A RUMOR OF PEACE

          He lifted his head from Harry's shoulder after he had fallen silent, meeting his brother's eyes.  "You know what I think, my brother?"

          Harry gave him a smirk.  "That we are going to be in very big trouble?"

          Soft laughter.  "Well...that too, but I was actually thinking that things are going to get very interesting for us both,"

          Now Harry snorted.  "That, I would think, would be the understatement of the yahren {year}, little brother.  Would you like me to stay?"

          "If you wouldn't mind.  I don't particularly like the idea of being alone right now."

          "You know very well, I wouldn't mind," he told him as Roark returned his head to his shoulder, finding himself wondering if Roark had found himself as attracted to Rodolphus as he had been to Rabastan.

                                                                            cccVccc

          Rodolphus entered the house he shared with his wife and brother, going immediately to the liquor cabinet to pour himself a VERY healthy measure of Saggitarian brandy.  He then moved to one of the bay windows to look out at the night, thinking...wondering, sipping occasionally from the tumbler in his hand. 

          Why, he asked himself, did Roark Peverell Potter have the look of a Lestrange?  He was, after all, the youngest son of James and Lily Peverell Potter.  Yet, as he had studied him, he had seen the subtle differences, and Roark looked absolutely NOTHING like either of his parents, or his brother for that matter.   And IF he WAS a Lestrange--He drank deeply, as far as he knew, he and Rabastan were the last of the Lestrange line, so from whom could he have come?  And how had James and Lily gotten their hands on a Lestrange?

          Then there was this attraction he felt for the young, so stunningly gorgeous Lieutenant.  In truth, given what he had felt just by looking at a holograph of him, he had to admit he really shouldn't have been at all surprised by the attraction he had felt the first time he had laid eyes on him.  No.  What had truly surprised him, shocked him even, was the strength...the depth to which that attraction went.

          Then there had been the feel of some kind of wall shattering when their eyes had met, followed immediately by that instant feeling of recognition...the instant feel of some kind of bonding...an unexpected linking of minds on some level.  He didn't think Roark had felt, let alone noticed either; or if he had, he hadn't shown it

          It all begged the question of...WHY?  Why was he feeling any of these things at all; let alone how intensely he had felt them?  The few lovers that he HAD taken over the yahrens {years} had never roused this kind of emotion in him, not even his so-called WIFE, but then, the only real emotion he had ever felt for her had been hatred.

          But then, his marriage to Bellatrix Black-Lestrange was nothing short of a sham anyway.  The marriage had been arranged by Tom Riddle not long after he had arrived here, to do two things.  One was to prove his loyalty, the other was hoping that he would be able to control her.  

          Riddle knew Bella wanted him, maybe even loved him, but it was a wasted feeling, as Tom Riddle would never love her in return, especially as there was no love within him to be had.  That man was as black as night.  Blacker.  He drank deeply from the tumbler, thinking that their wedding night had been nothing short of a disaster, as it had become very obvious, very quickly that she had not wanted him, had hated the thought of his even touching her.  She would have refused to allow him to have her, except that Tom Riddle had surprisingly sent three witnesses over to make sure the marriage was consummated, though why he had really cared, Rodolphus had absolutely no clue, and to this day, still didn't.

          "Dolph," came his brother's voice into his internal thoughts.

          Rodolphus turned as Rabastan entered the house, moved quickly to the bar, picked up the whiskey decanter, and poured himself a tumbler full of the dark amber liquid.  Rodolphus' brow shot up as his brother drank deeply.  Which he usually never did.

          "You too?" he asked with amusement.

          "FUCK, Dolph, that boy is fucking beautiful," he growled, " and the way he just stood there, talking back to me as if I wasn't a fucking Terminator sent to kill him in due time.  When I told him to drop the case against Tom or suffer the consequences, he laughed.  LAUGHED, Dolph.  Told me they weren't going to stop, that they would see him in custody for his crimes."

          A snort sounded as Rodolphus moved to the cabinet and refilled his glass.  "Yeah, I got just about the same reaction from Roark."

          "Fucking Kobol, I wanted to grab him then and there, take him down onto his leather couch, or bend him over any surface that I could find, and fuck him hard until he was screaming his orgasm."

          "Yeah.  Roark was no more afraid of me than it seems Harry was of you.  The way he looked at me...just stood there and talked back to me...yeah, it made me want to--"

          "RO...DOLPH...US!!" came the furious scream from upstairs, followed by several somethings breaking.

          The brothers looked at each other, grimaces twisting their lips as they turned toward the stairs.  "She's in one of her...moods again," he said with a deep sigh.  "Why don't you just kill the bitch?"

          "I'd like nothing better," he growled, tossing the rest of his drink back before slamming the empty glass to the bar top.  "Go to bed, Bas.  We can talk more about this situation with the Peverell Potter brothers tomorrow.  After I deal with that crazy bitch, I'm going to do the same." 

          Rabastan gave a nod and finished his own drink, setting the glass down as he watched his beloved brother head up the stairs to deal with Bellatrix.