Chapter 21: A Nice, Pureblood Boy

Bellatrix and Narcissa Black shared a small, surreptitious look with each other over the rim of their Jethro soup bowls, which were inlaid with gold and jewels. Dinner in their home, the most noble and ancient House of Black, was always a subdued, dignified affair. The very act of eating was expected to be cultured – one was to know always which spoon was most appropriate for which dish, and for the women, you were required to sit like a lady.

Narcissa finally broke the silence with a bit of buttering up. "This is wonderful soup, Mother."

Druella Black beamed the signature smile of a trophy wife, the expression an indicator of how she was always supposed to be on, all the time, as a lady of respectable pureblood society. "Yes, it has Blast-Ended Skrewt. Gives it a little kick."

Narcissa bobbed her head in agreement. "Indeed. The spice is exquisite." She ladled another spoonful up to her lips, making sure to sip, never slurp. Side-eyeing her, Bellatrix scowled, and on her next bite, made sure to slurp – loudly. From across the table, Druella frowned in disapproval, but elected not to exchange words with her eldest daughter. If occasional, vulgar displays of improper table manners was the most rebellious Bella would get, the Black matriarch supposed she could turn the cheek every now and again, provided it was never too blatant. At any rate, Bellatrix would learn quickly enough, now that she was graduated from Hogwarts and thus presentable as an eligible woman of society.

And besides…. Druella had already seen worse acts of insolence from her girls. She refused to even cast her gaze upon the one empty seat still positioned at the table's far end, at the immediate right hand of where her husband, Cygnus Black III, surveyed his family like a king from the head of the table. Really, that hopeless house elf Soobey should have taken away that chair a long time ago, or at least known intuitively it should be done. Druella sighed. She would have to give the order explicitly in the morning, when she hopefully no longer had such a headache.

"How is Lucius, Narcissa? Is he still serving honorably out in the field?"

Narcissa blushed. "He's been writing to me. They've been embarking on a splendid campaign outside Witney! Why, just last week he spoke of how he marched into battle at the back of the Dark Lord himself!" Bellatrix seemed to be refraining from rolling her eyes. Some of it was from envy. If there was anyone the least deserving of standing even in the Dark Lord's literal shadow, it was that brown-noser Malfoy.

Druella daintily cleansed her hands in the small water basin set up next to her spread of food. She was very fastidious about keeping her hands clean even when she was taking her meal. Where this quirk was intolerable, at least to Bella's point of view, was that her mother expected everyone else to have similar water basins stationed next to their meals, though no one used them.

Druella pursed her lips into what was almost a conniving smile, and there was a teasing, prodding lilt to what she said next. "Has he proposed?"

Narcissa seemed to stop herself just in the nick of time from letting out a giggle. "I was terribly bold in my letter yesterday about hoping he will bring me back a trinket from the front! But who's to say if he would ask for my hand in reply?!"

"Cissa, if the boy is as intelligent and ambitious as you say, then he would be wise to woo you." Pollux Black, Druella's father-in-law and the girls' grandfather, croaked from his honored place seated at Cygnus's left hand. "A Malfoy is quite a catch; any marriage to him would afford you fine status. The Dark Lord knows you could do a lot worse than a Malfoy – don't you agree, Bella?"

No response. Pollux cleared his throat, zeroing in on where his first-born granddaughter appeared to be staring almost piningly out the cathedral-like windows of this, the family dining/drawing room. "Bella?"

"Hmm? What, Grandfather?"

"I asked if you agree that Narcissa would make a fine bride to the Malfoy boy! After all, my dear, it is imperative that you girls marry nice, pureblood boys so that you may mother fine, strong, pureblood babies!"

Now, Bella indulged in that eye-roll, hard enough that she half hoped the motion would break her retinas. "Uggh, yes, we know!" she growled out exasperatedly.

"Bellatrix!" Druella snapped harshly. "I would advise you to show your grandfather more respect!"

Bellatrix barely yielded, dipping her head to her grandfather in an apologetic deference that seemed barely sincere. "Forgive me, Grandfather."

Pollux chuckled. "Druella, my dear, I do wonder which of our fine, Aryan boys would tame the fire in our Bella." With a tired smile, he waved his granddaughter off. "Show spirit, show spirit, my child, sow your oats while you can, for fairly soon, you will have to enter marriage and keep house for your husband! Surely there must be a lad who strikes your fancy?"

There was, in fact, but Bella knew better than to speak his name aloud. Were she to reveal her heart's innermost desires, her family might do to her what they did to Andromeda –

Stop, she told herself. We do not speak that name! All the same, if that girl had been banished, disowned for throwing away her status, her parents and grandfather might also turn her out for daring to even set her sights upon….

Bella knew she was failing to hide her blush, even as she shook her head.

"But you dated in Hogwarts!" Narcissa chittered to her sister. "Weren't you shagging Avery for much of fifth year?"

At this, Druella nearly choked on another spoonful of Blast-Ended Skrewt soup. "I beg your pardon, Narcissa?!"

Bellatrix glanced down into her lap. "Just for the release, yeah? Now drop it, Cissy!"

"Avery would be a fine match, my girl! Yes, yes, he would do nicely for our Bella…!"

"Heavens, no!" Cygnus bemoaned. "Didn't you read in the paper, Father? His father lost quite a bit of money betting on Gobstones, of all things…!"

Bellatrix wanted to slide down under the table and never come out, like she was five years old again. Here she was, watching her entire family attempt to marry her off.

"What about…?" Druella was just about to postulate when the door to the dining room banged open. The Black matriarch angrily threw down her napkin.

"Soobey! What did I say about knocking?"

Soobey, the Blacks' house-elf, bowed low. "Soobey wishes to convey to Missus that there is a gentleman caller at the door!" Down the table, Narcissa began to almost unconsciously primp and preen, muttering nervously to herself. Bellatrix smirked.

Her grin was gone in the next second, however, as, turning her head on a slow, meaningful swivel towards Bella, Druella's pursed lips upturned into an intrigued smile. "Indeed! And did this gentleman give his name, servant?"

"He asked me to be announcing him as Rodolphus Lestrange, here with a message from his brother Rabastan!" The house elf now passed a piece of parchment, folded and marked with the seal of a family crest, to his mistress. Druella opened the missive and scanned it line by line. Bellatrix could only see her mother's eyes from over the top of the paper but from the way they expanded, indeed sparkled, the woman was clearly growing excited about something.

"Oh, joy! Oh, happy day! Now, Bella, you, my girl, will have a fine match! Rabastan Lestrange has asked for your hand in marriage!"

Bellatrix's jaw dropped, nearly choking. "Marriage?! To Rabastan?!"

"Well, I had hoped you would be pleased, dear! To enter a marriage within the Lestrange family…. You would be placed in a match as respectable as your sister with young Lucius, if not more so!"

Bellatrix's face roiled in disgust. She knew Rabastan by reputation. They had attended Hogwarts together and he was little more than a brute. The thought of accepting him as her husband, taking him to bed…. she shuddered. If the man was as beastly in the bedroom as he was on the battlefield, she would be resigning herself to a union and life of abject misery.

Soobey, meanwhile, was still standing at attention off his mistress's armrest. "Young Master Rodolphus made it clear he expects an immediate reply!"

"Yes, of course, Soobey, but please ask him if he should like to wait in the parlor; we are still in the middle of dinner…." Druella placed the unsealed parchment next to her place. "I will deliver approval in writing at the end of the meal…"

"No!" Bella blurted in a shout. The entire table fell silent. When Druella now turned to her daughter again, her expression was collected and careful, though something sinister was bubbling underneath.

"Bellatrix, I'm sure I don't know what you mean by your refusal…."

"I mean –" Bellatrix darted her eyes once to Cissy, before pushing back her chair and standing regally. "I'll…. receive him. Rodolphus. I should like to answer his brother's proposal myself."

Druella dipped her head in assent, though she appeared unsure. "Very well, Bella, but I will still need to compose my reply to Rabastan; he has inquired after your dowry…"

Pollux's eyes were twinkling. "You would be wise to accept this proposal of marriage as the boon it is, granddaughter! We can ill afford to have you run off with a Mudblood like your sister!"

If it had been silent before, the stillness now was downright icy. Druella was glaring daggers at her father-in-law for daring to so much as bring the topic up, even as a joke. Frozen with tension, Bellatrix turned back by degrees to almost stare her grandfather down.

"I have no sister who would lay down with Mudblood filth," she stated coolly before turning on her heel and flouncing from the dining room without even asking if she might be excused.

Bellatrix stormed into the foyer only to nearly bump into Rodolphus, who jumped a little upon seeing her.

"Bella…. I was expecting your house elf," he breathed.

Bella pursed her lips and appraised him, arms folded in a manner that thrust out her accentuated breasts. "Mother should be sending him to escort you to the parlor."

"Oh," Rodolphus shifted from foot to foot. "I was not aware that you were taking your evening meal. Excuse my intrusion."

"You're excused." Bella moved on from her quip to study the elder Lestrange brother. She and Rodolphus had been the same year in Slytherin House, whereas Rabastan had been two terms behind them. Where Rabastan – only just beyond the gates of Hogwarts himself as a wet-behind-the-ears Death Eater recruit - was known for his boorish, even somewhat sadistic tendencies, Rodolphus approached their Cause with more intelligence. Rodolphus was cerebral, had consistently achieved high marks in their classes and done supremely well in his OWLS and NEWTS. What Bellatrix couldn't help but admire was how the man used that intelligence to intellectually put forward an argument for supporting the Dark Lord. Furthermore, he was supremely loyal and devoted to their Master in a way that might only match her own.

Bella remained quiet as she sized up the man before her. Rodolphus blushed a little under her stare. It amused her, to see him flustered.

"I thought you'd be at the front lines. In Witney," she murmured.

If it was possible, Rodolphus flushed even further, though this time with pride. "My brother asked me to convey his request to you and your mother expressly. I was only so happy when the Dark Lord himself gave his concurrence! I must hurry, though, for I'm due back by sunrise."

Bellatrix considered this. Considered him. It vexed her that her family had been leaping on her about entering a suitable match all evening; Rabastan's letter asking for her hand had only escalated the discussion mill. She could ill afford to act as wife to someone who was just as much animal as man…. yet she could also ill afford to avoid the probing questions and busy-bodying from her parents, her grandfather, her sister, much longer. She was a young woman of twenty, and with her youngest sister already seriously courting the Malfoy boy…. It wouldn't be much longer before she would be expected to settle down anyway.

If only the one man she truly wanted to marry was so awesomely out of reach. It was presumptuous of her, a mere mortal, to want, lust for, a god, but Bella didn't care.

Well, if she couldn't have Him…. and she definitely didn't want Rabastan…. Perhaps…

"Bella…?"

Crossing to Rodolphus in three, quick strides, Bellatrix roughly seized his groin in her fist before curling her free hand around the nape of his neck to drag his lips down fiercely onto hers.

She quickly concluded that snogging Rodolphus was…. meh. Still, better meh than revolting. It only took a few moments before Rodolphus was kissing her back, dazed with wonder. The pair of classmates staggered back into the one wall of the foyer, Bellatrix sultrily pressing her curved body against him from where they now kissed in the shadow of her great-grandfather's portrait – a work of art fifteen feet high.

Mouthing down along his jawline, the hand at his cock now slipping past his pants so she could pump his foreskin, Bellatrix hissed with practicality into Rodolphus's ear:

"If we get married, you can't ever tell me what to do!"

Her lips mashed back on his again for a moment before she drew apart roughly, leaving Rodolphus speechless. Bellatrix was panting a little, but it was more from anger than any kind of arousal.

"And I won't have children. Nasty, disgusting little things they are. Cissy can pop out little purebloods with her Malfoy boy-toy so Mother and Father can at least have an heir!"

Rodolphus nodded dumbly. He appeared as though he was agreeable to the terms she had just delivered for this potential marriage. Bellatrix nodded back once, stiffly.

"Go on, then – ask me."

"Ask what?"

She rolled her eyes, failing to appear amused. It would seem cerebral Rodolphus could act like a dolt after all. "Ask me to marry you, prat!"

Rodolphus gulped and started to kneel before her.

"Oh, jolly stay standing, why don't you?!" she scoffed, sneering.

"Bellatrix Black…. Will you marry me?"

"Yes," Bellatrix replied simply.

A squeak of surprise made the newly engaged couple turn back. Soobey was standing in the entryway, looking rather surprised.

"House elf!" Bellatrix called absently. "Please report to my mother that I have taken young Master Rodolphus Lestrange as my fiancé. We are to be married when he next returns home from the front."

A stunned Soobey swept low in a bow. "Right away, Mistress Bellatrix." He scampered off.

Taking in the woman who was now his bride-to-be rather than that of his brother, Rodolphus smiled sheepishly. "May I be so bold as to inquire if you have a token, for me to take back to the front?"

Bellatrix scowled. "I can give you this for a token!" With a wave of her wand, she had dropped Rodolphus's trousers, boxers and all. Sinking to her knees, Bellatrix reared forward with puckered lips and took him in her mouth, all the way to the back of the throat.

As her head bobbed, she could feel Rodolphus making pleasured noises above her, even as his wand arm trembled.

"Silencio! ….. Muffliato Maxima!..."

She gave him head until he came with a shout into her mouth. Bellatrix swallowed what she could, spat out what she couldn't. On the whole, sucking him off was OK. It wasn't good, it wasn't bad, it was OK. She tucked him back into his pants and kissed him goodbye with a peck on the lips that was rather cold.

Moments later, when Druella appeared with a missive in writing now making clear her daughter's engagement to Rodolphus rather than Rabastan, the Black family matriarch seemed quite amazed, though nonetheless thrilled.

The Blacks were overwhelmed and honored beyond words when, upon returning to a hero's welcome from the Witney front lines, Voldemort graciously offered to marry Bellatrix and Rodolphus himself. Even as she stood opposite and exchanged vows with the man who was to be her husband, Bella had eyes only for the demigod who would be blessing her union.

"Bella, do you take young Rodolphus to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold in magic and in love?"

It is you I wish to have and to hold in magic. It is you that I love, were the words she longed to say to the charismatic figure before her, their people's hero. Her hero. Instead, she chanced a glance at Rodolphus and murmured:

"I do."

Voldemort beamed the smile of a pleased father, almost. "Then by the immortal power vested in me as the Dark Lord, I now pronounce you husband and wife, and declare you bonded for life!"

Bella was taken entirely by surprise when Rodolphus pulled her close and kissed her deeply on the mouth. She gasped a little into his lips as, at the moment their lips touched, green lights began to swirl around the couple, the deep and holy magic sealing their marriage. But Bella knew that her mother was watching, so she had little choice but to sell it. As much as she wished she was in the arms of someone else, Bella pulled her new husband close and kissed him back. As Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange embraced and kissed, the green inferno of magic and light soon whizzed up and exploded into fireworks that now formed the Dark Mark in the nighttime sky above the Black estate.

When the newlyweds broke apart at last, Bellatrix studied her husband for all of a split second before –

BANG!

She hexed Rodolphus directly in the face. Meeting her mother's horrified look of disapproval, Bellatrix justified it thusly.

"He did not wait for the Dark Lord's order to kiss me!" Druella accepted this answer, though barely.

That night, when the Lestranges went to bed, Bellatrix again threatened her husband with her wand when he attempted to touch her.

"I'll sleep beside you, Rodolphus," she promised. "But I won't sleep with you. I won't lay down in love with you."

She was satisfied that she had at least made the right choice in husband when he accepted her wishes. Though as he rolled over to sleep in their first night sharing a bed, the man seemed naturally sad and disappointed.

Bellatrix didn't care if her husband was sad or disappointed. All that mattered was that he understood where she and he stood in matters of relations. For the sake of optics and respectability, she had agreed to marry him. That didn't mean she had to agree to fuck him.