October 1978

Bellatrix swayed to the beautiful orchestral music, feeling beautiful in her black tulle gown. This was fun, she thought. She was having a good time at this ball. Rodolphus smiled down at her, but there was sadness in his eyes. He leaned down a little and whispered,

'I have to leave, Bells.'

Bellatrix furrowed her brows, confused. She shook her head and demanded softly, 'Whatever do you mean, Dolph?'

'Don't worry,' her husband insisted. 'You'll be fine. You're a perfectly capable warrior. You'll take good care of yourself, Bells.'

'Dolph.' Bellatrix scoffed and shook her head. 'We've only been at this ball for an hour. There's entirely too much partying left to do to leave right now! It wouldn't be proper to leave yet.'

Rodolphus just stared at her peacefully, like nothing was wrong, and he stopped dancing with her. Bellatrix blinked rapidly a few times. Suddenly Rodolphus was gone. She looked around rather frantically, alone on the dance floor.

'Dolph?'

She began to wander around the dance floor, pushing her way between mechanically dancing couples with blank expressions on their faces. Bellatrix shoved them aside, looking for Rodolphus. Then she saw Lord Voldemort - her lord and master - walking toward her across the floor as the orchestra began a new piece. He straightened his tuxedo robe and asked tightly,

'May I have the next dance, Madam Lestrange?'

Bellatrix gasped awake, clutching at the blankets and gulping in air as she woke from her dream. From beside her, the large lump in the bed squirmed and mumbled,

"You all right, Bells?"

She lay down slowly beside Rodolphus, her heart pounding frantically. She shut her eyes and spooned him from behind, murmuring,

"Just a dream."

She kissed Rodolphus' honey-brown hair and began to touch his bare shoulder. She made note of his physicality, of the tightness of his muscles, the soft smoothness of his skin. She reached around him and began to brush her fingers on his thigh. Brushing her fingers around the hairy place on the interior of his leg, up toward his most private place, she was very evidently pushing for something physical, and Rodolphus let out a low rumble of a laugh.

"Mmmph. We have a meeting, Bells."

They did indeed have a meeting with Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters this morning. There were plans for an attack this evening - an ambush of supporters after a Quidditch match between the Chudley Cannons and the Kenmare Kestrals. It was intended to be an act of intimidation and terror, and the meeting would finalise details in the hours before the planned attack.

Bellatrix backed off her physical advance toward Rodolphus and let him slowly slide out of the bed, stumbling sleepily toward the bathroom. She eyed his bare backside as he called from the bathroom doorway,

"Believe me, Bells; if I could make love to you all morning, I would."

She grinned and lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling, brushing her fingers over her bare breasts. She shut her eyes and relished the feeling of her fingers on her nipples, and then she called out to Rodolphus,

"You owe me later, husband. I have needs."

"You have many needs, Bellatrix. I try to attend to as many of them as I possibly can," Rodolphus said back. She giggled, her eyes still shut, and she murmured,

"Yes, you do."

"Hmm?" he asked, and she called,

"You do a good job of it, darling."

"Thank you for the seal of approval." Rodolphus shut the door to the bathroom, and Bellatrix sighed deeply. She just lay there for a few moments, until the door opened again and Rodolphus appeared with a toothbrush in his mouth, leaning against the doorjamb. Bellatrix smirked at him, thinking about how handsome he was, how delightfully charming he was. She began to think of how lucky she'd been to marry him.

The two of them had dated from their fourth year of Hogwarts on. They'd married as soon as they'd left soon, as soon as they possibly could. Their wedding had been the event of the year for high society, and even Lord Voldemort - who had just begun to ascend at the time - had been in attendance. Both Bellatrix and Rodolphus had taken the Dark Mark the week before their wedding, swearing themselves to the Dark Lord's cause in perpetuity, and they had served most contentedly ever since.

"Dolph," Bellatrix said, staring at her husband as he cleaned his teeth. He raised his eyebrows, and she said rather seriously, "I love you."

He nodded. "Ruv you too, Bews."

She laughed at that, and finally decided to get out of bed and get ready. She Neatened the bed with a Charm and thought with another smirk about how often she and Rodolphus had romped and tangled in the bed's sheets. Suddenly she remembered losing her virginity to him. It had been in a deserted classroom in the Potions corridor at Hogwarts at two in the morning. Rodolphus had been a Prefect and had abused his position to help Bellatrix sneak out of the girls' dormitory. The little escapade had been messy and uncomfortable and perfect.

Bellatrix walked slowly into the bathroom, going to stand beside Rodolphus and watching him comb pomade through his thick honey-brown hair. She stared at his reflection in the mirror and asked,

"D'you remember the first time we… you know, in the classroom?"

He smiled. "Of course I remember. You were shaking like a leaf."

Bellatrix folded her arms. "I was terrified."

"Of me, or of getting caught?" he asked. She shrugged.

"I don't really know. It feels so long ago now. I haven't been afraid in a very long while now."

"No, you haven't," Rodolphus confirmed, petting Bellatrix's arm. "You are deliciously fearless."

Bellatrix just stared at him for a moment after that, before deciding to clean her teeth whilst he finished his hair. After eight years of marriage, they'd reached a level of supreme comfort with sharing these intimate tasks. Bellatrix next complained about her hair as she attempted to wrangle it into a thick braid, but Rodolphus insisted,

"I adore your curls. They make you you."

She took the braid out, leaving her wild mane down. "Mad curls for the meeting, then."

Soon enough, they were both dressed in dignified robes, and they headed downstairs to the breakfast nook for a quiet breakfast of grapefruit and prosciutto. They lived in a comfortable semi-detached house on the outskirts of London. They had Muggle neighbours whom they ignored; it was worth it to have the independence of having bought the house themselves. They'd used their stipends from being Death Eaters rather than the Black and Lestrange family fortunes. Neither of them wanted to be beholden to their families over money and houses.

They had plans for children when the war was won. Bellatrix fretted that she would be a terrible mother, but Rodolphus insisted she'd be perfect - strict enough to control children's behaviour, yet fun and free enough to allow them an adventurous childhood. She'd be far better, he said, than most Pureblood mothers. Bellatrix anxiously awaited their victory under Lord Voldemort so that they could bring up their children in a proper wizarding world.

She and Rodolphus had a House-Elf called Dinky who was mostly useless. He was the best they'd been able to afford, and it showed. He was hyperactive and made mistakes. Bellatrix had spent two years beating the creature into oblivion, but she'd finally given up and resorted to just rolling her eyes and doing most things herself. Now she and Rodolphus left their breakfast plates on the table; surely Dinky could manage to clean them up.

They Disapparated from their home to Malfoy Manor, coming to outside the garden gate. Rodolphus quickly murmured the necessary spells to get them past the secret wards. Voldemort was paranoid about the Enemy showing up at these headquarters. He'd been based here for years, and both Abraxas and Lucius Malfoy fought for him as soldiers. Even Narcissa, Bellatrix's younger sister and Lucius' wife, was a sworn Death Eater who served as the hostess of the headquarters. Poor Cissy had miscarried six times. Something was wrong with her. But Bellatrix couldn't let her mind off the war to think about nonexistent babies.

Rodolphus and Bellatrix walked into the Manor holding hands. Everyone among the ranks teased them for being the Death Eaters in Love. For some reason, Voldemort did not seem amused by that teasing. He always shut down japes about it, and once he'd thrown a hex at someone who had joked, Did the Summons today interrupt marital relations between the Death Eaters in Love? Bellatrix thought it was rather curious, how much Voldemort seemed to despise that joking.

Inside the dining room, where the meeting was being held, there was utter silence. A dozen Death Eaters were already there, and Lord Voldemort was at the head of the table. His eyes went at once to where Bellatrix held Rodolphus' hand. Bellatrix released Rodolphus and curtsied low. Rodolphus bowed.

"Master," Bellatrix murmured reverently, saying the word like a prayer. In response, she got a nod and nothing more.

Lord Voldemort was a man of about fifty, but it was hard to tell. His face looked like he'd been attacked by a dragon. His skin was blistered and scarred. His hair was cropped very short, thin and completely grey. His lip was pulled up a little and his eye was pulled down. His cheekbone on one side seemed to have been shattered by a blunt impact. There were pale white lines crisscrossing the backs of his hands, his neck, and his forehead, as though someone had sliced his flesh open with razors and left him to heal on his own. His eyes were bloodshot.

Bellatrix didn't pay any heed to these scars and mars. To her, Voldemort was her magnificent master. He had always made her heart and stomach flutter. She had always felt a sincere compulsion to be near him. She had always adored everything about him, and she'd always felt a need to serve him entirely, heard and body and soul. She thought, maybe, that she loved him a little more devotedly than a servant ought to love her master. A little more… completely. She'd spent time alone with him, when he'd taught her Occlumency and some of the Dark Arts. She remembered once when he'd told her that she was his best soldier, and it had been one of the best moments of her life.

She shook off all those thoughts as she took her seat beside Rodolphus, next to Lucius and Narcissa. She smiled at her sister as the rest of the Death Eaters came into the room. The meeting began then, with Voldemort speaking slowly and calmly.

"My friends," he said, "the weather this evening at the match will be stormy and foul. No matter; the mission goes on despite the weather. But be cautious. Be careful. The very last thing we need is someone breaking a femur slipping in the mud."

Everyone smirked at one another at that, but Voldemort stayed serious. He folded his hands on the table and said,

"Use the Cruciatus Curse, Stunning Spells, and various hexes. Light infrastructure on fire. Killing Curses are to be cast in defence only. This is an act of intimidation, not a slaughter."

Most of the Death Eaters nodded, but Avery cleared his throat and spoke up.

"Master, would it not be particularly intimidating to kill spectators?"

The room went so still all of a sudden that Bellatrix could practically hear the heartbeats around her. She gulped. Voldemort swished his wand through the air without warning, and as the wand sliced, Avery went soaring out of his chair. He flew through the air and crashed against the wood paneled wall. Suddenly he was choking, like an invisible hand was clutching his throat. Avery grasped at his neck and spluttered, gasping. Voldemort rose with preternatural calm and stalked with slow, easy steps across the dining room. He stood in front of Avery, who was pinned to the wall by magic, and he spoke loudly enough for all to hear him.

"I do not need to explain my orders to you, Avery. We are in the midst of a war that will determined the fate of the wizarding world, and I am your commanding master. You will follow my orders, or you will die. I have told you that you will cast Killing Curses defensively, and under no other circumstances. Do you understand me?"

Avery nodded frantically, and Voldemort let him collapse to the ground in a crumpled heap, still sputtering and choking. Voldemort turned to the table of terrified Death Eaters. Bellatrix's heart was pounding, and she reached for Rodolphus' hand.

Voldemort nodded. "We meet outside the Chudley Cannons' stadium at five. Be prompt. Be masked. Be ready to serve me. Dismissed."

Author's Note: New Story! The idea for this story ("Bellatrix accidentally kills Rodolphus") came from an Anonymous Ask on Tumblr, so thanks for that! As you can tell, the pacing of this story indicates that it'll be pretty long. We also have a pretty stern, authoritarian Voldemort and we're starting out with a Bellatrix who's got a loooong way to go before she's going to be in love with Voldemort. So this one is going to be a long haul.

Thank you so very much for reading. If you get a quick moment, PLEASE REVIEW. I really do value your feedback.