So, a slightly shorter chapter than usual but I the next scene I had in mind just doesn't flow in the same chapter.

So, read, enjoy and please do leave a review if you ahve a moment!

The Purple Black

Bellatrix was sat on the edge of her bed, one hand on her stomach protectively whilst the other rested on her wand. She was ready for any eventuality as she heard the second lot of footsteps of the evening walking into the wing. She listened as she heard the door to Nymphadora's room close, taking a deep breath as a second person stopped outside of her door. There was a pause for a moment before the doorknob slowly turned and the door was pushed to reveal her husband. His face was an emotionless mask, though she knew her husband better than to simply read his emotions from his face, he was stood tall and stiff, his hands curled firmly into fists and there was a strange look in his eyes. She didn't say anything, not wanting to be the first to speak. He eventually walked into the room, closing the door behind him. He broke his gaze from her, walking over to the dresser as he set down his wand making her relax enough to slack her grip on her own wand. She stood, turning to face him though as she went to finally say something he merely turned and went to the en-suite.

She winced as the door slammed behind him, the sound of running water soon echoing off of the walls. Bellatrix took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment she frowned as she heard the distant yells of her niece. She walked to the door, listening for a few minutes as she caught the odd word of what she was arguing with Barty out. The woman considered going to break the pair up for a moment before she sighed and shook her head, Rodolphus had clearly tried to upset Nymphadora as a way of offloading his own emotions (it was something she had seen time and time again in the past) and if she was perfectly honest with herself she wouldn't be too disappointed if he managed to split the pair up. She drew her wand and cast a ward on the room, ensuring not only that she could no longer hear the couples yells but if she were to have a similar shouting match with her husband she would not be heard.

Deciding that she busy herself, rather than attempt to worry about the inevitable conversation she would soon be having with her husband, she walked over to her draws. She carefully picked out a pair of pyjamas for her husband, rolling her eyes at the task fit for a house elf as she waved her wand and sent them into the bathroom, then got to getting changed for the evening herself. She was sat back on her bed dressed in one of her new silk nightdresses, silently cursing herself for not just laying back on her bed and going to sleep when the door to the bathroom finally opened again. Rodolphus looked decidedly better now, his tattered Azkaban robes disregarded as he stood merely wearing the bottoms of the pyjama's his wife had sent in for him. The man looked at his wife for a few moments, his eyes flickering to her stomach a few times before he merely shook his head and went to the door.

"Where are you going?" Bellatrix couldn't help but ask.

"Anywhere where I do not have to be with you," Rodolphus grunted, turning the handle, he hissed as he found it to be locked and went to draw his wand.

"We need to talk," Bellatrix said, walking over to her husband and going to take his wand hand in her own though he merely hissed and pulled it away.

"Talk?" Rodolphus hissed, turning to glare at the woman.

Bella's mouth felt dry, a tight feeling in her chest that she was unfamiliar with as she looked down unable to stare into his cold dark eyes. She cursed her damned hormones as she couldn't stop herself from saying "I missed you . . ."

Rodolphus laughed coldly, the sound was strange to her ears and caused Bellatrix to flinch slightly before her gaze hardened and she looked back up at him. "Yes, Bellatrix," Rodolphus rolled his eyes, "whilst I've been rotting away in Azkaban prison you certainly seem like you've been sitting here doing nothing but pine over me, missing me."

"I have missed you," Bellatrix hissed, becoming more defensive now, "accept the fact. Whilst you have been locked away I have been here doing my duty to our Lord!"

"Well, if you call getting knocked up serving our Lord," Rodolphus sneered, "personally I knew you were spreading your legs for him like some common ally whore but—"

Bellatrix didn't think, pulling her hand back and bringing it hard and fast across his face. The sharp sound of the slap echoed through the room painfully as the pair froze, the witch glaring furiously as the man slowly drew his hand up to his face and caressed the burning skin of his cheek.

"I have done my duty!" Bellatrix hissed, "I will do anything My Lord asks of me!"

The woman let out a screech as the man grabbed her by the throat, slamming her against the wall as his furious glare burned into her. She struggled for a moment, gasping for air as his fingers dug into her throat to constrict her windpipe. He waited a few moments, enjoying the struggling and gasping of the woman under him before he lessened his grip and she gulped for air, though he still held her firmly in place.

"So he asked you, did he?" Rodolphus raised an eyebrow, his face so close to her own that she could feel his breath on her skin "Your husband, the man you are supposed to love and be utterly loyal to asks for how many years and receives no child? How many times did he have to ask?"

Bellatrix gritted her teeth, he had not asked in truth. Though she was sure it had not been an accident, The Dark Lord had not specifically asked her to produce an heir for him nor had he discussed the matter until she had gone to him to tell him, terrified to the pit of her stomach that she would anger the man with her news.

"No," Rodolphus shook his head, "I thought as much. He used you—continues to use you. You are not special Bellatrix, if you wouldn't or couldn't he would have gone on to the next desirable female."

"How dare you!" Bellatrix yelled, struggling against the man's grip for a moment again before she settled for screaming at him when she knew she could not move from him "How dare you speak of him in such a way! You should be honoured that I am your wife! That it is your wife that has been chosen for such a—Rodolphus don't you dare!"

Rodolphus had his wand drawn now, the tip digging into her side as he rested his forehead upon his wife's, "You have protective wards on the child, I can feel it, I could curse you right where you stand and the child would not be harmed."

"I-Ah!" Bellatrix gasped in shock more than the pain of it as a simple stinging hex ran through her side causing an odd sensation as it didn't touch on her pregnant stomach, she panted for breath and glared in fury as she looked up at her husband.

"See," Rodolphus smirked.

"The Dark Lord will—"

"You won't tell The Dark Lord," Rodolphus said, "you never have—not once."

"This is his child—"

"So you want to tell him how you couldn't defend yourself against an unarmed man?" Rodolphus raised an eyebrow, "If he tortures me so be it. I have loved you, for so many years Bellatrix!" the woman winced slightly as he screamed inches from her face, going to turn her head away from him though he grabbed her by the chin and forced her to look at him, "I have helped you in your darkest moments! I protected and comforted you against your father, I swore myself only to you! I took you to The Dark Lord when you begged me to introduce you, I didn't want to—I shouldn't have—but I did because you asked! I was the one there putting you back together when he disappeared and did all that I could to help you with the obsession that took over you to get him back! I let you bring the half-blood spawn of your blood traitor sister into our home because you willed it! I did everything for you and yet you would not do the one thing I ever asked of you! You don't care, you don't give two shits that you destroy everything that you touch. That people around you care for you and try to help you—even Nymphadora cares about you and you have essentially ruined the girl's life, cut her off from her parents and turned her into a wanted criminal! But she thanks you!"

Bellatrix curled her lip, "Nymphadora—"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT HER!" Rodolphus yelled in his fury, the sheer volume causing the woman's ears to ache, "I care about you! I do everything for you! But you just use who you wish whether it be some half-blood or your own husband! You just play us like little pawns in your game, never caring, never feeling remorse and certainly never apologising." He looked the woman up and down for a moment, shaking his head before he roughly pushed her away from him and watched her stumble to gain her balance. "You think you hold the power here . . . but you're pathetic."

To the man's amazement, the woman laughed. She shook her head and turned to the man, tilting her head to the side slightly as she looked at him with mock surprise.

"I'm pathetic?" Bellatrix asked, "If you are so miserable in this marriage why haven't you left?"

". . . You know why," Rodolphus barely breathed.

"Still holding out hope that I'd turn around and give you a child?" Bellatrix asked, "Still longing for the day I would turn around and say 'No Roddy, you know what? I would prefer to sit around the manor all day and be an obedient brainless housewife.'" She sneered, her mocking smile faltering only to be quickly replaced by her own stern look of fury, "You knew what you were marrying. You knew that was never me, I was never going to sit at home and do nothing whilst you went out and served for a cause so much greater than us! Perhaps there was a time when I would have given you a child, perhaps I may have toyed with the idea and even wanted it myself for a fleeting moment . . . but I had to serve, you had to serve . . . You knew I was a broken mess before you even considered marrying me. So sorry, Rodolphus," Bellatrix shrugged, not sounding sorry at all, "you want an apology? I'm sorry you were idiotic enough to think me to be anything but what I am. I'm sorry you don't put The Dark Lord before all else as you should. I'm sorry that you still cling to false hope like the pathetic man you are. This—" Bellatrix put a hand on her stomach, fury on her features though tears welled in her eyes as she could not pass through her hormonal barrier to simply glare at the man, "this is more important than either of us, she will become more than either of us can dare to imagine. Our wants and needs are nothing in comparison. So stay, if you want, or if love is keeping you here then so be it."

" . . . Did you ever love me?" Rodolphus asked quietly, as if he barely dared to ask, "Did you ever care?"

Bellatrix rolled her eyes initially, sighing and swallowing hard before she muttered, "You are my husband . . . As much as my father wanted to think he could, he could never make me marry someone I did not want to marry."

Rodolphus stared at the woman for a moment before he went and sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the floor as he tried to both calm and make sense of his thoughts. "Was this planned?"

". . . He planned it," Bellatrix eventually said, hesitating for a moment before she walked over to her husband and waited for him to look up at him though she could not force herself even to smile at the man, "I should curse you for trying to hurt me . . ."

"It wouldn't be the first time," Rodolphus scoffed.

"Nor the last," Bellatrix let herself smirk slightly.

Rodolphus sighed, burying his head in his hands he was only slightly surprised as he felt the weight of his wife sitting down next to him on the bed. There was a long silence before Bellatrix rested her head on his shoulder and he stifled a groan, he had missed her touch, her scent, simply her. He was a fool for her, damned to forever be fighting and hurting each other with only dotted moments of happiness to calm the storm of their marriage. He was the pawn in her game, a game that he did not know how to win or end and he quietly realised that he was unsure as to if he ever would want to.

"It shouldn't be like this . . ." Rodolphus murmured, "our relationship . . . it's insane."

"Sanity is boring," Bellatrix purred, closing her eyes and resting a hand on his leg, a flicker of a smile haunted her lips as she felt him gradually move his hand to entwine his fingers in his own, "shall we start from the beginning?"

"Of our marriage?" Rodolphus asked.

"Merlin no," Bellatrix scoffed, "let's start with the night . . . I believe I told you I may have missed you . . ."

Rodolphus took a deep breath, he knew this relationship was not healthy, nowhere near so. Though he resigned himself to the emotions he felt for his wife, both the good and the bad, he moved his arm to wrap around her back. "And I you . . . I have missed you."

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! Please do feel free to leave a review OR if you want to ask me anything I have been very active on Tumblr lately, my user is the same as it is here, feel free to ask me anything (I particularly love hearing your theories and take on things)!

The Purple Black