Upside Down

Hmm...don't you just hate it when you're working on a story, and another story is barraging you with its....presence? I have a story poking me in the brain, with two already unfinished. Thank Merlin it's summer, or I'd be swamped....

Reviews were lovely! Don't forget that I love feedback!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bellatrix opened her eyes groggily, cursing as the sun struck her face. She’d forgotten to draw the heavy curtains closed the night before, and now the morning’s light was harassing her.

“Bloody fucking sun….” she groaned, and rolled off of her side of the bed. Her feet slid sleepily, and she hit the ground with a thump. “Dammit…”

She may have been a top Death Eater, but she was human, dammit, and humans needed rest.

She shuffled to the open curtains, and shoved them closed, mumbling angrily. She stood at the window for a moment, trying to decide what she was going to do. She could go back to bed. No one would miss her… Eh…might as well stay up…

She slipped off her sleeping shirt, and stood in the middle of the floor in nothing but her black satin knickers, doing morning stretches. She found it liberating to do them that way. She stretched her arms above her head, the lean, feminine muscles in her arms and back stretching tight.

She bent downward, her legs locked straight as she pressed her palms against the floor. Her weight shifted steadily, and she stood on her hands, her legs in the air. This was one of the reasons she was such a good dueler. She was physically limber, and physically strong, and could flick her curses farther and faster than others. Even the men….stupid little poofters.

Her legs slid forward, and she went back to her feet fluidly. Damn she was good.

As she went to her chest of drawers to find an outfit, she got the strangest feeling of being watched. She tried to ignore it as she drew out a matching bra, clasping the infernal thing around her. Sometimes being a woman sucked… She then pulled out a green wrap-style shirt, and paired it with snug black jeans and boots. The outfit was a gift from Hermione, and accentuated her curves quite nicely.

She got that strange feeling again, and whirled around to see Rodolphus sitting up in bed, looking around the room with wide-eyed confusion. He looked over at her, and swallowed hard.

“Be-Bella?” he rasped, his voice hoarse and raspy. His hand went to his throat, and he winced. “W-water.”

Bellatrix hesitated a moment, looking in disbelief at her husband. She then snapped into action, taking her wand off of the nightstand and conjuring a glass, filling it with water and holding it against his lips. He drank greedily, draining the glass quickly.

“Rodolphus…how are you feeling?” she asked, setting the glass down on his nightstand.

“Like I got sat on by a dragon…” he said, and threw his legs over the side of the bed, bracing himself to stand. Bella came to his side immediately, and he used her as a crutch to stand, his legs wobbling slightly under him. “This has to be a dream….” He murmured, glancing over at Bellatrix when he finally let her go to stand on his own.

“No, Roddy…I’m as real as you…” she said, and gave a weak smile.

“But how….? The Master told us you were dead. You and the Malfoys are dead….” He said softly, reaching out to touch her face to assure himself she wasn’t a mirage.

“Well….that’s the version He goes around telling. What he didn’t tell you is that Draco was killed for being a marshmallow, Lucius and Narcissa were killed for defending him, and I was killed for defending my sister. The coward pinned me to the floor with a sword, took my Mark, and left me to die. He beat the crap out of Lucius with a cane…” she said, reaching up to scratch her unmarred left forearm out of habit. Rodolphus grasped her hand in his and turned her arm over, studying the pale skin.

“He took your Mark…” he said. It wasn’t a question, more like an awed statement. No one had ever had the Mark taken away. It didn’t even fade in the wearer’s death. Once Marked, always Marked.

“He took Lucius’, too.” She said. They stood quietly for a few moments, before Bellatrix cleared her throat, and locked eyes with her husband. “Roddy….why did you rebel?” she asked him outright.

He looked into her eyes, considering his answer. “For you.” He said, and then turned towards the door. She stood, shocked, as he opened the door to their bedroom. He had rebelled because of her. He had risked his life, and the lives of countless others because she had been wronged. It was romantic….in a twisted, dark sort of way. She suddenly shot forward, and wrapped her arms around him, startling the wizard to no end. He was not used to such tender actions from his mad witch-wife. Perhaps she had been struck on the head as well…?

“Where are we, Bella?” he asked, rubbing her back awkwardly. He didn’t recognize this place.

Bellatrix paused in her answer. “We’re at Order headquarters, Roddy. The men you took with you in your Rebellion were killed, and some Order members brought you here. If you fight with them for the remainder of the war, the Leader of the Order has promised me that he will do everything in his power to keep us both out of Azkaban.” She said, reaching up to smooth out his ruffled brown hair.

“They’ll find something for you to do. I train new recruits when they come in, and teach them the basics of dueling and the like….you could train with me….we could be a team.” She said, a rather hopeful expression on her face.

Rodolphus looked at his mad little wife, considering what she had said.

“We’ll see, Bella….We’ll see…”

~~

Hermione leaned against Draco’s chest, both of them on the sofa watching television. There was a rather interesting documentary on, and Hermione was engrossed in the topic. Draco was rather bored, and contented himself by stroking her curls.

“When is this over? I really couldn’t care less about the history of dentistry…” he groaned. She laughed, and tilted her head back so that she could look at him upside-down.

“Just a few minutes, Mr. Impatient…” she said. “And when this is over, we have to go pick Ruby up from Grimmauld Place. Something about wanting to beat Sirius in chess….” She said, and turned her attention back to the television. Draco winced as the narrator began to explain drills. Muggles were such barbarians...

~~

Ruby stared at the board, her green eyes darting between each piece, planning out her best course of action. Sirius sat back against his chair, watching her with an amused expression on his face. The little American witch sure was something…she was the only person aside from Ron who could beat him in both Wizard and Muggle chess….but it seemed that he might have her beat this time, and he was quite positive that he’d backed her into a corner, and victory was-

“Checkmate.”

Sirius started, and looked down at the board.

“I’ll be buggered backwards….” He said, looking at the pieces in dismay

“Eew….I’d rather not…besides…I’m not properly equipped for that….you can try asking Mr. Malfoy…” she said. Sirius shuddered, and quickly reset the chess board.

“Just play.” He said, rather bad-naturedly. Ruby grinned, and made her first move.

“Come on, you rotter! If you’re hungry you have to come downstairs!”

Sirius looked up to see Bellatrix standing at the top of the stairs. She was yelling at someone.

“I don’t want to, Bella! Can’t you just bring me something to eat?”

Sirius recognized that voice….Rodolphus was awake. He stood from his seat, annoying Ruby.

“C’mon, Sirius…I haven’t kicked your ass yet…” she whined. Sirius gave her a placating smile.

“There’ll be plenty of time for arse-kicking later. I do believe we’re about to add another to our great happy family.” He said, looking back up as Bellatrix literally dragged Rodolphus down the stairs.

Rodolphus straightened himself up at the base of the stairs, effectively pushing his wife off of him.

“All right…I’m down here. Now what?” he snapped, bad-naturedly. Bellatrix narrowed her eyes at him.

“I have pledged loyalty to the Order, but I’ll still kick your arse up one way and down the other if you don’t stop being a jerk.” She snapped back. He had the grace to flush slightly. There was the wife he remembered…

“Good lord….he’s a hunk-muffin.” Ruby said, admiring the newest member of Grimmauld Place.

“What?” Sirius asked, flabbergasted. Ruby flushed red, and cleared her throat.

“I’m…I’m….uh….gonna go get some cookies.” Ruby said, and quickly disappeared from the room. Rodolphus caught sight of Sirius, and reached for his wand out of habit. Sirius knew for a fact that Rodolphus’ wand had been confiscated before he arrived, so he watched with amusement as Rodolphus cursed silently when he came up empty. Rodolphus took a few steps forward, staring down his nose at Sirius.

“Black...aren't you supposed to be dead?” He asked stiffly.

“Lestrange...aren't you supposed to mind your own business?” Sirius replied, before flicking his fingers and putting the chess set away. “The kitchen is this way.” He said, before turning towards the kitchen door. “If you’re hungry…” he added, and went towards the kitchen. Bellatrix took Rodolphus’ hand in hers, and began tugging him towards the kitchen.

“It’s all right, Roddy, Ruby’s quite the talented little chef, and Sirius is a lot more….mellow since the last time you saw him.” She said.

“You’ll have to tell me his story….” Rodolphus murmured as they entered the kitchen.

Harry and Ron were in the kitchen, dressed in their aerial training robes (very much like Quidditch robes, except shorter and colored black), and both were scarfing down food like it was going out of style. Ruby was staring at them, a slightly disgusted look on her face.

“Jesus….obesity is on the rise in America and I’ve never seen anyone eat like that…the pigs on the farm ate their slop with more poise than you vacuums....Your new nickname is Hoover.” She mumbled, cutting up lettuce for a salad.

Rodolphus looked at the two, who only gave him a passing glance before going back to their food, and then at the petit American wielding a large knife. Sirius was standing in the corner, looking at the Death Eater’s face with amusement.

“Welcome to Grimmauld Place, Rodolphus.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giggle! You've read, now Rate/Review!!