Just a Job

Bellatrix tossed her head, sending waves of thick, black hair cascading over her shoulders and glinting in the wane light of the sunset. She walked from one corner of the building to the other, making sure she swung her hips just so, to catch the eyes of any potential customers. Her dress clung to her tightly, thin fabric that was an obscene parody of the gowns she once wore when she had been herself, before getting Marked - before the fall of her Lord. A woman stood in the shadows, watching her, and Bellatrix looked at her, licking her lips suggestively, never once stopping her languid walk. The woman stepped out of the shadows, and the fading sun was behind her, and all Bellatrix could see was a silhouette and a blazing halo of red hair surrounding the shadows the womans face was sheathed in.

The woman got closer and tilted her head, causing Bellatrix to walk over to her and wait patiently for her customer to let her know what was needed. The woman reached a hand out and ran her finger lightly down Bellatrix\'s cheek, her touch soft, and the finger lingering for a moment before she spoke. \"How much?\"

A simple question, but one that still sent a shock of sadness through her. How the mighty have fallen she thought bitterly. \"10 sickles for normal, 20 for kink...\" She forced herself to speak the words pleasantly, knowing this woman was the only thing that would make it so she could eat tonight. For quite a few nights actually. The woman nodded and began walking toward a seedy little boarding house that was used exclusively for purposes such as this. Bellatrix followed her, making sure she kept her head lowered slightly and walked a few steps behind her, never knowing what ones customers preferred had made her cautious over the last year, lest she lose a job to someone more willing and subservient.

The woman walked into the house and walked straight up the stairs, entering a room and leaving the door ajar for Bellatrix to join her. Bellatrix did, shutting the door quietly and moving to sit on the bed, to prepare herself for whatever this woman wanted of her.

The woman grabbed her arm as she walked past, and Bellatrix steeled herself for a slap or a harsh word, knowing that some women got off on dominance. Hell, I used to, before I was subjected to it. The woman cleared her throat and shook her head sadly, eyes flashing in the firelight that bathed the room in a soft, red glow. \"How did you end up like this? Is this really better then Azkaban?\"

Bellatrix\'s eyes opened wide and she opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out but small gasps of air.

\"You don\'t even know who I am, do you? You\'ve spent the last two years hiding, and we thought you were a threat...but you...\" She gestured dismissively with her hands at the figure of Bellatrix, who was suddenly aware of how horrible she must look to the eyes of an average passerby. Bellatrix looked down at the ground and awaited whatever the woman was going to do, whether it be to use her or to call an Auror to dispatch with her.

The woman sighed and tucked her hand under Bellatrix\'s chin, pulling her head up so it was level with her own. \"Ginny Weasley. Surely you remember my brother? The last person you ever killed, if rumors are to be believed.\" Ginny\'s face was blank - unreadable, but her eyes flashed with hurt and loss, and Bellatrix felt a wave of sorrow come over her. She remembered the shock of red hair, the flash of green light, but for once it hadn\'t come from her. She stammered out a reply, voice trembling slightly. \"It wasn\'t, wasn\'t me - I remember what happened, but it wasn\'t me. I swear it...\" She had two years of this, two years of going to bed with whomever payed her - and two years of living as a virtual slave gave a person time to think - motivation to think. And she regretted everything wicked she had ever done now.

Ginny shook her head and frowned. \"I\'m supposed to believe you,\" she said softly, running a hand through Bellatrix\'s thick, black hair as she spoke. \"Bellatrix LeStrange, whore of Voldemort, and I\'m supposed to believe you now that you\'ve become a whore for everyone else?\"

Ginny\'s touch made her shiver, and she felt a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. Ginny looked into her eyes, and Bellatrix could feel a gentle tugging on her mind, and she allowed Ginny to do as she wished, hoping the thoughts she had now, and the truth of her actions would at least convince Ginny not to call an Auror. Suddenly Ginny pulled back and shook her head, unable to believe what the woman standing in front of her had been through, and wondering if she would have turned to the power Voldemort offered had she been raised in the same household as the broken woman standing in front of her. She felt a momentary pang of guilt for calling her a whore, but some small part of her tried to remind her of the many people Bellatrix had destroyed. That part was drown out as her mind reaffirmed what she saw in front of her - a broken woman, no longer a killer, no longer a fiend with no soul, a faceless horror to hate and loathe. Bellatrix was simply a woman now, and a beautiful one at that.