"Hello, Mum." Bellatrix drew into the lounge where her mother was waiting for her, and Druella rose, looking quite sad in a clasped deep plum robe. Her dark bobbed hair had been styled into waves that framed her thin face, and she studied Bellatrix as she nodded and sat back down at the little table. Bellatrix smiled a bit and started to make herself a cup of oolong tea. She set it on the table and let it steep, and she said to Druella,

"Thanks for coming. I wanted to make sure you were all right. I'd heard that Andromeda was married, and then with me getting into trouble…"

"I'm just glad you weren't arrested," Druella said tightly. She sipped at her rose tea and sniffed, her hand shaking a little as the teacup clattered a little on the saucer. She set it all down and huffed. "I've known for years you'd be fighting for him. It's been my worst fear… losing you to someone's Killing Curse. Somehow, it's even more terrible that you don't remember me braiding your hair before bed when you were little."

Bellatrix's eyes burned a bit, and she asked, "You braided my hair?"

"Of course I did." Druella seemed like she was about to cry. She nodded and said, "I'd put you and Andy into the bath tub. Wash you both. Then I'd put in fresh water for Cissy and wash her up whilst you two giggled your towels. Then I'd dry off Cissy's and Andy's hair; theirs was easy. But yours always needed braiding, and I didn't mind. I'd look at your pretty little face in my boudoir mirror and hum little songs to you and kiss your cheek and tell you goodnight."

"Oh." Bellatrix's throat felt tight all of a sudden. She raised her eyes and carefully reached inside the sleeve of her dress for her wand. She met her mother's face and asked, "What would you do if they sent Andromeda to your house?"

Druella sighed. "I'd have to send her away. She's… she belongs to them now. They'll try and use her against me. That's what your father says. They'll try and use Andy to get to you, to Cissy. To the Dark Lord."

"And would you turn her in? Would you treat her like an enemy?" Bellatrix demanded softly. Druella hesitated, and Bellatrix thought, Confundo. Druella vibrated hard where she sat, and then her eyes glazed over and Bellatrix whispered, "If they were to try and use Andromeda against you, you must treat her like your very worst enemy."

Druella nodded solemnly. "I'd send for the Dark Lord at once. She is gone from our family."

Confundo, Bellatrix thought again, and once more Druella buzzed where she sat. Bellatrix breathed in and out to steady her magic, and she said gently,

"You have two daughters who love you very much. Andromeda is not your daughter any more. She is your enemy, and you'd need to treat her as such if ever she came to your doorway. Do you understand?"

"Of course I understand." Druella nodded vigorously. "Albus Dumbledore wants to destroy everything. He would try to use Andromeda against us, but he would fail. They would all fail."

"Yes. Well done, Mum." Bellatrix tucked her wand away and cleared her throat gently. She flashed her mother a tiny little smile and said, "I'll have to try rose tea like you. I don't remember many types of tea."

"Well, you never much cared for the really dark, heavily caffeinated black teas," Druella said. "You always seemed to much prefer a more delicate tea, which was funny to me."

"Funny?" Bellatrix asked, and her mother shrugged.

"You are not a delicate girl, Bella; you never have been."

"Oh." Bellatrix shrugged. She dragged her finger over her teacup and asked softly, "Did Daddy have mistresses?"

Druella was quiet for a long moment, and then at last she said, "Your marriage to Rodolphus was carefully arranged, Bellatrix, but if he's mistreating you or if you are unhappy…"

Bellatrix narrowed her eyes. "We aren't unhappy," she said in a cautious voice, "but where are you going with this? Are you implying that there's a way out? I thought Purebloods scowled at the very notion of divorce."

"Well, of course," Druella nodded. "But your circumstances are more than a little unusual; you don't even remember your wedding day. I think if the two of you signed documents amicably splitting, and you had our support… are you displeased with your situation?"

Bellatrix thought about how she'd woken tangled up with Voldemort, about how Rodolphus was trying to woo the unmarried but very sweet Clara Abbott. Bellatrix gulped and told her mother,

"Rodolphus and I have separate… targets of our affections."

Druella shifted where she sat and her cheeks pinked. "I thought… forgive me, but I'd thought he had Stella Nott. But she's married."

"I've given him my full blessing to pursue someone else," Bellatrix said, "and I've got someone of my own."

"How is that possible?" Druella snapped, and Bellatrix pinched her lips. A sudden look of realisation came over Druella's face, and her lips parted in shock.

"Him?" she breathed, shaking her head a little. "No. Bella, you must be careful. He's too powerful. Too dangerous. You can't be…"

"Are you suggesting that Rodolphus and I could get an amicable divorce with yours and Daddy's blessing so that there was no social ramification?" Bellatrix asked, and Druella shook her head again.

"You need to be careful. This is frightening to me, the thought of you… Bellatrix, you've got a marriage. Stay with it and -"

"I'd like to divorce Rodolphus," Bellatrix said firmly. "I'd like to get papers drawn up to divorce Rodolphus. He'll do it in a flash. I know he will."

"Bellatrix," Druella said, shutting her eyes, and Bellatrix thought, Confundo.

Druella vibrated very vigorously where sat, and Bellatrix said quite firmly,

"You and Daddy really should help Rodolphus and me draw up amicable divorce papers. That way, he'll be free to pursue his new romantic pursuit, and I'll be free to be with whomever I please. Don't you want your daughter happy?"

"Of course I do," Druella nodded. Bellatrix smirked and nodded.

"So you'll talk to Daddy and have him and Rodolphus get the papers together?"

"Of course I will," Druella said, sipping her tea. Bellatrix sighed and thought again, Confundo.

"And if Andromeda were to come to you for any reason…?"

"She is an enemy," Druella said. Bellatrix smiled a little and released her slight grip on her wand, sliding it back into her sleeve.

"Thank you so much, Mum, for coming to tea."

"My Lord. Thank you for seeing me whilst the ladies have tea." Cygnus Black III sat slowly in the chair opposite Lord Voldemort in his office. Voldemort nodded and folded his hands on his desk.

"How are you holding up?" he asked flatly, and Cygnus hesitated.

"I feel like I've lost everything, My Lord," he said at last. "My eldest daughter. My middle daughter. My mother. So much loss recently."

"Well, you haven't lost Bella," Voldemort said, immediately wishing he'd used her full name. He frowned at himself, and Cygnus seemed mildly confused, but he just gave Voldemort a sad look and said,

"She doesn't remember when she was a little girl and I'd push her in the little swing in our garden," Cygnus said sorrowfully. "She doesn't remember the day we sent her off to Hogwarts for the first time, when she touched my hand through the glass of the Hogwarts Express. I do feel like I've lost her, a bit. Not as badly as Andromeda, but… still."

"I am taking good care of Bellatrix," Voldemort said, almost harshly. Cygnus' brows furrowed, and he studied Voldemort's face a little. He nodded.

"Thank you, Master."

"I wish… erm… I hope that she and Rodolphus might be presented with the option of an easy, friendly divorce, if they wish it," Voldemort said very delicately, measuring his words. "They are friends. Good friends. But they should each be free to pursue… erm… other options."

"Other options." Cygnus seemed a bit perplexed. "Stella Nott got married."

Voldemort flicked his eyes toward the bookshelf beside him, and he said delicately,

"She is different now than she was before, and both she and Rodolphus care deeply for one another. They want the others' happiness. That does not mean a romantic life together, and Bellatrix deserves better than to be the wife of a husband with a mistress. She deserves… erm… she deserves…"

"My Lord?" Cygnus' voice was very quiet then, and Voldemort sighed as he turned his face toward the man who had once been a younger, clinging student when he himself had been Tom Riddle. He could read the question in Cygnus' face, and Voldemort just nodded silently. Cygnus touched at his forehead and looked surprised, but he licked his bottom lip and said,

"I think Rodolphus would be happier if he were allowed to chase after Clara Abbott on his own, and I think Bellatrix would be happier… you know what I'm getting at, I think, Cygnus; you're a bright man."

"I'll speak to Rodolphus," Cygnus nodded, "and to Bellatrix, of course."

"Good man." Voldemort nodded crisply and sat in silence for a while, and then he finally said, "You may go now. Go ahead and fetch Druella. When you say farewell to Bellatrix, send her in here, will you?"

"Yes, My Lord," Cygnus said. After he'd gone, Voldemort stood and stared out his office window onto the gardens below, watching Druella and Cygnus head out the front door. After awhile, Bellatrix knocked on his office door, and he reached over his shoulder to wandlessly open the door for her. She walked up behind him, her footsteps soft on the ground, and Voldemort asked quietly,

"Did you Confound your mother successfully?"

"Yes, Master," Bellatrix said. "I also found out that Rodolphus and I could get a divorce without it being a social nightmare. I had absolutely no idea that was possible."

Voldemort frowned at the window. "You didn't know that?"

"No." Bellatrix came up to stand beside him, and he silently reached to snare his fingers through his. He gulped and admitted,

"I might have been discussing that very issue with your father in here. I… I think perhaps you and Rodolphus might be better off as friends. If he were free to pursue Clara Abbott or whomever else and you were… if you were free to…"

"To be fully yours with absolutely no barrier to that?" Bellatrix suggested, and Voldemort struggled to make a sound then.

"Yes."

Bellatrix squeezed at his fingers.

"All you have to do is command Rodolphus. He will obey you. He'll sign whatever papers you will him to sign. And my parents will, too."

Voldemort let out a shaking little breath and turned his face toward Bellatrix as he informed her crisply,

"I would never marry you in a thousand years, you realise. You'd always be Bellatrix Lestrange."

"I know." She curled up her lips and reached for his jaw. "But he'd be free to marry whatever girl he wanted, whatever girl wanted him back, and I'd be yours in a way that convinced even you. Master."

"I'll see to it that the papers are drawn up," Voldemort nodded, looking back out the window. "Well done Confounding your mother."

Author's Note: For mental health reasons, this story may need to go on hiatus for an indefinite period of time that I hope turns out to be short. I am not mentally well at the moment (if you've followed me in the past, you'll know that I have Schizoaffective Disorder, Bipolar Type as well as OCD, PTSD, and hypergraphia). I may be headed inpatient tonight, and they don't allow computers in there. Apologies for any delays in updates and I thank you for your readership and understanding.