For Camp Potter (Paintball - write about the Astronomy Tower during the war); the Light and Darkness Competition (genre: suspense; spell: stupefy; pairing: Bellamort; word: eternity; quote: "Power is always dangerous. Power attracts the best and corrupts the worst." - Edward Abbey and bonus: lifeless pony); the Duelling Competition (word: distortion, silkily; color: green, golden, turquoise; emotion: sorrow; quotes: "If you win, you need not have to explain...If you lose, you should not be there to explain" - Adolf Hitler, "Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die" - Herber Hoover; genre: tragedy and mystery; pairing: Bellatrix/Rodolphus; setting: Entrance Hall; bonus: write about a Death Eater); the If You Dare Challenge (788. Reminiscence) and the Slash/Femmeslash Bootcamp (41. Knife).

WARNING: Suicide, underlying incestuous tones

For Gamma and Laura - RodRab is all your fault.

Better, stronger, purer.

That was what they had been promised, so long ago when they had pledged their lives to their Lord. A world free of any and all impurities.

The dream seemed laughable now. The dreams he had crafted for them in his silky voice was all but lost.

Oh, his companions thought that they were going to win. After all, they had the advantage of numbers, did they not? But Rodolphus always could see more clearly than any of them could.

They might have the stronger force, but those fools in crimson and gold were so much more motivated than any of them were. After all, even a lifeless pony would fight when backed into a corner, and that was what they had done to the Mudblood loving fools.

And if they won – what then? They had already lost so many pureblood families because of the wars they fought for their Lord. The Blacks, McKinnons and Prewetts were dead, the Longbottoms, Weasleys and Bones would follow if their Lord reached power. The Lestrange name would die out with him and his brother. Bellatrix was too occupied by the Dark Lord to think about having a child, and his brother wasn't interested in procreating.

Truth be told, neither was he.

How many other families would lose their only children in this battle? The Dark Lord and Dumbledore had set the board for the war, but they had lost no one. The ones that would die would be the young, and they would take any hope of pure future with them.

So here he was, standing at the very place that Dumbledore had been killed and with him – they had hoped – the hope of his foolish followers.

From here, he could see the spells flying around the Entrance Hall. Flashes of scarlet red, emerald green and turquoise blue flew from the wands of the fighters. He wondered how many purebloods his darling wife had already killed. The fools were using spells like Stupefy and Expelliarmus in the face of her Avada Kedavras – they were sitting ducks until Potter came and saved them once again.

The great dream of pureblood supremacy he had always held dear was gone. Whichever way this war ended, there would be no more purebloods left to rule.

Rodolphus Lestrange was a proud pureblood. He would not see his world and everything he had fought for be destroyed or distorted by the hands of madmen and young boys.

Maybe he should have been imagining his wife and this moment, but his heart had never been held by her wild black curls and crazed smile. Instead he dreamed of hair cropped short by Azkaban wardens and a soul that was so much more innocent and delicate than his owner's body looked.

Once upon a time, the greatest sinner had fallen to his death from this Tower. Today, he would too.

It had a sort of odd symmetry to it all – the saint and the sinner, the red and the green.

The only thing he would regret was leaving Rab alone. But – his brother was so much more resourceful than anyone gave him credit for. He would find his way, and in time, he would forgive Rodolphus for leaving.

After all, he would be waiting for Rabastan in their eternity.

His eyes sought out his brother one last time before – well, before. Rab was fighting by Rookwood's side, and the last thing he needed was to be distracted by his brother's body.

"Avada Kedavra."

He would be wearing a hint of smile when they found his body the next day.