For someone so intelligent, she could be a complete fool.
Voldemort sloshed chicken soup out of his bowl in anger as he ate it with hasty motions, and he angrily Vanished it with wandless magic. He huffed and narrowed his eyes, shoving his mostly-empty bowl away and barking,
"Dobby!"
Soon enough, the House-Elf appeared in his office, and Voldemort snapped,
"I've finished eating."
"Yes, sir." Dobby sent the dishes dissolving into the air, sending them down to the kitchen through his strange magic, and Voldemort asked,
"Has she eaten? Bellatrix?"
"She… she is not here, sir," Dobby said cautiously, and Voldemort flew to his feet. He stalked around his desk and snatched Dobby's scrap of a garment, shaking the Elf a bit and growling,
"What do you mean, she's not here?"
"She… she told Dobby she was g-going to Castle Lestrange, sir," Dobby said. "She said she wanted to… to see her husband, sir."
Voldemort tossed Dobby roughly against the wall, and Dobby yelped in pain. Voldemort snarled and whipped his wand out, throwing open the door to his office and stalking with long strides down the corridor to the foyer where he could Disapparate. As soon as he could, he whirled to his right and came to outside the heavy wooden doors of Castle Lestrange, which were, to his chagrin, heavily warded.
He slammed his fist against the door and barked,
"Bellatrix!"
After an interminable moment of standing in the drizzling rain, the door slowly opened and a shivering little House-Elf, an old female called Plonky, whispered,
"Please, sir, do come in."
"Out of my way." Voldemort kicked the House-Elf aside and shoved his way into the gothic, arched entryway of the castle. "Bellatrix! Get out here! Now!"
"She is in the lounge with my masters," Plonky whispered, twining her long fingers together. Voldemort pinched his lips and adjusted his grip on his wand, for he could hear Bellatrix laughing in the distance. He felt so angry that his ears were ringing and he was dizzy as he stalked down the elaborate rug running through the stone corridor. He finally reached an open archway leading to an elegant lounge, and suddenly he wished he hadn't let four hours pass since he'd sent Bellatrix out of his office. She'd apparently used that time to come here and socialise and drink.
"Hello," he said lightly as he entered the lounge. Rabastan and Rodolphus flew to their feet, both of them obviously tipsy. Voldemort was infuriated to see that Rodolphus had had his arm round Bellatrix's shoulders on a sofa before he'd stood, and he panted through his nose as Bellatrix met his eyes and slowly set her drink down. She brushed at her skirts and stood, wobbling a little, and he tipped his head.
"You did not have my permission to be here," he informed her crisply, and Rabastan Lestrange muttered,
"Master, may I be excused?"
"You may not," he replied, keeping his eyes on Bellatrix. Rabastan leaned onto the back of a chair to steady himself, and Bellatrix shrugged a little as she told Voldemort,
"I live here."
"For now, you reside at Malfoy Manor under my supervision, owing to the terrible damage your brain suffered in battle," he clipped. "You are not to leave unless I give you permission, and I did not give you permission. Come back with me. Now."
"I'd rather stay here," she said, and suddenly Rodolphus grabbed at her wrist and hissed into her ear,
"You're going to get yourself - all of us - killed. Stop this, Bella. I told you that you shouldn't have come. Go with him."
"You think you can tell me what to do. He thinks he can tell me what to do." Bellatrix yanked her wrist away from Rodolphus and snarled, "You can both bugger straight off."
"Bellatrix!" Voldemort was shaking a little now, aiming his wand at her, and he sent her crashing to her knees with a wandless spell. She gasped and glared up at him, and he informed her, "You are my servant. Serve me or die. Apologise and pledge your respect to me, or a green flash will be the last thing you see."
Bellatrix furrowed her brows and started to reach for her wand, but Voldemort shook his head, shocked by her insolence, and he whispered,
"Expelliarmus."
Her wand flew into his left hand, and he tucked it away, saying,
"This is mine until future notice. Apologise. Tell me you're very sorry for going to London without permission, for coming here without permission. Apologise and pledge me your respect. Now."
"Bella, do it," Rodolphus said desperately, and Rabastan murmured,
"Come on, Bells."
Bellatrix's eyes welled heavily, and she finally shrugged and said lightly,
"Fine. I'm so sorry, Master. So sorry that after waking up naked in your arms this morning and realising my hair needed a trim, I decided to go get one. I'm so sorry that I dared walk into public, and that I Stunned an Auror and escaped arrest. Let's not forget why I'm wanted in the first place - for torturing your enemy in battle. I'm very sorry for spending time with my actual husband. So sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Bellatrix," Rodolphus whined, sounding terrified, and Voldemort slashed his wand toward Bellatrix and exclaimed,
"Flipendo Tria!"
A blue whirlwind of sparks swallowed Bellatrix up and threw her so roughly against the wall that she screamed in pain and crumpled to the ground like a rag doll. Rodolphus made a move toward her, but Voldemort barked at him,
"Stay where you are."
He stared at Bellatrix as she staggered up to her feet, blood trickling from a lip that appeared to have been split open. Voldemort's chest pulled painfully at the sight of her bleeding, at the sight of her lip burst open like that, and he dug his top teeth into his own lip as he mumbled,
"Get over here."
She stumbled toward him, tripping a little and catching Rodolphus' arm for support on her way. When she neared Voldemort, she sank to her knees, blood running down her face and dripping off her chin. She reached up and swiped it away with her wrist, approaching Voldemort on her knees. She crawled toward him with her hands folded before her as if in prayer, and she sniffed with her head bowed. Rodolphus and Rabastan looked utterly terrified where they stood, and the brothers glanced at one another with fear as Bellatrix bent down to brush her lips against the hem of Voldemort's robes.
"I should not have gone anywhere without your permission, Master," she said softly. "I am sorry. I will be your obedient soldier. I promise it."
"Good girl. Stand," Voldemort said. She tried to do as he commanded, but it seemed like her knees were sore from being thrown against the wall. He reached for her elbow and helped her stand, and she nodded her thanks. More blood was trickling down over her face, and Voldemort pinched his lips and shook his head at her. He brushed his wand over her face and murmured, "Episkey. Tergeo. Scourgify."
Her lip knitted itself up, and the blood siphoned and was cleansed away. Bellatrix tipped her chin up a little and nodded at Voldemort, who bent to brush her lips against his. His breath mingled with hers as he murmured,
"Don't you ever disobey me again. Not ever again. You understand me?"
"I understand, Master," Bellatrix whispered, and he kissed her more deeply, snaring his fingers into her curls and delved his tongue between her lips, and he laced his fingers through hers and pulled away.
"Come with me now," he said quietly, and Bellatrix obeyed.
"I'm sorry," Bellatrix mumbled, sitting up in her bed. Voldemort sighed, combing his hair in front of her mirror, standing with a towel round his waist. He'd taken a long shower whilst she'd readied herself for bed, and now he'd scrubbed his teeth and was about to put his pyjamas on. Bellatrix sounded desperate as she apologised for what had to be the hundredth time. "I'm sorry!"
"Enough." Voldemort walked out into her bedroom, walking over to the neatly folded black pyjamas that he'd Summoned from his own suite. He picked up his underwear and pulled off the towel, wandlessly Banishing it to the bathroom. He stood there naked before her for a moment, letting her study him as she chewed her lip, and he cocked up an eyebrow.
He tossed his underwear down and slowly approached the bed, and as Bellatrix's chest rose and fell quickly beneath her scant little nightgown, Voldemort felt himself go a little hard. He climbed onto the bed, slithering beneath the blankets, and he rotated until he was on top of Bellatrix, hovering above her.
"You will obey what I tell you from now on," he whispered. "If they'd arrested you in Diagon Alley, I would have been upset about more than just the loss of a good soldier and some information. I was upset about you sitting and drinking with Rodolphus' arm around you without my permission. Do you understand?"
He watched her eyes flash beneath him, and as he shoved her legs apart and put his fingers between her thighs, she nodded. He felt a flush of damp heat there, moistening her folds and making his fingers slide around, and he bent down until his lips were pressed beneath her ear. He kissed her there, pulsing his fingers, and he listened to her breath quicken.
"I did not want to hurt you," he informed her. "You left me no choice. You were being a fool, and I had no choice as your master."
"I'm sorry," she said again, lacing her arms up and around his shoulders. She kissed his bicep and whispered, "I'll be obedient to you. I promise."
"Don't lose your fire, Bella, but you have to listen. I will not have you getting arrested or… or…"
Sitting drunk with Rodolphus' arm around you, he left unsaid, but he knew, somehow, that she understood. He gulped hard and kissed her mouth, being careful since he'd split her lip earlier. But she kissed him back in earnest, and so he deepened it, lining himself up and thrusting his cock into her in a fluid motion. He began to pump his hips, to enter and leave her in motions that felt so divinely fulfilling. He eyes rolled back a little at the feel of her snug and warm around him, and when her thighs tightened round his hips, he whispered,
"You know I love you."
She kissed his shoulder and reached up to cradle his face, and she mumbled again, "I'm sorry."
"Say it back," he commanded her, jerking his hips hard as everything started to go tight and hot. She whispered it over and over again then. I love you. I love you, Master. It did him in to hear her saying it, chanting it, and he let his seed leap into her and fill her up. He kissed her deeply, moaning against her lips and then panting against her neck, and he finally lay on his back beside her and encouraged her to curl up against him. He kissed at her damp forehead and combed his fingers through the curls she'd been desperate to have neatly trimmed. He sighed and told her,
"The next time you need something like a haircut, let me know and it will be arranged in a way that prevents you going into public unnecessarily. Once I'm in power, you'll practically own Diagon Alley, Bella."
She kissed his chest and said quietly, "All right. I'm sorry."
"I do not want you spending time alone with Rodolphus without my permission. You are mine," he said firmly, and Bellatrix stroked at his sparse chest hair and said even more sincerely,
"I am very sorry."
"Stop apologising," he snapped. "Enough. I want to go to sleep and wake up with this all behind us."
She was quiet for a long while, and then at last she whispered. "Goodnight, Master."
He petted her curls and kissed her forehead again, shutting his eyes as he mumbled, "Night, Bella."
Author's Note: Oh, Bellatrix. Her attitude finally got the better of her, and Voldemort isn't exactly one to be trifled with when it comes to obedience. What will the Daily Prophet have to say about Bellatrix's little outburst in Diagon Alley? Eek! Thanks as always for reading and reviewing!