand dangled from his hand like the broken limb of a tree.
"I heard you went to Malfoy Manor tonight," he said, snapping his fingers with his other hand.
The elf reappeared, kneeling in prostrate before him.
"Brandy," my husband said. He looked to me. "You are never to return there."
"You can't stop me from seeing my sister," I growled.
"You've never cared about seeing her before. Plus, I don't care about your sister."
"And I care even less for Malfoy."
Rodolphus snorted. "You're attracting too much attention with all the things you've been doing."
That's not what the Dark Lord says.
The elf returned with a glass filled with two ice cubes and two shots of brandy. My husband took the glass, swallowing down half of it.
"What do you care? The attention I attract is my affair," I said.
"You should have known better than to set off the Dark Mark! Stupid woman!" he roared. "You never think what the implications of your actions might be!"
"You're certainly right! I don't care what they entail for you!" I shouted in return. I wanted to take my wand out to curse him to pieces so that not even St. Mungos would have any bits to put back together.
"I spent the whole night running around, trying to fix your mistakes, rather than doing what I should have been doing. No trouble is worth this, no trouble is worth you – especially when I have Longbottom riding my back like Greyback during the full moon because of it!"
"Oh, you'd like Longbottom riding your back, wouldn't you?"
Rodolphus snarled, stood, and threw the cup across the room. It shattered against the wall. He walked over to the fireplace and braced himself with both arms against the mantel.
"That's right. Throw a tantrum because that's all you're capable of doing!" I sneered.
"ENOUGH!"
The severity of his voice froze me. I've never heard him in such a rage before.
"I also had to clean up the mess you made of your cousin," he said in a perfectly calm tone. He turned his head to look at me.
I pressed myself back into the chair. Living with my husband has taught me a few things about him at the least, despite a lack of affection. I knew he was bringing up the Dark Mark and my cousin because Longbottom had gotten involved. There was a line I was pushing, and unless I wanted to see something truly nasty, worthy of the Death Eater label, I knew I had best stop provoking him.
"Longbottom was there," I whispered.
"Your cousin was last spotted with one of their group. Who knows what they know.
"You brought him here, Bellatrix. You brought him into this service and now we're all going to go to Azkaban because of the mistakes you keep making." His voice was low and threatening.
My fingers gripped the arms of the chair. Two thoughts went through my head at the same time:
First, that Regulus did not know about the truth of the Dark Lord and I.
Second, that he had done something to cross the Dark Lord personally.
What did you do, Regulus?
"Thankfully, they have no better idea of what he was doing than we do. All I know is that I have been commanded to find a sword – the sword of that blood-traitor Gryffindor. But instead I spent the night throwing Longbottom off the trail of what happened to your cousin."
"The Dark Lord told me to kill him," I defended. "I had no choice – I had to kill him."
"And so you leave him in a bloody pile in the middle of Hogsmeade?!" Regulus shouted. "That's what I'm talking about – you just never listen!"
"I don't know what he did! All I know is that the Dark Lord told me he was a traitor, and I assumed that meant he was about to turn us all in! If you'd like, I can get a Time-Turner from the Ministry, go back, and fix it. Would you like that? A term in Azkaban?"
"Maybe I would, if it meant that I got to be away from you! Slytherin's beast!"
"You pathetic excuse for a wizard! You make me sick – I'd rather be married to a Muggle!"
"I'm sure the Dark Lord can arrange that, if you'd rather. You're his favorite. Why don't you ask him since you fancy him so?"
I jumped out of my seat, my wand pointed at him.
"Curse me, Bellatrix. Go right ahead and curse me. I've got death, or Azkaban then death ahead of me. Kill me like you killed your cousin. I'm only your husband."
His change in subject made me stop. "Husband you may be, but not lover," I hissed in return.
"Of course not. I'm not stupid. The Dark Lord forbade me from touching you. You should know most of all what happens to those who go against his orders. Not to mention you'd probably have hexed it off anyways."
Cue the fourth revelation of the night. All these years, Rodolphus had lied to me. I eyed him over, a smug look rested on his face. For the first time, he resonated with power.
"But you don't love me," I stammered.
"Of course I don't. You're an impossible creature. I can't even say if he loves you, but he certainly has a special interest in you."
"You're only here to make sure I stay safe," I whispered. Pieces were beginning to make sense.
"If anyone else knew the truth of your attachment to the Dark Lord, they'd kill you, Bellatrix. Surely you know that."
"That's the only reason you married me?"
Rodolphus took a deep breath before answering. "As I said, one does not defy the Dark Lord's commands."
"I still don't love you." I was desperate to make that clear. I owed him no allegiance – only more to the Dark Lord for looking after me in a way I could never imagine.
"I would never let myself become deluded so. We have a marriage of convenience. He gets to keep you, I get to be closer to the him, and you get to stay his favorite."
"It's all about appearances," I said. I sank back into the chair.
"That's all it's ever been about. Now, you wouldn't happen to know anything about Gryffindor's sword, would you?"
"I have no idea. Who cares?" I shot back. I wanted to think more on how everything I believed about my world had been shattered that night. I didn't give two owl hoots about Gryffindor's sword.
"As I said, I have to fetch it for the Dark Lord."
I glanced up at Rodolphus. He was pacing the room, running his hand through his hair.
I remembered Regulus muttering something about tearing Grimmauld Place apart. And that he had met with Mundungus Fletcher just before I tracked him down.
"I hear that a certain Mundungus Fletcher might know where it is," I said slyly.
"Oh, he might? I think you could repay me for my troubles by helping me track him down," Rodolphus said with a smirk. "After we make a stop at Gringott's – I have important business there first."
A demonic grin spread across my face as I realized what he had in mind.
This could be fun, I thought.
As long as things continued this way, perhaps my husband and I had finally reached an understanding.