The Many Moods of Voldemort and Bellatrix

Cookie #5: Reunion (not a sequel, different scenario)

She stood, transfixed. Through the haze of her tormented mind, all she wanted to do was run to him, throw her arms around him, sob in his chest, and just never let go. The hurt that had been crushing her had been too enormous to forget, and she couldn't process the fact that she was out of the damned place. Her one and only, her Lord, her lover and her reason for living was just a few steps away, and she was free. She needed to disappear in the folds of his cloak, she needed annihilation and rebirth, she needed him to take care of her and bring her back to life. She advanced on him, arms reaching out. He did not move, but stared at her with cold distance.

"Bellatrix. You look filthy and disgusting."

She shrieked, a chilling sound coming out of her gaping, lightly drooling mouth. He turned and gestured to two cloaked figures that seemed to have materialized out of nowhere. One of them was rubbing carefully his left arm, as if it was injured.

"Take her to Malfoy Manor. Narcissa Malfoy shall see that she is healed, cleaned, fed and put to rest. She shall be given a Dreamless Sleep Potion, and awoken after ten hours. She shall be briefly taken walking in the gardens, then fed again, and put to rest. She shall see the light of day for some more time each day, in between dreamless sleep, and the healing charms shall be applied every time it is required. Nobody shall talk to her except for Narcissa and the Manor's Mediwitch. Should I come to find that she is not properly taken care of, the whole Malfoy family house will go up in flames, and there will be no safe place to hide for those responsible. Now go."

One of the two Death Eaters approached the trembling form of Bellatrix and lifted her roughly over his shoulder. A moment later, he was dead, and she was slumped on his still form, passed out from fatigue and pain.

Voldemort had fiery anger in his voice. He was quiet for a while, then he shouted. And it sounded like heaven was about to fall.

"Mulciber! Now you will take Bellatrix Lestrange to Malfoy Manor. Alone."

The young Death Eater tried to think quickly, terrified as he was. If the Dark Lord was on a murder spree, he was going to be good and done too in a matter of seconds. Then it dawned on him. Maybe he could just make it out alive once more, thanks to these famed smarts of his. He mustered all his discipline to stop shaking, and he forced himself not to hesitate. He took four careful steps, slowly bent down, and gathered Bellatrix in his arms with a degree of delicacy that bordered on sweetness, yet had nothing remotely resembling the kind of affection that a man shares with a woman. He concentrated on the occasions when he had picked up his little sister after she'd taken a bad fall. That was the kind of image he needed to create. Anything more, anything less, and a ray of green light would put him to sleep. For a long time.

Her head was resting on his shoulder; he had one arm behind her neck, one encircling her lower back. She looked almost comfortable, and he wasn't showing any effort. Voldemort nodded curtly in his direction.

"Mulciber, you will be rewarded. Now go".

Cookie #6: Malfoy break (not a sequel, different scenario)

Four, three, two, one. Four, three, two, one. Controlled breathing is the key to quick recovery, Bellatrix said to herself. She lay spread out on a crystal table, in a large room adorned by portrays of Malfoy ancestors, all looking down at her with rapture in their eyes. They like to watch. How Malfoy, she silently mused. Her shoulders and neck were sore from being twisted into an awkward position: her arms were behind her back, and her wrists were cuffed to one of the delicate legs of the table. Now that she was coming back from a rush of pleasure - fourth? fifth in the night? - she was starting to feel uncomfortable. No use complaining, though: the Dark Lord was in a playful mood tonight, and he would play his way, no matter how much she whined. On second thought, that was just a cue for him to think up more weird stuff. Yeah. Shut up then.

Not that she had a real reason to complain. He was already giving her cause for distraction. Ever so considerate, he was avoiding - at least for ten minutes, will you? - her most private parts, and placing brilliant little kisses in apparently innocent places. Bella closed her eyes, and found that the mere sound of gentle suckling coming from somewhere below her chin was really something she had underrated in the past. Mild annoyance, soon replaced by wild expectations, came over her when aforementioned sound abruptlty ceased. Oh, he must have stopped for breath, he's going to use one of these wonderful Charms of his on me now....

Just as she was wondering what he would say, Voldemort pronounced a single, chilling word: "Lucius".

Oh my. That's news. He's trying to Transfigure me into... that? Never knew he fancied him. And I really, really think he's on the wrong side of bad taste, with that heinous cane. Oh, well, a girl's got to know when to play along. And I never knew you could practice Transfiguration by saying the name of the...

A second, familiar voice interrupted Bella's reflections. It said something that sounded like "Mppppppph". She began to worry. The spell had gone awry? Backfired, maybe? Was the Dark Lord, in all of his magnificent power, being turned into that twit Malfoy? She didn't dare open her eyes, and opted instead for speaking. Less scary, if anything. But she was too apprehensive to control her words properly.

"Honey? Is everything all right? Did you get hurt?"

At this, the repressed murmur she had heard just moments before turned into full-blown laughter. And it wasn't her lover's trademark blood-freezing laugh, more something reminding her of a drunken Hogsmeade weekend from a distant past.

Oh, no.

She opened her eyes and turned to face a red-faced Lucius Malfoy, laughing like mad. Voldemort was eyeing him amusedly. Bella wasn't sure she had a clue about what was going on. Why was her sister's husband even there? Why was he giggling like a schoolgirl? And why hadn't the Dark Lord killed him already? She didn't realize she had been thinking aloud.

"Honestly, Bellatrix... you're asking me what's funny? First: I come into my private dining room to look for Draco, and instead of him I find you, naked, all tied up and with an expression on your face that looks like you've been eating Sugar Quills for one month on end and you still want more. Oh, filthy Mudbloods, behold the mean, merciless, evil Bellatrix Black! If you ever cross her path, she will be your sex slave forever, and you won't be able to stop wearing spiked dog collars! Not to mention Lord Honey here - scourge of the Wizarding World, terror incarnate, moulding and reinventing the Dark Arts to achieve his intimidating goals... and so concentrated on how to sweetly caress you out of frenzied ecstasy that he didn't even notice I've been standing here for the past five minutes."

Bellatrix waited for Voldemort to dispose of the Malfoy scum. Then, to her surprise, the Dark Lord joined into Lucius' laugh.
"You're funny, Lucius, but I think you know too much for your own good. Obliviate! Come to think of it, Imperio also... And Bella, relax, nothing's going on. Just close your eyes".

She did as she was told, and just as she was sliding into yet another stream of delicious sensations she wondered why the suckling sound she was hearing before all that weird Lucius situation seemed to have doubled in intensity.