Done

It happened the way these stories often do.

It was a dark and stormy night, the tree branches crashing against the windows, casting eerie skeleton-like shadows with every flash of lightning.

Lucius Malfoy, however, was not alone. He was in his private chambers at Malfoy Manor, and he was entertaining, not for the first time that week, the lovely Bellatrix Black, eldest of the Black sisters.

She lounged on the chaise below the window, his dark green silk dressing gown hanging over her supple frame and revealing perfectly shaped pale legs and a hint of what lay beneath the neckline. Her black hair lay in heavy curls over her neck and shoulders. The lightning backlit her, momentarily creating in her a dark silhouette before she returned to her candlelit illumination. She lifted the cigarette perched between two fingers to her lips and sucked on it lightly. Her gaze never unlocking from Lucius', Bellatrix exhaled in small circular puffs of smoke.

"The Dark Lord has arranged a marriage," she said, her voice husky.

Lucius' back tensed, and he gathered his hair at the nape of his neck, fastening it with a black ribbon. He raised one perfectly arched eyebrow but said nothing.

"I'll be marrying Rodolphus in a fortnight."

Lucius had trouble hiding his surprise. "Lestrange?" he asked, his voice as calm as he could manage. "He's old enough to be your father."

"You forget," Bellatrix purred, uncurling herself from the chaise and neatly extinguishing her cigarette in the ashtray on the mahogany end table, "that I am five years your senior, Lucius. I was Head Girl while you were still learning the levitation charm."

He narrowed his steely eyes at her. "I thought we would -"

"You thought wrong," she snapped, standing up. One sleeve slipped off her shoulder. "The Dark Lord bids it so."

"Bollocks to your Dark Lord," he muttered.

Her eyes turned dark, and faint patches of pink rose on her well-defined cheeks. "Perhaps if you had joined us, he would have given you his blessing."

"Lestrange is old and staunchy and already going bald," Lucius said quickly.

"He is loyal," she countered, taking a step towards him, the dressing gown caressing her thighs and calves. "And Rabastan is going bald. Rodolphus has a full head of hair." The corner of her mouth quirked upwards.

"But you can't possibly love him."

"Love?" Her voice was demure, measured. "Who said anything about love?"

Lucius held his arms open in front of him. "Bella."

She tilted her face toward him and shook her head. "I do my Lord's bidding - his every wish I take pleasure in fulfilling."

"Why?"

Bellatrix practically slithered up to him, slipping a hand expertly between buttons to open his shirt. "Because he is the most powerful wizard alive and promises great things to those who follow him and prove their loyalty."

"I don't trust him," Lucius said, reaching out to push her hair off her neck. He rubbed her collarbone with the side of his thumb.

"Do you trust me?" Her mouth was hot and wet against his chin. She could tell he hadn't shaved that day.

"Of course I do," he murmured.

She pushed the crisp white shirt off his shoulders for the second time that evening. She wrapped her fingers around his left wrist and lifted it to her mouth. Watching him, she slid her tongue along the underside of his wrist.

His breath hitched in his throat. With parted lips, panting, he held her gaze.

"Marry my sister," she breathed, barely audible.

"What will that accomplish? She isn't you." His voice wavered enough to show that she intimidated him. It was her mouth, he thought, watching the tip of her tongue slip out from between dark red lips.

She nipped playfully at the sensitive skin. "Join us," she beckoned, moving her lips further down his bare, unmarked forearm. "In his circle, that won't matter."

He swallowed hard. "They why are you marrying Lestrange?"

"My Lord wills it so." She bit down, just hard enough to draw blood, and her grip on his wrist prevented him from pulling away.

"Why?" he said hoarsely, fighting against the stinging of his blood on his forearm.

"I dare not question him."

He slid his free hand into the dressing robe and up over her stomach. "Tell me. What can I do to have you?"

She dropped his arm violently and pushed him away. "I grow tired of your obsession with me. Have you not listened to a word I've said?" Her tone was cold, laced with the light hint of a hiss. "You will not have me as a wife, but you may continue to have me if you pledge to him. For sex is power and power is all that matters."

"Why is he so important to you?" Lucius asked, the frustration finally bubbling over.

"Don't you understand?" She started to laugh. "I thought you were like me."

"I am like you."

"Then you should understand his importance," she snapped.

Thunder crashed dangerously, rattling the window panes. "I understand the need to eradicate mudbloods and blood traitors, to maintain purity. But to serve this man, this half-blood himself -"

She slapped him, her palm cracking loudly against his cheek, leaving a dark pink handprint on his pale skin. "Don't you dare ever speak ill of him again," she hissed, her hair flying wildly around her shoulders. Her eyes flashed in tandem with a bout of lightning and thunder. "You are unwise to ignore his power," she continued, her voice soft and soothing. "He can give you anything you want."

"I want you," he said quietly, yet firmly. "I love you."

She spit at his feet. "Love is for mudbloods and Muggles, and blood traitors like my sister, running of with a mudblood bastard and bearing his child. I don't want to hear the word ever again."

"Bella -"

"Shut up!" she screeched. "Shut up!" She flung her arms around and glared with a lack of complete sanity at Lucius. "You're making a mistake, Lucius Malfoy. The Dark Lord is in control now. I'm offering you a place in my family - both by blood and by choice."

"He doesn't care about you, Bella. I do. Be with me," he pleaded, reaching out for her.

She shrugged away. "I gave my life to serve him," she said in a ghost of a whisper.

Lucius managed to grab her hands and pull her tight against him.

She panicked, her eyes wide and lips parted, and she struggled against his hold for only a moment.

He searched her face, reaching up to push a curl off her cheek.

Her eyes were dark; they'd lost the glean and sparkle he remembered. Her cheeks suddenly looked sullen and gaunt, and there were the start of dark circles under her eyes.

"Then I will give my life too," he said calmly, leaning in to kiss her softly.

Bella gave a start, but then she succumbed to him, opening her mouth and breathing him in. She allowed him control of this kiss.

Lucius slipped his hands under her gown and up her back, pushing the silk to the floor. He traced her curves with his palms, deepening the kiss to the point of consumption. Slowly, he bent low and scooped her into his arms, depositing her gently on his silver satin bed sheets.

Bellatrix reached blindly for him, tugging the black tie out of his hair and pulling him on top of her. She sought his mouth again and devoured him.

Later, with Lucius sprawled on his stomach, cheek turned in on a satin pillow, and she lounging next to him, one leg thrown casually over his, Bellatrix stared through the window.

The rain still pelted against the glass, leaving streaks. The wind threw tree branches against it too, and as lightning illuminated the whole of the bedroom, Bellatrix's lips turned upwards into a satisfied grin.

"Done, my Lord," she whispered to the empty room, feeling pride and accomplishment take the form of laughter in the pit of her stomach.

End.