AN: This was written for The Telephone Game on the HPFC, second round.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Lucius Malfoy was in his office, sipping his favourite brand of elf wine, when something went wrong. At first, he didn't know what it was, but after a short investigation he figured out the wards of his manor had been breached. More specifically, someone had Flooed into one of the guest rooms.

With a sigh, he got up and began to investigate. This was a war, after all, and he would be a fool if he didn't look into this. A further scan had shown that the fireplace that activated was in Bellatrix's room. Lucius frowned. Perhaps his Lord was on point when he confided in him about the possibility of the spy in the Inner Circle… Why else would he demand that Lucius connects his magic to all the fireplaces in his home? Lucius protested, of course, doing that would lower his active powers level considerably, but after his Master Cru… ahem, he means to say that after his Master had laid out the facts, Lucius agreed to this plan.

And now, as it had turned out someone actually activated one of the many fireplaces, Lucius could kiss a lot of his magic goodbye. Grumbling, he set out to Bella's room, hoping that this didn't mean Bella was a traitor (there's a first time for everything, Lucius mused) and he could have his power back.

When Lucius arrived in front of Bella's quarters, he was actually considering chickening out. He knew what his sister-in-law was like. Completely and utterly mad and with penchant for pain, specifically. If that didn't scream run-away-and-don't-look-back, Lucius didn't know what did. However, since he was more afraid of Voldemort that Bella, and he knew He would want to know all about this, he steeled himself and entered the room.

The first thing he saw was the colour pink. Lucius blinked. He was expecting a lot of things, but pink was not amongst them. The pink turned out to be colour of robes of a certain sympathiser of theirs who was currently doing a splendid job of getting rid of Mudbloods, legally that is.

"Dolores Umbridge? What in the Merlin's name are you doing here, in Bellatrix's room no less?" Lucius inquired. This wasn't so bad, he thought. At least no Mudbloods or blood traitors had stepped on the Malfoy grounds.

Immediately after Lucius announced himself, he heard a startled yelp coming from Bellatrix. Naturally, Lucius assumed that Bella had done something she shouldn't. That of course, piqued his curiosity and he looked for something out of ordinary. Since Dolores had her back to him and Bella was sitting opposite her, Lucius moved so that he would see what exactly had been between the witches.

After he did, he immediately wished he hadn't. It wasn't that bad itself, but it was rather embarrassing. Everyone knew about Dolores' obsession about cats, but no one would ever guess Bella was a fan of the feline creatures too. Both women had been holding two cats in their arms, with another five playing under the table they were sitting behind.

At this point, Lucius was rather afraid of his life. He had, after all, found out something about Bella he was sure she didn't want anyone to know. What bothered him even more was that Bella was just sitting on her chair, not doing anything. He thought she would be throwing curses left, right and centre, but no, both Bellatrix and Umbridge were sitting still, with only a pinch of fear on the latter's face.

"Well, Bellatrix, this was lovely, but I'm afraid I have to go now." Umbridge peeped and was just about to put the cats into a basket she had brought with her, when Bellatrix stopped her.

"No, Dolores. You're not going anywhere. He is." Here Bella turned to Lucius and he felt a shiver of fear running down his spine. Here it is, he thought. Closing his eyes and accepting inevitable pain, for he knew it would be worse if he ran away, he waited for the first wave of pain to come.

"OBLIVIATE!"

AN: I know you have probably expected Bella gouging Lucius' eyes out with her wand or something, but she got to play with Dolores' kittens so rarely, she didn't want to waste valuable time. Plus she can always deal with Lucius later.

Rate and review, please!