When Rodolphus woke up the next morning, he didn't find his wife on the bed next to him. This didn't surprise him –Bellatrix always woke up earlier and left the bedroom before Rodolphus did. He stretched his arms and sat up, rubbing his forehead. He hadn't had much sleep, and was still very tired. He supposed he had slept for less than four hours, but the tension of last night and all the thoughts that were running through his mind all night hadn't let him sleep at all. Only when he had felt his Bella's breath slow down and her fragile beautiful body relax against him, had he allowed himself to relax as well. He wanted to make sure that she was calm and safe first, and then fall asleep as well.

All night he had been thinking about Bellatrix. He loved her. He loved her far more than anything in his life, and, after what she had done for him, he knew that she loved him, too, and that was enough to make him the happiest man alive. He would give his life for her; especially after last night's events. He had always loved her, he had loved her even before they got married. But he had always feared that she didn't feel the slightest thing for him, apart from the responsibility she had to her pure blood and her family to marry him. But now he was convinced that she did love him.

He only wished that she needn't have done something like that to prove it. But, she didn't do it to prove anything, she had only done that because she did love him after all. And he loved her back, with all of his heart.

But the thought of the sacrifice she had made for him was enough to make him feel like he would start crying. He had never asked her to do anything like that for him, but yet she had.

All night long he had tried to comfort her, reassure her that he wasn't angry, tell her that everything was alright. The way she had begged him to forgive her had broken his heart; he couldn't stand to see her broken like that, for something she had done for him. Only when she had stopped crying had he calmed down.

Now, Rodolphus was toying in his head with a sudden idea that had just popped in his mind. Why didn't he take Bella to his parents' old house, at France, only for a few weeks, for some vacation? It would help them both to calm down from all of this and escape their stressing lives for a while, and he would also spend some with her alone. They would be together, only them, and no one else telling them what to do and keeping them apart… The thought and only thrilled Rodolphus.

But, there was one big obstacle to his plans; the Dark Lord. Of course, he would never allow something like that. But Rodolphus swore that he would try his best to convince him. What was he asking for, after all? A few days away, nothing more. Sure, the Dark Lord would make it without two of his servants for a short time like this... Now, all he had to do was tell Bella. Rodolphus was sure that she would agree, and got beyond excited to tell her.

Quickly, he got up and dressed in simple, black robes and ran downstairs to the second floor, where he expected to find his wife. She was indeed in the breakfast room, sitting on one of the chairs around the big, wooden table, drinking from a small cup of coffee. However, her breakfast in front of her was still whole and it was obvious that she hadn't eaten anything. Once she saw him, she put the cup down and smiled at him.

"Good morning, Rod," she said lightly and Rodolphus walked around the table and next to her, then kissed her slightly on the cheek.

"Good morning, my love," he said. Bellatrix smiled, but didn't say anything else.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked.

"Yes… kinda," Bella replied, avoiding looking at him now. "You?
"I didn't sleep much," he confessed, and took his seat on the table close to her. Todd, the house elf showed up, with Rodolphus' breakfast, and placed it on the table in front of him. "Good morning master Lestrange," the house elf said and left quickly, without waiting for an answer.

Bellatrix took another sip of her coffee, and then Rodolphus decided to share his idea with her.

"Bella," he started.

"Yes?"

"I was thinking…" he paused.

"What?" she asked, curiously.

"Well… you remember the house of my parents?"

"In France, yes. We had stayed there for a few days during our honeymoon," Bellatrix replied, her expression curious.

Rodolphus smiled. "I thought that… Maybe it would do good for both of us if we went there for a while. You know… Just the two of us, away from everyone… Just for a couple of weeks, and then-"

"What?" she asked, and Rodolphus could see she was shocked. "Rod, we can't just leave, we-"

"Don't worry, I think the Dark Lord won't have a problem with this, he-"

"He won't have a problem?" she repeated, and then her expression changed. It seemed almost angry. "Rodolphus," she started, "we won't go anywhere. We can't leave. Our place is here, next to the Dark Lord, we can't just go on vacation whenever we want!"

"But Bella, we both need it! After…" he took a small breath, "what happened, I think that some time away from all this would do us both very good!"

"Rodolphus!" she said, now raising her voice. "Being a servant of the Dark Lord isn't like being a member in a school club! We ought to always be here, ready to do whatever he asks!"

"But after what he did?" Rodolphus said, desperate. "How can you talk like this, when he-"

"I thought we agreed not to talk about this!" Bellatrix said angrily.

"I'm sorry, but, Bella-"

"Yes, he did that, but that doesn't change the fact that we remain his servants, and we should be loyal and we should be there to do what he wishes, for his cause! I believe what he believes, and so do you, Rodolphus, and we can't go on vacation while we're at the brick of war!"

Rodolphus was silent now. Bellatrix was right –they couldn't just leave. He didn't care for the Dark Lord, and he didn't give a damn about the cause right now, but Bellatrix was right. This wasn't a school club he was in, this was his whole life, and he couldn't just walk away like that. When he looked up, he realized that he must have looked like a mess, because Bella's face instantly softened and she took his face in her hands.

"Rod," she whispered. "We are not like all these other… families. We can't be. We can't go abroad whenever we want for vacation, we can't do whatever we want, our lives are defined from what we have chosen to be. And we have chosen that because we believed in it. And we ought to still believe in it, we ought to always believe in it – I do." Her voice was soft now, calmed and rational. "Sometimes," she continued, "sometimes I think of how it would be like to be… out pf all this. But I always come to the conclusion that this is impossible even to imagine, because these are our lives, and we can't change them. And maybe I don't even want to. And even if I did, I better forget about it, because there is no way to do so. And you should think of that too," she added, a sad smile now forming on her lips.

Rodolphus sighed. Bella was right.

They both stood up, and looked in each others eyes.

"You're right," Rodolphus said finally, and kissed her.

She kissed back for a few seconds, but then broke the kiss.

"You will be at the meeting tonight, right?" she asked, surprising him.

"What meeting?" he questioned.

"Oh, you don't know. There is a meeting today at nine. The dark lord ordered me to tell you. He wants everyone to be there. Including you."

Rodolphus sighed.

"Yeah," he said, and Bella smiled.

"Good," she said, and quickly left the room, without glancing over to Rodolphus, who decided to go to the library and try to distract himself by readinbg something.

After half an hour, Bella was sitting alone in the kithcen, thinking. She should really stop saying those kind of things to Rodolphus. If she didn't, she was in danger of actually believing what she was saying.

The only thing that could take her mind away from her husband for a while was her lord. She quickly got up, put on a coat and left in a hurry, careful to go unnoticed by Rodolphus.

A.N./ So, I've finished chapter 3! I don't know why, but I really like writing Rodolphus. I never thought I'd enjoy writing him, but I eventually do… I also enjoy writing Bella, of course. Her wicked mind is such a thrill… There was not much Bella's POV in this, however, I really wanted to present the chapter by Rod's POV. Anyway, I hope you liked it, guys!

I want to thank all the people who have added this story to their alerts and favorites! I didn't think anyone was going to actually read this, yet add this to their favorites. Thanks, guys, you make me feel so loved :)

Reviews are also love:) It's really nice when you have some feedback, and people let you know of what they think of your writing. It will make me really happy -and give me an extra motive to update, 'course ;)

Anyway, thanks for reading :)