Her Rose

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
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“That will be all today, Bellatrix.”
He untangled his hand from her hair just as she looked up at him, drops of semen on her lips. Her tongue darted out and swept up all the droplets like they were nectar and then recoiled back into its cave. Voldemort snorted, a crooked smile on his lips. The woman’s devotion towards him never ceased to amaze him. He closed his legs and leaned back in his desk chair while zipping up his pants.
“My lord.”
Voldemort looked up. “What?”
Bellatrix who had stood up by now, threw him a sheepish glance. “I was just wondering if I’d done something to anger you, my lord.”
“If I were mad at you, I wouldn’t have let you suck my cock. I’d have had you on the ground screaming for mercy,” Voldemort said snidely and leaned back in his chair.
“No, of course, my lord,” Bellatrix said hurriedly, “it’s just you’ve been colder towards me since our affair started up again.”
Voldemort’s eyes narrowed mockingly; a smirk on his face. “Our ‘affair’? My dear Bella you are confounded. There is no relationship between us.”
“I do not understand, milord”, Bellatrix said trying to maintain her composure. “We have been having liasons almost on a regular basis –”
“But there are no feelings, Bellatrix” he said standing up with innate finesse and alacrity. “It’s just sex.”
Bellatrix felt as though the invisible hand of reality reached into her chest and wrenched her heart out. There are from my part, she thought as her eyes became downcast to hide the vagrant thought. She felt his hand pulling up her chin to meet his eye-line; Bellatrix closed her eyes and relished in his touch.
“That is not my problem,” he whispered. Bellatrix’s eyes snapped open and met his cool brown gaze. “I have told you time and again that I do not partake in your feelings.”
Bellatrix swallowed, a lump forming in her throat; she blinked rapidly while nodding. “I understand, my lord, and I thank you for your honesty.” He must’ve picked up on her cold tone and hardened eyes for he moved closer to her and raised her chin so as to look into her eyes.
“I will always hold you above the rest of my followers,” he went on, his tone softer; his thumb running over her cheek. “You have no idea how much your loyalty and devotion mean to me.”
Bellatrix smiled, her eyes glazing over as they always did when she was around him. “Anything for his excellence.”
Voldemort smirked and captured her lips. Just then, there was a knock on the door. Bellatrix cursed inwardly as he removed his lips from hers and stepped away.
“Come in.”
Bellatrix made sure to throw Hermione a cold glare as she entered the room. Hermione acknowledged Bellatrix’s look of contempt with a quick, nonchalant glance before turning her full attention to her husband who she embraced with a smile, and captivated with a drawn-out kiss. In her quiet rage, Bellatrix imagined her hand digging into that brown head of curls…wrenching her head back, and hearing that disgusting bitch’s neck crack. Bellatrix came down from her cloud at her lord’s dismissal, using what little self-restraint Bellatrix had, she bowed her head and silently left the room, the mudblood’s smirk burning fresh in her mind.
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Hermione watched Bellatrix leave silently; once the wretched woman was out of the room, she looked up at the Dark Lord. “What were you doing with her?”
“Talking, what else did it look like we were doing?” he muttered, forehead creased slightly.
“There was almost no space between the two of you,” Hermione went on coldly. He smirked while shaking his head and sitting back down on his chair. “Now you’re being paranoid.”
“Can you blame me? I know you two have a history,” Hermione said eyeing every twitch and crevice on her husband’s non-revelatory countenance.
“And it is because of that I can’t be too cold to her,” he replied calmly. “It would anger her.”
“Since when do you care how people react to your actions?”
“I care because I do not wish to have her as an enemy,” he replied in an equally sharp-tongued tone.
“The woman is in love with you, she would die rather than do anything to hurt you,” Hermione said through narrowed eyes.
“Yes, but there is a point where that fanatical love could snap and turn into relentless hatred, and I am not keen to experiment in order to locate that point.”
“And what makes you think it is easier to experiment on me?” Hermione whispered angrily. He received her words with silence, his eyes thoughtful and serious.
“You are no blind fanatic like Bellatrix, Hermione, your head will always mandate your heart. That is what I like the most about you.”
“That doesn’t make it okay for you to be cavorting with others,” Hermione said quietly while sitting down.
“I have not been with anyone since you came along, Hermione,” he said while leaning back in his seat, brow furrowed slightly. “I confess myself hurt that you would think I would be capable of such a thing.”
Hermione sighed and made a downward swatting motion with her hand. “It matters not. You could be lying to my face, and I wouldn’t be able to tell.”
Voldemort remained quiet, lips pursed slightly.

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Rodolphus acknowledged Bellatrix’s apparition into their sitting room with a swift glance from behind his newspaper. Bellatrix stalked past him and entered the kitchen.
“Deepti! Where’s that house elf?”
“She’s cleaning out the attic. Your food’s on the stove, all you have to do is use a warming spell.”
“Why is she cleaning out the attic at dinner time?” Bellatrix said as she emerged from the kitchen and leaned against the door eyeing Rodolphus whose gaze was fixed on the newspaper. “Shouldn’t she have done that in the morning when we were away and didn’t need her services?”
“I already had dinner, and I didn’t think you’d be coming back until tomorrow morning so I told her she could go ahead with the cleaning.”
“Oh really, genius, and where do you suppose I’d spend the night?” Bellatrix said nastily while placing a hand on her hip.
Rodolphus sniffed humorously, his eyes not meeting hers. “Why are you asking me?”
“You’re the one that brought it up, so obviously you must have something in mind. I couldn’t possibly guess what though,” Bellatrix added, “because ever since I married you, I have never spent a night away.”
He looked up at her. “You disgust me.”
She gaped at him. “Name one night that I wasn’t with you,” she hissed.
He shook his head. “You’ve never been with me, Bellatrix… not in the way in which I would like you to be, anyway.”
Bellatrix turned towards the coffee table and then towards him. “You’ve been drinking, haven’t you?”
“You’ve been sleeping with him again, haven’t you?”
Bellatrix was caught cold and unprepared. She had expected him to go around the bush for a while longer while she came up with an explanation for what she knew he knew.
“What makes you think that?” she asked, her voice meeker than she would’ve liked.
For the first time, he looked up at her with his emotions on display through his enraged and hurt eyes.
“I want a divorce.”
“What?” Bellatrix took a step towards him just as he stood up and threw his newspaper on his chair. “Who told you I was seeing him, was it that mudblood? She’s always hated me, you know that!”
“No one told me, I figured it out myself. In a way I feel that it’s my fault, because the first time around I did nothing and simply let it go on until it came to an end on its own. I won’t do the same this time around, you obviously don’t care for me, and I won’t be wasting away my years next to someone like that.”
He walked past her and towards the foyer, Bellatrix following him, hot and cold sensations washing over her.
“Rodolphus, he approached me! I had no choice!”
He whipped around, grabbing her arm and smashing her against the wall in the process. Bellatrix let out a cry.
“How daft do you think I am?” he hissed, tightening his hold on her forearm, right on top of the dark mark. ”You think I don’t notice the way you look at him? Or the smile that appears on your lips when you feel the mark burn?” He twisted her arm further before letting go and walking out of the house. Bellatrix stayed rooted to the spot, her whole body felt numb. A few seconds later she registered a pain in her arm so she cradled it and noticed the red handprint shining over her Lord’s mark. What had just happened? Rodolphus is gone, a part of her answered. Bellatrix walked up the stairs in a daze towards their bedroom, she needed to lay down. The house felt empty and silent, too silent. He would come back; he had probably only gone out for a drink to calm down. He would be back, and then everything would go back to normal. Yes, yes, that was it. Feeling calmer, Bellatrix lay down on the bed and prepared herself to take a nap; when she awoke he would be there again. She was sure of it. Then, she noticed the half open closet door. Bellatrix felt annoyed, she had a pet Peeve when it came to open doors. Muttering about lazy house-elves, she stood up and went to close the door. Just then, however, she noticed that most of Rodolphus’ clothes were gone. She threw open the door; indeed, her clothes hung undisturbed, the other half of the closet though was unoccupied. On the closet floor, his suitcase was gone. Horror washed over her, her hand flew up to her mouth as her breathing sped up. He was gone, truly gone, the divorce! Oh no.
“No, no, no,no,” Bellatrix muttered as she paced around her bedroom, hands pulling on her hair. What had she done? She had to get him back, but how?
“Bella, what is it?”
Bellatrix turned towards the doorway, surprise written all over her face at seeing her lord standing there.
“You called me with your mark,” he went on to say at Bellatrix’s expression. Of course, when Rodulphus grabbed her arm he took a hold of her mark.
“Rodolphus left,” she said coming to a stop in the middle of the room. He came forward into their room.
“What do you mean ‘left’?”
“He knows about us, and he confronted me, and then he said he was getting a divorce, and then he left,” Bellatrix said rapidly while trying to keep the quiver out of her voice. He came to a step in front of her, eyes cold and calculating.
“Did he say where he was going?”
“No,” Bellatrix whispered.
Voldemort’s eyes fixed onto hers, once he was sure she wasn’t lying, he began walking towards the bedroom window where he stopped and stared out. Bellatrix could see his pensive face on the reflection; he looked troubled. Instantly, it made her feel better that he understood how she was feeling and felt the urgency of the situation. They truly were made for each other. Bellatrix scolded herself at this thought, and instead walked up to her lord, waiting to hear his advice.
“Do you think he’s coming back?” he whispered while staring out at the sun setting.
“No,” she whispered, “his clothes and his suitcase are gone from his closet.”
Her lord’s lips tightened. Bellatrix took his hand; it was nice to know he supported her feelings.
“Tell me exactly what he told you when he confronted you about it.”
He withdrew his hand from hers and turned around impatiently waiting for her answer.
“Well, he said that he figured it out himself, and that no one told him. He then he said that it was all his fault our affair started up again because he didn’t do anything about it the first time around…” Voldemort’s facial muscles contracted, “and, well, then he left….”
Her lord began pacing the room briskly, hands clasped behind his back.
“He didn’t do anything about it the first time around so now he wants to do something,” he said and then came to a stop. “He could be at the mansion right now, looking for me,” he said and then added in a whisper, “or plotting against me with someone.”
Bellatrix frowned. “My lord? I do not understand.”
“What is there to not understand?” he hissed, turning around to fix her with a glare. “When a man has been wronged, he must avenge himself.”
“My lord,” Bellatrix said as a realization came over her, “he would never do anything to you. He knows your lordship’s powers are no match for his. He respects you, milord, why else did he let our affair go the first time around?”
“Because if he attempted to kill me, it would’ve ended in failure, “ he snapped, “even if he had succeeded in taking my life, the other Death Eaters would’ve killed him because they had gained nothing thus far. However, now that the world is ours, and I am the head of it, the other Death Eaters would applaud him for it because now it would be easier for them to attempt a power grab.”
Bellatrix stared shocked at him as it hit her just how bad the situation was turning. Once her rose set his mind on something, there was no talking him out of it.
“My lord,” she said taking him by the hands. “I know Rodolphus, and he would never do that. What he meant when he said that he hadn’t done anything about it the first time, but now he would, was the divorce. He will be getting a divorce from me, my lord, he will take no course of action against you or…your wife.”
He ripped his hands out of hers and began pacing again. “He’s probably at the mansion right now, looking for me, but he’ll only find my wife…”
“I’m sure he won’t do anything to her,” Bellatrix said. He turned.
“What?”
“Your wife, my lord, Rodolphus would never do anything to hurt her.”
He rolled his eyes, and went back to pacing. “No one cares about her.”
Bellatrix was taken back, a frown briefly occupying her countenance.
“But they could try to sway her over to their side,” he went on, “She loves me, I know she does, I worked hard to ensure she fell for me, but love is very fickly and in no way ensures loyalty. I killed almost all her friends, and she knows what I did; she knows that I only seduced her and married her to weaken the Order. She could’ve joined them by now,” he said loudly.
“My lord, who’s ‘they’?” Bellatrix asked.
“How can you be so stupid, Bellatrix!” he yelled at her, eyes glinting madly. “Who else do you think? Him and his fellow conspirators! The Death Eaters! He wants to get revenge on me and take power for himself. He’s stupid though,“ he added, “because as soon as he’d be in power, the other Death Eaters would murder him in a power struggle.”
By now, Bellatrix was at a loss of words. “My lord…” she said in disbelief.
“I have to get to him before he gets to me!” he said turning to face Bellatrix, and then he disapparated.
“My lord!” Bellatrix called out just as her Lord disappeared silently. Before his trace could vanish, she disapparated and willed herself to follow him. She apparated right behind him outside his office as he whipped open the door.
“My lord!” she exclaimed again; he ignored her. He snarled when he found his office empty and undisturbed, and then went towards the end of the room where his bedroom was. He went in, but came out almost instantly, his face a thundercloud. He threw floo at the fireplace and called for a house-elf. The creature appeared instantly and bowed.
“Has Rodolphus Lestrange been here today?”
“No, my lord.”
“Look for him then, and get back to me. Where’s my wife?”
“She’s downstairs in the blue room having tea with Ms. Parkinson.”
Without another word, he swept past the elf and out the room with Bellatrix following him downstairs. She had given up attempting to reason with him and followed him like a dutiful dog, his master. Once in the first wing of the grand mansion, he entered one of the salons where talking could be heard. Hermione was laying on an ornate, navy upholstered divan while Pansy sat in a matching sofa in front of her. When they saw the Dark Lord enter along with Bellatrix they stopped talking and looked up. Hermione’s face went from cheery to foreboding at her husband’s countenance.
“My lord,” she said standing up hurriedly. “Is everything alright?”
“Have you seen Rodolphus today?” he snapped.
“No,” Hermione said before throwing Bellatrix a glance. “Why? What has she told you?”
“Is there something she should’ve told me about,” he went on coming closer to her and grabbing her by the arm.
“What is wrong with you? I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Hermione snapped as he yanked her towards him.
“Are you plotting against me?”
The brunette stared at him disbelief. “What?! How could you ever –“
She cried out as he grabbed her more roughly. “Answer me.”
“No!” She looked him right in the eyes as she said this. “Is that what that tramp told you?” she snapped, “how could you believe her?!”
He rolled his eyes and let go of her as he swept out of the room. Bellatrix was about to follow him when Hermione grabbed her roughly and whipped her around.
“When will you stop?!” she hollered at her, “can’t you get it through your head? He doesn’t give a shit about you! You might love him all you want, but he will never return the feeling, he will never be yours.”
Bellatrix was about to reply, but found she couldn’t. Suddenly, she felt as though the room was closing in on her, she needed to get out. She turned around and walked out of the room in a hurry.