"Oh, Bellatrix. How good it is to see you… Rodolphus said that you'd been injured! I certainly hope you're back to normal now." Druella Rosier Black swept into the lounge at Malfoy Manor, where she'd been invited for an afternoon tea. Abraxas' wife, Bettina, had arranged the tea on the grounds of seeing her old friend Druella along with Bellatrix, who was healing at the manor, but of course neither Bettina nor Druella knew the truth of Bellatrix's condition.
"Hello, Mum," Bellatrix said with a small smile, and when she embraced the witch, the feeling was foreign and distant. Her mother was a bit taller than her, and very bony. She did not feel very warm. She was handsomely dressed, in flowing violet silk robes with crystal ornamentation. Her black hair had been styled carefully into waves. She was pretty, and looked quite a lot like Bellatrix in many ways, but Bellatrix did not know her. Not at all.
"You seem tired, dear," Druella mused, petting at Bellatrix's curls. "Are you getting enough sleep? Just a drop or two of Dreamless Sleep in your chamomile tea at night will help; you know that."
"Yes, Mum," Bellatrix said numbly. She forced a little smile, and Bettina Malfoy, who was blonde and seemed airheaded, said,
"Let's sit and have tea, shall we? How are Narcissa and Andromeda, Druella?"
"Well, they're still at school, and they barely write," Druella complained. She gave Bellatrix a meaningful look and said solemnly, "None of my daughters write, but, then, I suppose that's a mother's curse."
"I've been healing up from a bad injury," Bellatrix reminded her crisply, and Druella nodded as she said sharply to Dobby,
"Rose tea for me."
Dobby began making cups of tea for the witches, and Druella took hers as she said,
"Yes, dear. Of course. You're quite right. Cissy used to write, but, Bettina, I think she's so in love with your son that she can't be bothered with her mummy anymore!"
The two witches chuckled, and Bellatrix asked carefully,
"Lucius and Narcissa… are they… betrothed?"
Druella looked at Bellatrix like she had three heads. "They had an infant betrothal, Bellatrix; you've known about it for nearly fifteen years. What, dd you hit your head or something?"
She began to laugh, but then Bellatrix mumbled, "Something like that."
She accepted her cup of tea from Dobby, the same type she'd been drinking for days now, and her mother scowled.
"Darjeeling? You always liked green tea with honey."
"I'm allowed to like more than one sort of tea," Bellatrix snapped, and when Druella looked a little scandalised, Bettina Malfoy said in an airy sort of voice,
"Green tea is too bitter for me. I like my tea with milk. Nice and sweet, too."
"Quite, so, Bettina," Druella said, giving Bellatrix a nasty look.
"Lucius is playing Keeper this year for Slytherin, you know," Bettina informed Bellatrix, and Bellatrix nodded as though she cared. She blinked and wondered aloud,
"Did he not play Keeper last year?"
"You know he was shut out of the squad by that Half-Blood boy last term," Druella hissed. "Honestly, Bellatrix, what is the matter with you?"
Bellatrix felt like this meeting was not going well. She cleared her throat and asked,
"Is Father meeting with the Dark Lord in his office?"
"Father? He'd be hurt to hear you'd stopped calling him Daddy." Druella narrowed her eyes, gave Bettina a worried look, and said, "I think she really did hit her head."
"I just haven't been thinking clearly since the… accident. Sorry." Bellatrix huffed a breath and said, "I'm going to go say a quick hello to Daddy, and then I think I ought to go lie down and rest. Being up for too long gives me terrible headaches."
"Should I be worried, Bellatrix?" Druella stood with Bellatrix, who shrugged and insisted,
"I'm under the Dark Lord's care. You have nothing to worry about. And the Malfoys are being very hospitable."
"Stay for tea, Druella," Bettina insisted, and Druella nodded as she kissed Bellatrix's cheek.
"Be well, dear," she said worriedly. Bellatrix nodded and made her way down the corridor to Voldemort's office, where she found her father, Cygnus Black standing and chatting amicably with Lord Voldemort. Her father worked in finances for Voldemort, she knew, but he was not a Death Eater. When she appeared in the doorway, Voldemort smiled a little at her and said,
"Speak of the devil, and she shall appear."
"I'm a devil now, am I?" Bellatrix teased. Cygnus shifted on his feet, and Bellatrix smiled a bit at him. "Hullo, Daddy. Just wanted to stop in, but I've developed an awful headache. I think I should lie down."
Voldemort gave her a knowing look, and he said, almost with warning in his voice,
"If you're getting those headaches again, you know what to do. Dark room. Silence."
"Yes, sir." Bellatrix nodded respectfully. "Daddy, do tell Mum I'm sorry I couldn't linger longer for tea, will you? And that I'm sorry I was… erm… confused."
"Confused? Is everything all right, darling?" Cygnus approached Bellatrix, but she recoiled a little when he reached for her. He was, to her, a strange middle-aged man, not a father who had loved her her whole life. He certainly noticed the way she pulled back, and he lowered his arm, looking concerned. He just quirked up half his mouth and told her, "Feel better, sweet girl. I know you're in capable hands whilst you heal."
"I am." She nodded vigorously and promised Cygnus, "The Dark Lord is seeing to it that I heal properly."
"Why don't you go lie down in the dark and quiet?" Voldemort's voice was almost stern, and she knew why. She was off. She wasn't herself around her parents, and they were noticing. She just nodded, bowing her head, and she gave her father a bit of an awkward embrace. He frowned but told her,
"Feel better soon, Bella, dear."
"Thanks, Daddy. Goodbye, My Lord." Bellatrix left the office, shuddering with discomfort as she walked as quickly as she could down the corridor and up the stairs to the burgundy suite.
"Bellatrix."
She blinked her eyes open to see Voldemort standing in her bedroom, and she yelped in surprise. She'd dozed off, she thought. She sat up and gasped, and he cocked up an eyebrow.
"You know, you didn't actually have to lie down in the dark and quiet."
"Well, it did really give me a headache, talking to them," Bellatrix complained. "I didn't know them. It felt like I was play-acting, like I was pretending to be someone else. Can they really never know what's happened to me?"
"No. Absolutely not." Voldemort shook his head firmly. "Mulciber, Malfoy, and the Lestranges have been sworn to secrecy. The Auror who did it to you has been killed. Knowing that you've been Obliviated would be a key point of knowledge and would serve as a key weakness for us. I'm afraid play-acting is the way of the future for you. If that means distancing your relationships in certain ways, fine. We can tell them that your mind was slightly damaged by a spell, but…"
He shrugged a little, and she told him,
"My mother's a bit mousy, isn't she? She talks like a mouse."
Voldemort snorted a laugh and sat on the edge of Bellatrix's bed. She moved to sit beside him, and he told her,
"She was always a bit haughty, even in school."
"You knew her in school?" Bellatrix marveled, and he raised his eyebrows.
"Tom Riddle's gang included many Slytherins, included Cygnus Black III, who was betrothed to Druella Rosier. Yes. I knew them in school. They're three years younger."
"Oh." Bellatrix blinked a few times and studied him, his harsh and angular face, and he looked a little self-conscious all of a sudden. She swallowed hard and decided to be brave. The worst he could do was shove her hand away. She reached up to hold his jaw in her hand, and she informed him truthfully, "It's rather attractive, you know… how much older than me you are."
He scoffed and shook his head, insisting, "You like powerful men, and that means older men. That's all."
"I think I just like you," she shrugged helplessly. "I seem to have liked you quite a lot before. I think I like you now."
He lowered his eyes and shook his head a little, and he told her,
"I'm not going to give you a new memory of sex."
"Why not?" Bellatrix demanded. When he glared at her, she insisted, "I am more than willing. All I want is a… sample."
"A sample," Voldemort repeated incredulously. "Am I a grocer?"
"No." Bellatrix felt frustrated. "I just… want it. And I've yet to hear a good reason from you why you don't. If you feel no desire toward me, then -"
"That's not it at all," Voldemort clipped, and Bellatrix blustered,
"Well, what is it, then?"
"I have work to do!" Voldemort insisted.
"Right this very minute?" Bellatrix demanded exasperatedly, and Voldemort's cheeks went red.
"You know what I mean."
"I'm afraid I do not," she whispered, and then she added, "Master."
He grabbed at her face then, making her gasp, and he held her tightly as he told her, "I can not afford to become mentally distracted by you."
Bellatrix threw up an eyebrow. "So having sex instead of just thinking about it will lead to more distraction?"
"What makes you believe I've been thinking about sex with you?" Voldemort pinched his lips, and Bellatrix laughed a little.
"Your eyes give you away," she informed him. He looked defensive then, and his dark gaze glittered strangely. Bellatrix nodded. "I could see it when I walked into your office. I could see it this morning at breakfast. I know what you've been thinking about."
"You're no Legilimens," he taunted her, and she tipped her head and retorted back,
"Who needs Legilimency when the eyes opposite you are so very transparent? Master?"
"Bella." He was breathing quickly now, and she just nodded.
"Yes."
He huffed, seeming irritated and resigned, and he shut his eyes. His voice was softer then, just above a whisper, as he touched his forehead to hers and mumbled, "Bella."
"Yes," she whispered, and he admitted,
"I want to craft a new memory for you."
"Thank you." She kissed him then, reaching her mouth boldly toward hers, and he was more than receptive to the kiss. He groaned a little when Bellatrix pushed her tongue up between his lips and dragged it around his mouth. He started to push her back onto the bed, and she instinctively moved until she was lying back against the pillows. He came with her, following her until he was lying above her, and he moved his mouth from hers. He urged her to tip her face back, and Bellatrix gasped when he put his mouth to her neck.
Suddenly she'd flushed wet between her legs, because he was licking from the crook of her neck to the spot below her ear, then sucking there, over and over, in long, slow strokes. It felt good, so good, and she held his head in her hands because it seemed like the right thing to do. His hair was rough and coarse beneath her hands, which she liked. She blinked slowly as he sucked harder on her neck, and she worried,
"You'll mark me up."
"Oh, again?" he teased, and she couldn't help laughing. He kissed her mouth so firmly then that Bellatrix couldn't breathe, and finally he broke away and used his right hand to edge up her black velvet skirt. Bellatrix helped him, wriggling out of her black knickers as he edged them down. She kicked them away, and she felt dizzy as Voldemort's fingers trailed up the inside of her leg.
"You've never done this?" she asked in disbelief, and he confirmed breathlessly,
"Not with you, no."
"Mmph." Bellatrix fisted at the blankets as Voldemort's fingers dragged over her wet entrance, the pads of this fingertips gliding along her slick folds and then toying with her sensitised clit. Bellatrix moaned softly, and he surprised her by kissing the other side of her neck as he pushed one, then two fingers inside of her and twisted. That felt good, she thought. So good. His thumb flicked at her clit and his tongue dug against her neck, and after a few minutes of sweeping, solid movements, Bellatrix started to feel a coiling in her belly, a deep and solid heat in her core, and she murmured,
"I think I'm going to… oh… oh… I think…"
"Come for me," Voldemort murmured against her neck. He seemed worked up himself; his breath was hot and shallow and his voice was far more rickety than she was used to hearing it be. He deepened the strokes of his tongue and his fingers, and he hummed against her skin, and Bellatrix snapped. She cried out, arching her back and feeling her body snapping and clenching around his fingers. His mouth was on hers again then, and she moaned loudly against his lips, her hands holding his face and shaking like mad.
She was still coming down from the high, from the heat and the buzzing, when he sat up and informed her,
"There's your memory, Bellatrix."
She felt a little confused. That wasn't sex, was it? She sat up slowly, her neck feeling bruised and her body still throbbing with satisfaction. He handed her her knickers, which she slid on, and she glanced between his legs, unable to discern anything through his thick layers of robes.
"Aren't you meant to put your erect penis inside of me?" she asked, and he just shook his head as he told her,
"Today was… I want you to remember what it means to feel pleasure at someone else's hand. That's all."
"Oh." Bellatrix was abruptly embarrassed, and she gulped as she nodded and said, "Well… thanks. That was… erm… that was really nice."
He smirked and tipped his head. "Really nice, eh? I appreciate the glowing review. As for the other things… some other time, perhaps. We'll work with the Pensieve tomorrow. I think you've had more than enough today, what with meeting your parents and… making new memories."
Bellatrix smiled a bit at him and asked,
"When can I fight for you again?
He tucked her curls behind her ear, looking thoughtful, and then he reached into his robes and pulled out a strange, bent wand. He handed it to her, and she realised it was hers. It felt good in her hand. Natural. He nodded and said,
"I trust you not to hex me now. We'll keep working with the Pensieve, and we'll get you practising duelling with Rodolphus and Rabastan over the next week or so. The next time there's a battle that you're fit to fight, you'll fight."
She wrapped her fingers carefully around her wand, feeling her eyes well a little, and she nodded at him.
"Thank you, My Lord."
He just stared at her for a long moment, his dark eyes shining just like they had in the memories, in a way that gave him right away, and he said quietly,
"Have a good night, Bella."
He rose and slowly walked out of her room, out of the suite, leaving Bellatrix pink-cheeked and satisfied and holding her wand.
Author's Note: Whew! Well, they finally did something substantial. And I think it's clear they are strongly attracted to each other. Now what happens when he sees her conduct dueling training with Rodolphus and Rabastan? And what other memories will she see in the Pensieve? Mwah hahaha.