15 November 1981
Isle of Mull
"Bellatrix," said Rodolphus, wandering into the front foyer of Castle Lestrange. "I was wondering if you'd ever come home."
"We were all meant to be underground, and you knew I was with him," Bellatrix replied tartly. She dragged her hand along the stone wall of the castle's foyer and let one boot slowly go in front of the other. She ambled toward Rodolphus and asked,
"Is Edna still here?"
"Edna?" Rodolphus frowned and shook his head. "No, she only came twice, briefly. She didn't stay the whole while."
"Oh." Bellatrix was surprised to hear that, actually. She licked her bottom lip and pulled Rodolphus into the expansive sitting-room, and she explained, "He and I realised something during this time away, Rodolphus. I'm in love with him."
"Well, I knew that," Rodolphus scoffed cruelly, shaking his head. "I've known that for years."
"He loves me back," Bellatrix whispered desperately, and Rodolphus' eyes suddenly watered a little. His lips parted, and he was about to say something, but then Bellatrix gasped and yanked back her sleeve.
Bellatrix sat upright in the bed on the Isle of Mull, and Voldemort grunted from beside her.
"Back to sleep," he grumbled, and Bellatrix lay back down, feeling cold sweat upon her. She whispered carefully,
"He's going to be angry."
"He has no right over you. He has no right over anything that's mine," Voldemort growled back, and he curled her against his body.
Suddenly, Bellatrix was jolted from behind as he hissed and whispered,
"Bloody hell. Someone's calling me through the Mark. Let's go."
They hustled to throw on clothes as quickly as they could, and Voldemort informed Bellatrix,
"It's Avery. At his house in Cornwall. I can feel it."
"Yes, Master," Bellatrix said, yanking on her tunic and Summoning her boots from downstairs. She slid them on and rushed over to Voldemort, lacing her arm through his. She gripped her wand carefully as they Disapparated, coming to on the grass outside Avery's spacious house in Cornwall.
It appeared to be just Dumbledore, Alastor Moody, and Minerva McGonagall who had come tonight, but then Bellatrix saw a few slumped figures - Stunned or dead - on the ground near Dumbledore. Avery was fighting with a few other masked figures that Bellatrix did not immediately recognise. Lucius and Abraxas Malfoy? Rodolphus and Rabastan? Rookwood? Yaxley?
"Get McGonagall!" Voldemort yelled at Bellatrix, and the two of them went running up the hill with their wands outstretched. Minerva McGonagall, who had been thirty and new to teaching when Bellatrix had been a Hogwarts student, jabbed her wand at Bellatrix.
"Stupe-"
"CRUCIO!" Bellatrix screamed, and McGonagall immediately slumped to the ground, her Stunning Spell dying on her lips. Bellatrix watched a Death Eater go flying against the side of the house, pushed by an unseen wind cast by Dumbledore. She held her Cruciatus Curse and tortured McGonagall for half a minute, but then she remembered she was meant to kill her. She ignored the screaming, the squirming, and she looked round. Moody was taking on two of the masked Death Eaters at once, and it appeared to be a fierce battle. Dumbledore was locked up with Voldemort, who had just Conjured Fiendfyre.
"Avada Kedavra!" cried Bellatrix, and there was a violent flash of jade green light that exploded from her wand and burst onto Minerva McGonagall's body. McGonagall lay on the ground, silent and unmoving, and Bellatrix huffed a breath as she stood above her and kicked at her a little bit.
"Bitch," she mumbled, studying McGonagall's face.
"Bellatrix!"
"Stupefy!"
When Bellatrix blinked her eyes open, she was lying on a grass field somewhere. Avery's house. They were at Avery's house. Stunned. She'd been Stunned by a voice that had sounded a lot like Moody's. Bellatrix, she'd heard the Dark Lord cry in warning, but then Moody had Stunned her. Now Bellatrix sat up, dizzy and disoriented, and saw… nothing. Quiet.
"There she is! She's woken up!" cried a voice behind a mask. "Master! She flew over here!"
"Bring her to me!" called Voldemort.
Bellatrix was helped off the ground by wizards whose blond hair poked out behind their masks. Lucius and Abraxas Malfoy. She asked quietly,
"What happened?"
"The Dark Lord has defeated Albus Dumbledore!" said Lucius Malfoy excitedly. "The Dark Lord has killed him! Rookwood killed Moody. You killed McGonagall. We killed the others before you arrived. And the Dark Lord fired a perfectly-timed Killing Curse that -"
"I missed it," Bellatrix whispered hoarsely, but then she realised how selfish she was being. Her lord and master had killed Albus Dumbledore. Her master had killed Albus Dumbledore!
Suddenly she was running, dashing across the grass toward him. He stood looking filthy, sweaty, and tired. Triumphant. She ran toward him as fast as she could, and when she reached him, she crashed onto her knees and kissed the hem of his robe.
"Most glorious master," she praised him. "Where is his despicable corpse?"
"Just there," said Voldemort. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine." Bellatrix turned her head to look where Voldemort was pointing, and she saw Dumbledore lying splayed on his back, awkwardly bent, his hat beside him, his glasses on the ground beside him, his mouth open, his eyes staring blankly. Voldemort walked up to Dumbledore, bent, and plucked away his wand, and there was a sudden rush of power palpable in the air. Magic crackled around Voldemort as he held Dumbledore's wand in his hand. He smirked at Bellatrix and told her,
"Do you know, I think I'll keep it and use it."
"A fine trophy, My Lord," Bellatrix said, still kneeling on the ground. "And all the others are gone? The others that came tonight?"
"McGonagall, Moody, and a few spares. The Order of the Phoenix is, for all intents and purposes, gone. Albus Dumbledore is gone. We have enough power in the Wizengamot to remove the Minister of Magic and install a Death Eater government now. Power will be mine. Power will be ours!"
He cried out that last bit as he stood over the body of Albus Dumbledore, and the others whooped and cried out in jubilant celebration. Voldemort walked briskly to Bellatrix and pulled her up, saying,
"Off your knees, you silly witch. Don't you realise how influential you've been in all of this? Don't you realise you'll be at my side as we move forward?"
He seized her face in his hands then, Dumbledore's wand pressing against Bellatrix's cheek, and she was shocked when he whispered carefully,
"Don't you realise that I love you? Hm?"
Then he kissed her, right there beside Dumbledore's corpse, right there before his Death Eaters, right there in front of everyone. He kissed her deeply, sincerely, and Bellatrix adored it. She was breathless when he pulled away, and when he finally did, he wrapped his arm round her waist to hold her up. He looked up to the others and cried out again,
"Power will be ours! Morsmordre!"
He aimed Dumbledore's wand at the sky, and green sparks shot out of it, rocketing upward and painting the night with the image of a skull eating a serpent.
Author's Note: Oh, my. So Dumbledore is dead. And Voldemort is not exactly hiding his feelings for Bellatrix. What happens in the greater Wizarding World now that Dumbledore is dead? What happens in Bellatrix's life? Thanks as always for reading and reviewing.