DISCLAIMER: All things Potter belong to JKR.

A/N: The lyrics in the quote are translated from Japanese, but the lines "Kill me shining" and "Please don't crying" are said in English in the original song.

A/N: Takes place sometime before the Malfoys' wedding.

"Kill me shining,
Changing into the most exciting colors
That first shone in a vision
Please don't crying, imitating loneliness
Cutting into space with entwined regret." - Iceman, "Shining Collection"

-- Kill Me Shining --

"Is it possible for someone to suddenly develop an obsessive-compulsive disorder?" Rodolphus asked Lucius quietly as they were leaving the Death Eaters' meeting.

"I don't know, maybe," Lucius replied, with apparent disinterest in the subject. "Do you think you've developed one?"

Rodolphus rolled his eyes. "I don't think people are usually aware of their own psychoses. It's not me, it's Bella…"

That caught Lucius's attention.

"What is she suddenly obsessively compulsively doing?" he asked.

"She seems to have developed a fixation with being clean at all times," Rodolphus replied. "She suddenly hates the scent of the same perfume she's been wearing for years, and she can't stand being even a little bit sweaty."

He'd assumed that she hadn't been wearing perfume because she'd run out and hadn't been able to afford another bottle. (She'd gotten her water cut off this month for being behind on the bill, after all.) So he'd bought it for her, meaning to leave it in the medicine cabinet at her apartment as a surprise - only to discover that her old one was still half-full.

And besides that, she was bathing more often than necessary, and more times in one day than most people would consider normal. Which is probably how she ended up running up her water bill higher than she could afford to pay in the first place. She was working more hours at her crappy job to pay for it and wouldn't let him bail her out of her financial troubles.

Just about the only thing he could really do for her in this situation was bring her home (he still lived in the Lestrange family house, seeing as he hadn't been desperate to get out from under his parents' control like Bellatrix had) and let her have a bath there.

"Just forget I mentioned it," Rodolphus said as Bellatrix joined them.

"What were you talking about?" she asked.

"Man stuff, you know," Rodolphus said uncomfortably, and quickly changed the subject. "So, I was thinking we should go to my place tonight. I should at least stop by and say hi to my parents once in a while, I'm sure my mother is worried…"

"Alright, fine," she responded unenthusiastically. She was always awkward around his parents, even more so lately. And - like he thought she would - she asked, almost shyly, "Do you think they'll mind if I have a bath while I'm there?"

-end-

A/N: I'm sure you'll be able to figure out the reason for her sudden-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder if you put together the pieces from the rest of the scenes.

Other oneshots in the series: 37mm, There Are Feathers Everywhere, Vanilla Lace, The Sky Above The Sky Below, Hate Every Beautiful Day, Stop and Stare, Forever and Forever.