Candied Tongue

"Beware the candied tongue that laps at royal boots, and through its sugary slime conceals the black heart."


That night, Bellatrix and her friends gathered in the common room. The group had grown over the years, and now they dominated the little circle of silver and green couches by the fire. Bellatrix lounged on the largest couch, stretching her legs until they reached Rodolphus' lap. He ran his finger over the sleek leather of her boot, smoothing invisible scratches and scuffs. His eyes met hers, but only briefly; she gave him a delicious smile, raised one eyebrow, and turned to survey the students gathered around them.

Lucius sat in the nearest armchair, and Narcissa was curled at his feet with her head on his knee. Daniel Avery stood behind them, leaning his elbows on the back of the chair and gazing wistfully at the blonde girl. Evan Rosier had stretched his legs across his entire couch in an imitation of Bellatrix, pushing a disgruntled Regulus to the edge of the cushion. Alecto Carrow sat cross-legged on her own couch, looking incomplete without her brother in his usual place beside her. The last armchair, furthest from the fire and barely visible in the subtly flickering shadows, was occupied by Severus Snape.

Bellatrix flicked her wand and conjured a bottle of blood red nail polish. She lifted the brush and began painting her nails. Someone coughed. She slowly and deliberately raised her head in the direction of the sound.

"Yes?" Her voice was low.

The offending boy ran a hand through his faded reddish-brown curls. "I've got schoolwork to do, if you're not going to say anything."

"That's lovely, Rosier," Bellatrix said calmly. "Why don't we all have sharing time? Does anyone else have something they'd like to discuss?" Her lips twisted in a sarcastic smile, and Rosier blushed.

"Actually…" Alecto's silky voice floated out from the couch that seemed to engulf her tiny form. "There is something I'd like ask."

Rodolphus glanced at his girlfriend, but she kept her eyes intently on her hands. Sweeping the brush across her thumb, she studied her nails before moving on to the other hand.

The girl pushed her short blonde hair behind her ears and smoothed her robes. "Right after Amycus graduated last year, he got his M—"

"Quiet!" Bellatrix hissed, her eyes suddenly wild, but it was too late.

"Is that what you've been up to?" Narcissa asked, pressing a hand to her lips. "Bellatrix—"

"Have you been trying to keep this a secret?" Avery tried to scoff, but he couldn't hide the curiosity in his voice. "Did you think we were too young?"

"Frankly," Bellatrix replied coldly, "I did." She resumed painting her nails. "We can't have anyone compromising our interests."

"Your interests?" Narcissa practically spat. "Your interests are getting too deep into a—a—an organization that you know nothing about."

Bellatrix's hand paused in its repetitive motion, hovering over her nail. She said nothing.

"This organization, as you put it," Rodolphus interjected, "is something that your sister and I could tell you all about." He paused and glanced at Bellatrix out of the corner of his eye, searching for approval. "Alecto and her brother could tell you all about it. Your boyfriend could tell you all about it, but he hasn't, because he knows that's good for him." He looked Narcissa in the eye. His hair fell across his face, darkening his stare, and she swallowed hard. "So I suggest that you wait for the day when you're less of a liability, if that's possible. Learn some patience and restraint; it might be useful one day."

Bellatrix couldn't hide a satisfied smile. She sat up and pressed her lips softly against Rodolphus' rough cheek, letting her mouth slide along the sharp line of his jaw.

Narcissa finally found her voice. "Bellatrix… why are you doing this?"

"What makes you think you have a right to know?" Bellatrix tucked her nail polish into the pocket of her robes. "You don't deserve to know. You don't deserve the honour, Cissy."

"I'm just as skilled a witch as you are—"

"Mistaken as you are, that isn't the point." She swung her legs from Rodolphus' lap and sat forward on the couch. Her dark eyes caught the firelight and glittered madly. "It's about loyalty," she breathed, and the group seemed to lean forward as one to catch her words. She repeated, "It's about loyalty.

"It's about being faithful, so faithful that your own life means nothing. You are willing to give up everything, put yourself and everything you hold dear in danger, because of the strength of your ideals. The strength of your beliefs that this world can be pure, that it can be turned from the corruption it drowns in… that's what drives you." She took a deep breath. "Yes, skill is important. No one can eradicate the filth from this world without prodigious magical skill. But all the skill in the world is useless if there is no loyalty behind it. You have to treasure your Lord above yourself."

She looked around the room. Eight pairs of eyes were fixed, unblinking and wide, on Bellatrix. She licked her lips and smiled, examining her nails. As calm as she appeared, her heart was still pounding against her chest with a martial beat, and her eyes glowed with passion and reverence.

Strangely, Regulus was the first to speak. "You're talking about loyalty to… to the one they call the Dark Lord?"

"Of course," Bellatrix replied.

"And… that's what you want us to strive for?"

The feeling of control sent a rush of adrenalin through her body. "I thought that much was obvious."

Regulus looked at the floor and nodded.

Narcissa stood up suddenly and straightened her robes. "You've become a fanatic, Bellatrix." Her words were confident, but her voice was shaky. She kept a wary eye on her sister's wand where it peeked out of her robes. "You spent all that time with the Lestranges this summer"—here the nervous gaze shifted briefly to Rodolphus—"and now you're… different. All this nonsense with the Dark Lord—"

"Get out." Bellatrix's voice was low and shaking, a barely suppressed explosion lurking in her throat.

"I—"

Her restraint shattered. "Get out!" she screeched, drawing looks from the other Slytherins in the common room. "Get out! You're as bad as Andromeda! GET OUT!"

Narcissa backed away quickly, stumbling over a table, and hurried up the stairs and out of sight. Bellatrix stood in front of the fire, her fists clenched and her knuckles white. Her eyes burned. Rodolphus placed a hand on her waist and tried to coax her back onto the couch, but she slapped him away.

"The rest of you can get out of my sight as well," she hissed, staring around the circle of chairs.

One by one, the rest of their little group slunk away. Bellatrix exhaled heavily and sank onto the couch beside Rodolphus. He tangled his fingers in her hair and pulled her closer, pressing his lips to hers. After a few seconds, she parted her lips and let his tongue slip against hers. Her knee slowly moved between his thighs, and she maneuvered herself on top of him as his hands slid through her soft, dark curls.

"Bellatrix." The voice came from behind her.

She spent a moment with her lips barely connected to Rodolphus', and then slowly turned around. A boy stood before her, hands shoved deep into his pockets. His greasy black hair stood out against his sallow skin, marked by the nose that protruded like a beak from his face.

"What do you want, Snape?" she asked wearily.

"That was quite a speech you made," he murmured. He looked up but, finding her eyes impossible to meet, quickly resumed studying the floor. "Did you really mean what you said? About the kind of loyalty that the Dark Lord demands?" His voice didn't waver.

"Absolutely," she declared without hesitation. She looked to Rodolphus for confirmation, and he nodded his dark head.

"I know you may not think that we younger students can handle that kind of responsibility," Severus persisted earnestly, "but not all of us are as shallow as your sister." He managed the courage to catch Rodolphus' eye. "Lestrange can tell you, I can be useful to the Dark Lord. More importantly, I can be faithful. And I want to be. I want to be a part of your cause."

Bellatrix took the side of his face in her hand, pressing her nails into his thin cheek, and forced him to meet her gaze. Her eyes searched his.

"You could have potential," she conceded, "but that means nothing. You're sincere, I'll give you that… but the Dark Lord doesn't need sincerity. He needs followers." Her nails dug deeper. "And I don't know if you can be one."

"Let him judge that." Severus tried to pull away, but found himself trapped by her fiercely glinting eyes. "Bring me to him, and I can prove myself. To him."

Bellatrix didn't miss the implication of his final two words. "If you can't prove yourself to me, I doubt he'll find you satisfactory." Her red lips widened into a smile. "But you're welcome to make an attempt." She released her grip, leaving a row of tiny red crescents across his cheek

Severus turned to go, but she caught his wrist. "Don't try to swim where you can't touch the bottom, Snape," she warned. Her voice was like poisoned sugar. "I wouldn't want to see you drown."

He bit his lip and pulled away, leaving the room quickly. She didn't watch him go.

Rodolphus ran a hand down her arm, stroking the pale skin, and she let him pull her back into the couch. She twisted in his arms and spread her scarlet-nailed hands across his chest, pushing him back against the pillows. He made a low groan of protest, but she glanced quickly around the room and assured him that they were alone.

"That wasn't what I meant," he muttered. He pushed aside the curtain of hair that hung across her face. "I just can't see you in the dark." His thumb brushed her cheek. "You're so beautiful."

The tenderness of his intimacy made Bellatrix uncomfortable. "Tell me you want me," she commanded in a whisper.

He was obliging, recognizing that now was not the time. "I want you," he said against her ear. His hand slithered to the back of her neck and pulled her face towards his. She shifted her legs on the couch and kissed him, sinking her chest into his. With his free hand he pushed the heavy robes from her shoulders, revealing the crisp white fabric of her shirt. She did the same to him and smirked as she slowly loosened his tie. Holding the silk taut, she lifted his arms over his head and pressed the tie against his wrists, pinning them down.

They kept kissing, their tongues struggling for dominance in the shared space between their lips. Bellatrix dug her hips against his and sat up, managing to straddle his waist and keep his wrists pinned at the same time. Rodolphus stared up at her, his eyes dark with heat.

"Did you think I'd be so vulgar as to forget my promise?" she asked slowly.

Rodolphus licked his lips, inviting her to forget it.

"I told you," she whispered, bending closer to reach his ear, "that I wouldn't give myself to you until we had our Marks."

"I know," he sighed, "but I thought—"

"You thought wrong."

"Do you have to be so fickle? Do you have to tease me like this?"

She let the tie slide across his wrists, freeing them. He seized her face in his hands.

"Yes." She savored the feel of his rough hands holding her hostage. "You open yourself to it so easily; I have to take the opportunity." She kissed him and stood up, straightening her skirt. "But I swear to you, Rodolphus, that when we get our Marks at Christmastime…" She shivered with delight. "I'll let you have me."

"Me and only me?"

Bellatrix was not insulted. She wound a tendril of hair around her finger, admiring the way it shone in the glow from the fire's dying embers. "Of course only you. Didn't you hear what I said?"

"You say a lot of things." Rodolphus was buttoning up his shirt.

"Loyalty, Rodolphus. And faithfulness." She winked. "It wasn't obvious that it applied to you, too?"

She ran a finger down the side of his face and across his lips. He kissed it softly. She turned on her heel and made her way up the stairs to her room.

"I'm still not sure it applies to me," Rodolphus said aloud.

Standing just around the corner on the dark stairway, Bellatrix smiled to herself. She always had a talent for choosing the most perceptive ones.

-(Well, this has to be a record for my fastest update ever. There are a lot of characterizations in here that might seem strange (I'm thinking of Severus), but my plan is to examine how Bellatrix manipulated them to develop into the characters we know today. Also, for future reference: this is pretty much the extent of what you'll get in the way of hot hookups. I'm keeping this rated T, so sex will only be implied. Anyway, thanks to my reviewers—you guys rock!—and I'd always love more! Thanks for reading!)-

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