2 November 1981
Ilkley, Yorkshire
"This is the house?" asked Bellatrix, and Voldemort confirmed,
"This is where Frank and Alice Longbottom had their child, Neville, according to Ministry records, and where they're recorded most recently living. I can sense wards. Let me take them down."
He slashed his wand a few times and removed the wards in the air one by one. Protective spells dissolved like smoke at his command; his magic was too powerful for these paltry charms and wards. He glanced over to Bellatrix, who had come dressed today in battle attire. She had on black leggings and black boots, along with a black tunic and lace-up gauntlets. She had her hair half tied back and wore dark lipstick and eyeliner. She looked fierce. She looked ferocious. She was ferocious, he thought. She was fierce.
"Bella," he said quietly, and she stared up at him in the drizzle that was starting to fall. She adjusted her grip on her wand, and Voldemort's throat went dry all of a sudden. Why had his throat gone dry? He tried to lick his lip, but his tongue was dry, too. He wanted to tell her that she looked like a perfect soldier. Why did he want to tell her that?
"Let's go inside," he said instead, and he stepped up to the row house before them. He held his wand carefully as he and Bellatrix approached the front door, and then he aimed his wand at the doorknob and opened it. He pushed the door open and stepped inside the house, and his boots creaked on the wooden floor beneath his soles. He heard Bellatrix shut the front door.
"Homenum Revelio," Voldemort incanted, but nothing happened. No one was here. He walked quickly up the flight of stairs and into the baby's nursery on the left.
"They've gone," Bellatrix said at once. "All the baby's toys are gone. The drawers in this dresser are empty; they packed up the baby's clothes. Cissy would never have an empty nursery for Draco. And if she left, she'd take everything she could possibly need for him."
She was wandering around, opening drawers and looking in wardrobes. Voldemort examined the cot and mumbled,
"Where'd you get to, Neville?"
"Where would Dumbledore hide them?" Bellatrix asked, and Voldemort said,
"They used a Fidelius Charm with the Potters. They had a Secret-Keeper. My guess is they'd use another one, a more trustworthy one. We have to figure out who their Secret-Keeper would be."
"The Longbottoms'?" Bellatrix scratched at her curls and shrugged. "They're awfully close with Andromeda. So far as I know. If you can find her, we could interrogate her. She married that Mudblood, Ted Tonks, and they've a daughter who's about eight now."
"They wouldn't use Andromeda," Voldemort protested. "It's too obvious. But her husband, Ted. Ted Tonks. Perhaps him… in any case, we need to find them and question them," Voldemort nodded vigorously. "They're our next step. This home is a dead end, but I rather expected it to be one. We'll monitor it every now and then in case there's a sign they've come back. In the meantime, I'm going to set a trap. A special spell of my own invention. Notificatas. If anyone enters the house, I will feel a stabbing pain behind my eyes and know to come here."
"Master, you're brilliant," breathed Bellatrix, and he sniffed a little laugh. They went back out the front of the house and he cast the Notificas spell, and then they Disapparated back to Malfoy Manor. They walked in silence to Voldemort's office, and Bellatrix finally asked,
"Shall I go, Master? Have you any more need of me?"
Any more need? Had he any need of her? It certainly felt like he needed her. Why did it feel like he needed her?
"When is the last time you had your husband inside of you?" Voldemort found himself asking, and Bellatrix looked utterly shocked. Her cheeks went very red, and Voldemort huffed as he aimed his wand at her and barked, "Legilimens."
Rodolphus was on top of Bellatrix, who shut her eyes and tried to pretend this wasn't happening. She never liked this, not ever, but it was part of being married, and she'd been married for eight years now. He wasn't large inside of her, but the movement jarred her just the same. She held the sheets for purchase and squeezed her eyes shut. She hated this.
"When was that?" Voldemort snapped, and Bellatrix dragged her fingers over her damp curls as she answered,
"Four nights ago, Master."
"Why?" Voldemort demanded, and Bellatrix seemed mightily confused. Voldemort specified, "Why do you let him take you if you so despise it?"
"I have to," Bellatrix said quietly. "He's my husband."
"You don't have to." Voldemort shook his head madly and said, "I am your Master. If I order the both of you to stop the copulation, then you must."
"Why would you…" A look of realisation came over Bellatrix's face then. She could tell that he did not like the idea of her being physical with Rodolphus. Indeed, the thought of it made Voldemort feel ill. He shut his eyes now and listened to a hard rain begin to fall outside his office window. He thought of himself atop Bellatrix, of himself inside of her. What would that feel like, he wondered? What would she feel like around him, beneath him? She, who had pined after him and clamoured at him for years? What would she feel like?
"Bella?" He opened his eyes and saw her knitting her hands together before her. He tipped his head and pushed the side of his glasses up, and he said,
"Do you suppose your mother could figure out where Andromeda is?"
"She disowned her, Master, but… I think you may be onto something. I suspect that my mother stays in secret contact with Andromeda so that she can get photographs of the little girl, Nymphadora. She probably has an address, at least. I can go to my parents' house and Confound her into telling me what she knows about Andromeda."
"I'd like you to do that," Voldemort nodded, "as soon as you can. Get that information so that we can track down Andromeda. Do not speak of it to Narcissa. She, I know, can give us no help at all when it comes to Andromeda. And while she and Lucius are loyal servants, her first priority is her son Draco. She is not privy to this mission. It is to remain secret."
"Understood, My Lord," Bellatrix nodded eagerly. She stepped closer to him and insisted, "I will do everything I possibly can to serve you properly."
"You have wanted me for a very long time," Voldemort noted suddenly, and Bellatrix's eyes shifted strangely. She seemed nervous, but Voldemort shrugged and said, "Bella, I've known you since you were a Slytherin student. You have craved me all the while. Don't let's either of us pretend that is not true."
"Well, Master," Bellatrix muttered, "it is true. But I've lived with that want through eight years of marriage and the years before. I can continue to live with it and serve you just the same. I'll serve you even better because of it. Please, know that it doesn't affect -"
"I want you." Voldemort nodded crisply, and Bellatrix looked utterly shocked. She stared right at him, her eyes going wider by the second. Voldemort was nonplussed. He said in a nonchalant, easy voice, "I may have whatever I want, and I did not want you when you were a child. As time has passed, I have changed my mind. Now I want you."
"And that's why… that's why you interrupted Rodolphus in the corridor?" Bellatrix whispered. "That's why you looked into my mind, asked when the last time I was with him was?"
"I don't have to answer those or any other questions," Voldemort snapped. "I can order you upstairs to my personal chambers and tell you to take your clothes off, and you'll have to do it, because you are my servant. You belong to me."
"I do," Bellatrix agreed bravely. "But you wouldn't have to order me to do any of those things, Master; I would do them willingly."
Voldemort tingled suddenly from head to foot, and he felt himself start to come alive. Suddenly he wanted to know what she would feel like. He could order her upstairs, and she would go. He could order her to take off her clothes off for him, and she would. Would she have small pink nipples, he wondered? What would she look like with her legs spread?
"Go to your parents' house as soon as you can," he commanded her, "and Confound your mother into giving you whatever information she's got about Andromeda. That is our next step."
Bellatrix looked profoundly disappointed. Voldemort breathed quickly through his nose and whispered,
"Go, Bella. Please."
Please. Why on Earth had he said that? Please? He had begged her, like some sort of child. He felt shame wash over him, and then anger, and he barked harshly,
"Follow the orders of your Master and go!"
"Yes, My Lord." Bellatrix bowed deeply and hurried out of the office, and she was gone before he could demand a kiss goodbye.
Author's Note: Good gravy, it feels good to be writing these two again. I missed my Bellamort couple! And it's kind of fun to explore a slightly more mature Bellatrix and an older, much more powerful Voldemort. I'd love to know your thoughts. Thanks for reading.