DISCLAIMER: All things Harry Potter belong to JKR.

-- Anticipation of Birth --

"It hasn't hatched yet?" Voldemort asked, seeing that Bella was still carrying around the giant snake egg he'd given her.

"No, my lord," she replied politely, even though the answer was obvious and she was tempted to be sarcastic about it.

He frowned. "All of the others have hatched already."

"Maybe it needs to be hatched by its mother?" Bellatrix put forth tentatively.

She was nervous about being expected to raise a baby snake when she had never raised a baby anything before, but she was also hesitant to relinquish it back into the care of Nagini. She had gotten kind of attached to the thing. Lately the egg had been kind of squirmy, as if the baby snake inside was restless to get free of the shell.

"It should be fine as long as it's kept warm," Voldemort brushed off her question. "And besides, there were too many already. Nagini ate some of them."

"Snakes eat their own babies...?" Bellatrix asked faintly, just the thought of it making her feel sick to her stomach.

"Sometimes," he answered. "Not always. Although most snakes are cannibals and will eat other snakes."

Bellatrix clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Stop. Don't say anymore," she gasped out. "I'm going to throw up."

Voldemort looked at her and saw that she had gone very pale. He thought that this was odd because normally Bellatrix wasn't squeamish at all.

Nagini slithered up beside him.

Ooh, how long is going to be until the human female bears young? she hissed.

Voldemort was startled. He hadn't even considered the possibility that he might have gotten Bellatrix pregnant...

- end -

A/N: Reviews are love.