Switch

Switching

Rodolphus entered a dark room, lit by candlelight.

"Did you wish to see me, my lord?" I turned away from the window to face him.

"Not really, "I said attempting a joke, "but I do need your help. A group of Death Eaters whose names I can't be bothered to remember were sent to bring me one of my....valuable possessions." I couldn't tell him about my Horcruxes as I didn't trust him enough. "They ran into some difficulties so we must come to their aid. I do not want this mission to fail."

"No, of course not, sir!" He was unmistakably excited at the prospect.

"We should go then."

**********

We Apparated inside a small cave. There was no sign of the others. It was damp and dark inside.

"Lumos!" Rodolphus lit his wand and we went on. We soon reached the end of the cavern. There were black shapes hanging from the ceiling. They looked a lot like bats. Rodolphus looked around a bit worried.

"The others aren't here," he said. But my main concern was getting the Horcrux. I was looking at the black wall in front of us. There were all sorts of signs on it. It pressed my hand on the sign that was shaped like a star. A moment later, we found ourselves in a dark room that resembled a basement. A cauldron was suspended above us and there was a drained fountain right in front of us. I turned around and noticed Rodolphus was looking at me in amazement.

"The star was a Portal," he concluded, "and the thing that you wish to find is..."

"Around here somewhere," I continued as we got near the fountain. "A spell is written on the bottom of the fountain. It's in a foreign tongue. I shall read it and the fountain should turn into the object that we came here for."

I read the spell. Nothing happened at first but then the place started to shake and we were experiencing what Muggles would call an earthquake. The cauldron spilled its content on us.

************

Cold and wet. I was lying on the floor. Something had gone terribly wrong. I was feeling rather strange. My hair was soaking wet... Wait a minute! What hair?? I touched my head and felt short, curly hair under my palm. My hands were not the same either. They were no longer white and spider like. I propped myself up and looked around when I saw a bizarre thing: myself, or my body, lying motionless on the floor. Terrified, I realized there was only one rational explanation for this. We had switched bodies. I was now Rodolphus. I Apparated back at the Death Eaters' headquarters not knowing what to do. I had to reverse this somehow but my body was still in the fountain room, where I had left it, like a fool. How did this happen? Thoughts were running through my head. The cauldron had been there when I had last visited the place but I had paid no attention to it. And the spell- it was ancient black magic I should've known something would go wrong...

"Rod?" I turned around and there she was. Tall, gaunt, with black hair and blue eyes. She was the only person I had ever wanted to be near. It wasn't about the looks; it was about her power and her endless devotion to me. I didn't love her, of course, but certain feelings were most definitely there.

"Are you alright, love?" Bellatrix asked, coming closer. She put her hand on my cheek.

"I'm very well, yes," I replied, being pretty perplexed from the gesture. Although I probably shouldn't have been; married couples tend to show affection to each other.

"I've been thinking about what you said and you're right. I've been very busy lately and I think I've neglected you. But I'm all yours tonight!" She smiled while I was completely speechless. I had been waiting so long to hear those words.

"Let's go home!" she said, taking my hand in hers and giving it a gentle squeeze.

We Apparated into a bedroom. Their bedroom. She waved her wand and lit a few candles.

"Bella, I shouldn't..."

"What? And since when do you call me "Bella"?"

I really should have told her the truth. I should have told her about what had happened. I couldn't just ...violate her like that.

She sat on the bed and removed her blouse.

... But then again, I decided to just benefit from this switch as much as I could!