Chapter 3
Lucius swiftly walked down his prolonged and over exaggerated hallway to his office. He was about to train Draco in the Dark Arts when he become conscience that he had forgotten his cane, furthermore his wand. What he found was what no one would ever expect. Slouching in his chair holding a fire whiskey beaker was none other than Bellatrix Lestrange.
"My God Bella, wake up. What happened?" Lucius asked running to Bellatrix's aide. Drowsily lifting her head, she looked around the room in confusion as if forgetting where she was and how she got there. Staring at Lucius, who was anxiously awaiting her answer, she finally spoke.
"Well last thing I remember, I was meeting with the Dark Lord and then-" Bellatrix trailed off gazing deeper into Lucius's eyes. Thinking she was trying to read his mind, Lucius instantly broke away.
"And then?" Lucius asked. Avoiding her eye contact, he poured himself some fire whiskey and sat in the chair opposite of her.
"I never realized how big your eyes are," Bellatrix replied. Purely out of shock, Lucius spit out his fire whiskey all over his classic, and over expensive, oak desk.
"What?" Lucius questioned. After seeing the unusually happy expression on her face he added, "you're kidding right?"
"Why would I be kidding?" Bellatrix asked offended, pouting her thick lips.
"Ha ha, very funny. Now I'll just take my cane and leave," he said sarcastically, reaching for his cane.
"But I don't want you to leave," she whined. "Can't you just stay a little longer?"
"On second thought, Narcissa is waiting for me, so I'll just be on my way. Coming honey!" Lucius called to the empty hallway. There were only two problems; one was that he still needed his wand. The second, however, was Bellatrix leaning over his desk desperately wanting to get closer. Scared that this was one of her cruel jokes, he backed up further in his chair.
Hearing footsteps was relieving to Lucius, until he realized that Bellatrix had gotten on top of him. Struggling to get her off, he pushed and kicked with all of his might, too bad that wasn't much.
"Lucius, the Dark Lo- Oh my Lily, what is going on?" Too late. Fortunately, Lucius recognized the voice as Snape's. Anything's better than Narcissa at this moment.
"Snape, why do you always have to ruin my fun?" Bellatrix sneered. She looked almost, like she meant it.
"Snape, don't just stand there. Help me!" Lucius yelped.
"Bella, step away from your brother-in-law," Snape threatened, more like reminded, with a sly smile creeping across his skinny face.
"Why should I?" Bellatrix challenged, reaching for her wand.
"Expelliarmus!" Snape shrieked, obviously liking the action. The spell so powerful, it sent her flying to the wall behind her.
"Why would you do that?" Bellatrix demanded, tearing up. Lucius looked from Snape to Bellatrix consecutively, unaware of what had happened. No threat? Not even an insult?
Eyebrow raised, Snape looked around the room suspiciously, resting his eyes on something. Lucius followed Snape's gaze, and noticed it had fixed itself on the single beaker that was resting on his office desk.
Confused, Lucius glared at Snape who was slowly and cautiously walking towards the beaker. Picking it up, he sniffed what was left inside, abruptly broke away, and muttered something quietly to himself.
"What? What is it?" Lucius asked, anxious for the meaning of all this.
"Ashwinder eggs, rose thorns, peppermint, and a hint of Moonstone. Ingredients of a love potion, and a very strong one by the look of it," Snape announced skeptically, more to Bellatrix than Lucius.
"How can you tell?" Lucius asked in pure shock.
"Mood swings, unexplainable change in her…love interest, and reddening of the cheeks," Snape said distantly still looking around for something else. "The only question is how she got it."
"She could have-"
"No, she would be in love with herself. More so than she is now," he replied, turning to Bellatrix who had started grooming Lucius' hair. Letting out a yelp in surprise, Lucius jumped out of his chair and ran over to Snape, using him as a human shield.
"The only explanation would be she somehow got a hold of one you made," Snape muttered, oblivious to the two running around him. Stopping dead in his tracks, Lucius stared bewildered at Snape's analysis.
"But I haven't made one since my 6th year. How could she-" Lucius tried to start, but was cut off by Bellatrix leaping on him, knocking him down to the floor.
"There is only one way to find out. Tie her up, she's finally going to tell a true tale for the first time in her life," Snape decided, grabbing a flask from inside his robes.
"With pleasure," Lucius replied crossly, taking what he had come to get and knocked Bellatrix on the back of her head, the force so strong, knocking her unconscious. I never thought I'd say this,but I miss the old Bella.
To her disgust, the first thing Bellatrix woke to was that greasy, blithering, half-blooded buffoon. Rolling her eyes, she caught glimpse of the most handsome creature on earth, her Lucius. Who cares about Narcissa? That man is mine, and I'll make sure that's the way it is.
Making her decision to bother her "only" sister, Bellatrix was about to apperate when she noticed she was tied up. Outraged, she struggled and writhed in her chair trying to get loose.
"Snape! I swear I'm gonna kill you when I get out of this!" she threatened. Man do I hate this guy! Is he? Yes, he is! Snape's smiling, well more like trying to.She was well aware Snape was enjoying every moment of this.
"I'm sure you will. Now, Lucius, open her mouth," Snape replied calmly.
"Do I have to?" Lucius whined.
"Do you want to find the answer to this, or not?" he answered, opening the flask he held in his hand.
"What is that?" Bellatrix questioned suspiciously. trying to hide the fact that inside, her heart was beating like a golden snitch's wings.
"Three drops of this and even the Dark Lord himself would spill out his innermost, darkest secrets. I am sure you've heard of it yourself, as it has been used on you before. If my memory serves me correctly, the Ministry gave you more than enough to spill your darkest secrets in your trial," Snape stated teasingly. It was only then did Bellatrix realize what their plan was. Veritaserum; the one potion Bellatrix found very amusing, if she wasn't on the other end.
"There are ways to block it-"
"Only the best of wizards can. And that would be giving you too much credit. Now, are the two of you going to cooperate? Or am I going to have to do everything myself?" Seeing Lucius' hesitance, Snape toke Bellatrix's strong jaw and forced it open. Squirming, Bellatrix tried to get away until she felt the flask being shoved down her thought. Abandoning her attempt to break away, she counted the drops as she felt them slid down her esophagus. One, two, three, four, five. Five seemed to be just what Snape wanted, because he instantly jerked the flask out of her mouth leaving her to cough.
"Now, tell me Bella. Did you steal from my stock at Hogwarts? If so, how did you get in? Did you use polyjuice potion to become Minerva McGonagall?" Snape interrogated, slow enough for her to understand.
"Yeah, and why are you in love with me?" Lucius added.
"Let me see. That's a no, no, and because you, and your hair, are perfect," Bellatrix answered sincerely.
"It's worse than I thought," Snape muttered to himself.
"What's wrong with my hair?" Lucius challenged offended, petting his long, golden hair.
"Can I go now?"
"Not until I know what's going on. Were you, in any way, associated with my missing stock?" Snape asked eagerly.
"Yes," Bellatrix claimed, trying to show Snape off.
"I see. How, exactly were you involved?"
"I asked… someone to do it for me since they were already doing something in Hogwarts for the Dark Lord," Bellatrix replied, being extra careful not to say who that person was.
"That's all I needed to know. Lucius, go fetch me Crouch," Snape said turning to Lucius. Seeing both of their stunned faces, he merely rolled his eyes and put the half filled flask back in his robes.
"How- how-" Bellatrix stuttered, her mouth agape.
"How did I know it was Crouch? One of two reasons. One, you need to work on your Occlumency. Two, the Dark Lord tells me just about everything. If there is something he is still indecisive on, he'll seek my advise," he explained, very full of himself. The air head.
"The Dark Lord told you?"
"Indeed. Why does this surprise you? You do know that I am his most trusted servant, correct?" Snape inquired, amused at her reaction.
"Yes, but-"
"And he thinks that I am far more useful."
"Yes, but-"
"Then why do you still doubt me?" Snape questioned, forgetting Lucius was in fact still in the room.
"I'm jealous, okay? You happy now, Snivellus?" Bellatrix tormented, happy to see the anger arise from Snape. "That's right, I know all about that. I am, after all, Sirius' cousin. Aw, poor little Sev doesn't like the name does he?"
"Don't you dare call me that!" Snape screamed, for the second time in his life, losing his emotions. Quickly taking out his wand, Snape untied Bellatrix, challenging her to a duel. Finally, Bellatrix thought with a cross smirk creeping across her face.
"Hello, forgetting a very important person over here," Lucius called trying to stop the fight.
"As much as I agree with you on that one sugar, I have to do this," Bellatrix replied under gritted teeth.
"Great, pet names, just what I need."
"Crucio!" Bellatrix screamed, pointing her wand at Snape. The battle between sane and the not so sane had begun.
"Avis," Snape shouted calmly. Out of his wand came a flock of small birds, some of which were hit with the Cruciatus curse. The remaining made their way to his opponent.
"Oppugno!" The spell had hit the birds, making them switch direction.
"Confringo!" The birds had disappeared in flames. It was a wonder to Bellatrix how he could keep calm, even in the heat of battle.
"Anteoculatia!" Snape tried to think of a counter curse, but she was to fast. She suppressed a little giggle when she saw him with the ridicules antlers on his head. Quite an improvement, he's surely going to love that. She was right; panic arose in his eyes as his hands examined his newly grown antlers.
"Densaugeo!" This time it was Snape's turn to laugh. Bellatrix suddenly felt a great deal of weight growing in her mouth. Feeling her teeth, she found they had grown down to her collarbone.
"Why, you little-" Looking for something to help aide her in Snape's defeat, she found that the whole room was covered with peacock designed stained glass windows. Perfect, all I need now is a distraction.
"Crucio, Crucio, Crucio!" she repeated, her smirk appearing as Snape was being pushed closer to a window with every time he reflected the curse. Now,time to bend the rules a bit.Raising her arms, she gazed at the windows, shattering them on top of Snape's open back. Smoke and debris blinded Bellatrix who looked down triumphantly at the pile of glass that landed, and Lucius who was crying over his broken glass, swearing under his breath.
After everything cleared, Bellatrix jumped in glee when she saw Snape's unmoving body under the beautiful glass.
"I've done it! I've finally done it!" she screeched in delight.
"Not the window! Why is it always the window?" Lucius cried, kneeling in chagrin.
"Oh, you lose some, you gain some. In your case one for two," Bellatrix comforted, slyly putting her wand in her corset dress.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you gained a loss of a nuisance, and you gained me," she claimed strutting her way to him. Taking out his wand in alarm, he closed his eyes recalling any charm he could. Nearly reaching him, Bellatrix felt a strong pain instantly paralyzing her, forcing her to crash defeated to the floor.
"You didn't think you could get rid of me that easily did you? I did, after all, fool one of the greatest wizards of all time." No, it can't be!
"Bella, you offend me. Do you really think I'd die before finishing the most important job I could possibly hope to achieve?" It was Snape's cold voice that had found its way to Bellatrix's ears. Yeah, stop rubbing it in.
"Actually, it is quite the opposite." What does that even mean? That man and his riddles. With a swipe of his wand, Snape fixed Lucius' beloved window and flowed out of the room. After a couple long moments, Bellatrix could hear voices in the hall. One was unmistakably Snape's, but the other was harder to encipher.
"Why have you called me?" a cold voice hissed, his lean and towering figure looming above her. There was no question that this was her master, but why did his voice send a delightful, infatuated, and familiar chill down her numb back?