Love in the Time of Carnaval

During the night, a blanket of snow had been neatly deposited atop Chateau Lestrange. House elves bustled along the hidden servants' passage, melting ice and patching leaks. In their rooms, the wizards slept comfortably. When they awoke sometime in the afternoon, they washed (those that cared about such things), dressed in their warmest clothes, and met Rodolphus in the reception hall.
'I hope you all packed a toque, 'cause we're going out tonight--and I mean out.'

The table was set at the center of a small, frozen lake. Braziers roared 'round the lavish display of food and drink, bringing magical light and warmth to the otherwise desolate landscape.

The meal was an extravagant affair and a gastronomic masterpiece. As soon as the pudding was finished Nott leaned back in his chair and yawned, 'Excellent, Rodolphus. A beautiful night! What next?'
Rodolphus rose. 'Now we skate.'

Chairs were whistled away. Pairs of ice skates were produced, one for each guest (Snape declined his) and the party began to wheel across the ice in a mix of graceful and graceless arcs.

Severus sat and watched the others. Rabastan clumsily followed Regulus' long lean strides with a hungry determination. Bertha had evidently made use of Nott's assets the night before, as there they were thick as thieves, laughing as they caused each other to become unbalanced and crash into the ice, all windmilling arms and hesitant legs.

A small way away, Rodolphus skated slowly, holding Bellatrix's hand. He was a very good skater, Severus saw, poised and athletic. Bellatrix was not overly familiar with this peculiar means of locomotion and Rodolphus coached and coaxed her with honest patience and growing pride that was unmistakable and, thought Snape, annoying.
Suddenly Bellatrix kicked away and sailed slowly but steadily across the ice. Rodolphus met her pace and stayed by her side. She laughed, giddy with her own little skill. Their fingers interlaced.

Snape looked away. He saw the house elves sitting at the periphery, drawing deep breaths from their long pipes. They watched their master on the ice, practically dancing. And what did they think of her? he wondered. Did they see her as their future mistress? Did they know what was in Rodolphus' mind as he adjusted her muffler? The servants always know.

Soon horse-drawn sleighs appeared. Taller, cruel-looking elves with whips and czarist uniforms drove them onto the lake.
Three sleighs for six passengers. Rodolphus would be required to stay behind temporarily while the illusion of the beautiful supper was dismantled. He guided Severus towards the sleigh in which Bellatrix waited.
'I think she thaws, Severus. Damn me, but I think so! Keep up the heat. Be my man and tell her of my virtues, my more comic vices. Advertise me! I'm almost there.'
Snape stopped Lestrange and silenced him with a look. 'One more night and the potion is finished, Rodolphus.'

Rodolphus went pale and Snape turned away. When he reached the sleigh, Regulus was about to climb in.
'Oh, Sev, I thought I'd ride with cousin Bella.'
'You were wrong,' bristled Snape, brushing him aside. 'Go ride with Rabastan. He likes you--which just goes to show that taste has nothing to do with genetics.'
Bellatrix chuckled as Regulus stalked angrily away and Severus arranged himself beside her.
'Fighting to sit next to me, Severus?'
'Don't be so flattered. You happen to smell better than Rabastan.'
'Always the romantic.'
The little elf driver looked to them and smiled, showing sharp white teeth. He snapped the rein and with a 'Hah!' they were off.

Bellatrix tucked the rugs around them, purposefully bringing her warm body closer to Severus than was absolutely necessary.
'Haven't you had enough yet?' he asked her. 'He loves you, you know.'
'Who? Rodolphus?' She made herself more comfortable and him infinitely less so. 'Yes, I've realised that. And I can't say I'm not tempted, but...'
Severus shielded his cigarette against the chill wind as he tried to light it. She watched him as he forgot to offer her one.
'But what?' he asked after his first drag.
Bellatrix watched the icy snowscape shift by in dark, endless furrows.
'Maybe he isn't mean enough. Not that he should be mean to me--but--he lacks gravity.'
Snape snorted. It may have been a laugh. Bellatrix interpreted as one of the derisive sort. She blushed and pulled the cigarette from his lips.
'And you, Severus? You, who speaks so freely of love? What the hell do you know?'
She puffed the cigarette bitterly and then her face relaxed. She parted her dark hair down the middle. He eyed her with growing irritation.
'I...am Severus Snape,' she began, imitating the timbre and pacing of his words. 'Master of the Dark Arts...I have no...need for...' Here she quirked an eyebrow. 'Emotion.'

She laughed and pitched the cigarette into the blackness. Snape said nothing.
'What? Didn't I do it silkily enough?'
'You will never understand what real feelings are. Your kind...'
'And what about my kind?' she demanded.
'The untested. How can you know what love is, you who have never felt true pain? You exist as if in a dream, careless to the point of self-deception. Can't you see how alone we are?'
'Why, Severus, I do believe you think yourself unloved.'
'Don't mock me,' he warned.
'Then tell me what you mean. I can't decode angst.' She added, 'Please.'

'There's nothing to tell. Maybe I've lost the plot.' He was babbling and knew it but he couldn't bring himself to stop. He wanted her to know...to understand. 'Somehow it all seems insincere. Everything. I've come to distrust feelings--I've never seen love--not that kind of connection it's meant to be. It's like we're all wrapped up in ourselves and only pretend we're connecting with someone else. Maybe there is nothing outside of us. Does that make sense?'
She nodded, watching him with half-closed eyes, and leaned against him.
'I'm in my own little world. We all are, really, and nothing can reach us. The outside world is like some far-off, imaginary country. I'd always thought that some day, something might reach into my world. Someone from outside. I always dreamed it would wake me up, force me to pull out of myself.'

He looked at her and saw that she had fallen asleep on his shoulder, her little body rising with soft, regular breaths.
'Am I just telling myself that's what's happening? Imagining that finally someone's knocking on the door, telling me to work up? I don't know if I love you, Bellatrix, but I think I could.'

The bells of the sleigh jingled as it rounded a corner. Aside from as occasional 'Tut!' from the driver, its passengers spoke no more.